Stock Car History Online - Bobby Allison Commentary

Spectacular Crash Leaves Petty With Minor Injuries
Reprinted from February 18, 1988 edition of Grand National Scene
By Deb Williams

It was turn four and the front stretch again.

But it was 1988, not 1970, and it was Daytona International Speedway, not Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The driver, however, was the same — Richard Petty — and the gyrating and rolling done by No. 43 presented the same horrifying scene that it did nearly 18 years ago.

In 1970, before there were safety nets over the driver’s window, Petty suffered a dislocated shoulder in the terrifying crash. In that incident, his Plymouth slammed into Darlington’s fourth turn wall, shot across the track, plowed into the concrete pit wall, and then rolled seven times down the frontstretch before stooping on its wheels.

This time, the rear of Petty’s STP Pontiac Grand Prix SE became airborne after being tapped by another car as it exited the fourth turn, barrel rolled three times, spun five times on its nose like a top and then rolled twice before being hit by Brett Bodine.

Petty was taken to the infield hospital on a stretcher, checked and sent to Halifax Medical Center for X-rays. Although it was believed initially he might have a broken right ankle or a possible concussion, Petty suffered only bruises. (ED. NOTE: Petty was examined Feb. 15 by his doctor in Greensboro, N.C., and a soft cast was placed on his ankle. STP spokesman Steve Tucker said Petty suffered a badly sprained ankle and torn muscles. Tucker said the cast would be removed Feb. 19 and Petty would drive in the Feb. 21 Richmond, Va., race.) STP spokesman Steve Tucker said petty’s wife, Lynda, told him in a telephone conversation as the race ended that they were preparing to return home.

“I know the good Lord just looks out for you,” a track official quoted Lynda as saying.

The incident that silenced thousands occurred on lap 107 as Petty exited the fourth turn.

“We were all in there together,” Phil Barkdoll said. “I don’t know if Richard got loose or what but I tagged him in the back. All I could see going by was him upside down in my mirror.”

Charlie Luck, Petty’s son-in-law and a former Busch Series driver, was sitting in the grandstands, monitoring Petty’s radio when the accident occurred directly in front of him.

“Richard turned sideways and the right-side cocked up,” Luck said. “The tail caught the fence. It hung on the fence and then it rolled.”

When Petty’s car finally stopped on its wheels Brett Bodine’s Moore/Crisco Ford Thunderbird crashed into Petty’s Pontiac.

“When it finally stopped, Dale (Inman) asked him if he was all right and Richard said, ‘Let me get my breath,’” Luck said.

Lisa Luck, one of Petty’s daughters, said they let the family talk with her father in the infield hospital for about five minutes.

“He was giving the doctors and nurses a hard time,” Lisa said with a smile. “He’s ready to get back up and get back in there.

“He said he held on into the third or fourth hit and then he couldn’t get his breath.”

Petty’s son, Kyle, said he knew his father was all right when he saw them get him out of the car.

“If you’re alive after something like that, you’re all right,” the younger Petty said.

Petty’s Pontiac was towed into the enclosed area surrounding the infield care center with a tarp covering most of the wreckage. The only thing that remained in front of the fire wall was the frame surrounding the engine.

After the wrecker unhooked the remains of the Pontiac, it took a track worker at least six trips to unload pieces of Petty’s car from the safety truck and pile it in front of the vehicle. The wrecker deposited Petty’s car beside a late model maroon Pontiac Bonneville that was larger than the remains of the seven-time Winston Cup champion’s car.

The incident required 21 laps of caution while workers cleared other wrecked cars from the 2.5-mile speedway, replaced two fence posts and tightened the safety cable.

A.J. Foyt said he drove his Gilmore/Copenhagen Oldsmobile Cutlass under the group of cars when he saw the accident begin.

“It looked like Petty’s backend came out. I went down on the bottom and he came across,” Foyt said. “When he came down, I hit his left front with my right front. I was the one who really hit him hard and sent him the other way. There was nothing I could do.”

Bodine, who slammed into Petty after he stopped rolling, said he was slowing when his car turned on him.

“I must have cut a tire. I was trying to slow the car down without losing it, and I was doing pretty good until that last second,” Bodine said. “Then when I must have cut the tire, I lost control a little bit and right at that moment Richard came straight in front of me.

“It was really unfortunate that I hit him like that because he’d already taken a lot of licks before I go there. Eddie Bierschwale said he hit me front behind, but I really think it was the cut tire that got me out of control.

“It looked like a junkyard out there. Pieces were laying all over the place.”

Bierschwale said after he hit Bodine, he hit Petty.

“I was going about half speed, on the brakes,” he said. “I cut a tire and I think that’s what caused me to hit Bodine.”

Alan Kulwicki also was involved in the crash but returned to the race as did Bierschwale. Kulwicki placed 32nd, 52 laps donw, while Bierschwale placed 28th, 19 laps off the pace.

Dale Jarrett avoided the incident by driving through the pits, and Ricky Rudd said he also headed toward pit road.

Kyle Petty blamed his father’s accident on the carburetor restrictor plate required at Daytona and Talladega, Ala.

“You can just chalk this whole thing up to NASCAR and that stupid restrictor plate,” the younger Petty said. “You get a bunch of these guys who don’t know how to drive race cars. They just have a bunch of money and they’d be better off in the infield drinking beer and watching TV. But they put ‘em on the race track and they run over guys who are trying to make a living. Pretty much, that’s what happened. They’ve been doing it all week.

“You can’t get out of the way if you don’t have horsepower. When you don’t have any power and you have to get on the brakes and then get back on the gas, then you’re a sitting duck waiting for someone to nail you from behind, get on top of you or anything.

“It’s going to continue to happen here and at Talladega,” he said. “I think the races were a whole lot safer when they were going 210 (mph).”