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Danger, Deer And A Drunk
Always watch races at Pocono Raceway--whether in person or on television--with special trepidation.
Although not as fast as the superspeedways at Atlanta, Daytona and Talladega, it is a very, very dangerous place. Possibly the most frightening on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
This is because the triangle-shaped, 2.5-mile track in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, where the Pocono 500 is scheduled Sunday, has two long straightaways where speed builds breathtakingly. At the end of each are what essentially amounts to 90-degree left turns. And these turns relatively are barely banked compared to other big speedways. The first turn is just 14 degrees, the second turn, also known as The Tunnel Turn, is a narrow, challenging 8 degrees.
Some of NASCAR's biggest stars have experienced extremely violent crashes, and been hurt, while racing over a tunnel that leads into the infield and the garage area.
The list includes seven-time series champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, Harry Gant, Neil Bonnett and Steve Park. Earnhardt, Allison and Bonnett all are deceased.
The career of legendary Bobby Allison, the 1983 champion, sadly was brought to an end on June 19, 1988, Father's Day, when he was involved in a wreck between Turns 1 and 2. Allison spun when his car's left rear tire went flat on the first lap. He was hit in the driver's side door by the following car of Jocko Maggiacomo and suffered criticial head and chest injuries that left him hospitalized for five months.
Maggiacomo wasn't seriously hurt, but never raced again on the big-time NASCAR tour.
Four-time champion Jeff Gordon crashed going into the first turn following a run down the 3,740-foot frontstretch in 2006. His car was destroyed, but Gordon wasn't badly injured. Some sources say that Gordon's impact with the wall created a whopping 64 in G-forces.
One of the most horrifying incidents near The Tunnel Turn involved a drunken fan. Luckily, he didn't cause a massive pileup and possibly deadly injuries to drivers in the Champion Spark Plug 500 of 1993.
The fan scaled a 6-foot-high wire fence separating the track from the infield. He then jumped over the inside wall and ran onto the racing surface.
For a terrifying second he froze with Kyle Petty and Davey Allison, battling for the lead, bearing down on him along the 3,065-foot Long Pond Straight. As fans at the track and a national TV audience gasped, the man finally wheeled and dived head-first across the outer wall just before Petty and Allison swept by.
"I came around the first turn and I couldn't believe what a I saw," Petty said after winning the race. "He was right in the middle of the race track. I let off the throttle, checked up a little bit, gave a wave to Davey, and he checked up, too.
"I turned left and motioned for Davey to do the same to give the guy a chance to get across the wall. When we got there, his feet were sticking over the wall. Davey was shaking his head. He couldn't believe it either.
"I don't know how much we missed him, but it wasn't by much. I wouldn't have wanted to be that close to a passing car running 55 (mph), much less 160."
Said an angry Davey Allison:
"I've never seen anything like that before. I never believed anybody could be that dumb."
Law enforcement authorities began an immediate search for the culprit, concentrating on a swamp not far away. About three hours later they arrested a 25-year-old man from Elphata, Pa., and charged him with two felonies and five misdemeanors. The felonies: endangering persons and risking a catastrophe; the misdemeanors: criminal mischief, defiant trespass, persistent disorderly conduct, recklessly endangering another person and public drunkeness.
Arraigned the next day, the man admitted to drinking beer since 3 a.m. and taking medication to stay awake. He later was sentenced to prison.
As far as can be determined, this is the only time in NASCAR's so-called modern era, dating to 1972, that a fan has gone on a track while a race was in progress.
However, there's a heavy deer population in the Pocono Mountains, and several times whitetails have caused problems by wandering onto the asphalt racing surface at the track there.
Bonnett once struck a deer while practicing at Pocono and returned to the garage area with heavy damage to the grille of his car, where crewman found a leg of the deer, which, of course, was killed.
There have been strange, amusing incidents involving critters at Pocono.
I recall NASCAR and speedway personnel having to stop a race in order to run down a rabbit near the start/finish line. Ditto, and maybe strangest of all, a rooster that somehow found its way onto the track, appearing just under the flagstand. It was hilarious watching the late Harold Kinder, the flagman and a colorful character, come down from his perch to try and help re-coop that rooster.
During one cold, rainy day at Pocono Raceway a NASCAR official named Carl Hill was manning a small booth just outside the track near The Tunnel Turn. His duty was to check in the teams as they arrived. Not much was happening that day, and Carl dozed off to sleep. He was awakened by something trying to get in the booth with him.
Carl peeked out to see a LARGE black bear that had come out of the thick forests that surround the track! Hill's shouts finally scared the critter away. Carl never dozed off again at Pocono before his retirement.
In the 1970s there weren't enough cars at Pocono for a full field. Some rival drivers and crewmen dared the impish, fun-loving driver/car owner James Hylton to see "how slow" he could run a qualifying lap. Hylton went around at about 45 mph. His run seemed to take forever on the big, long track. His NASCAR peers, standing on the pit wall, cheered in delight as Hylton finally took the checkered flag. The sanctioning body's officials weren't nearly so amused. Hylton was fined several hundred dollars.
Finally, one favorite memory from my many trips to Pocono Raceway as a member of the motorsports media.
None of the competitors were satisfied with the garage area "facilities" at the raceway. Long-time driver Dave Marcis complained loudest and longest and angriest to the track owners, Doctors Rose and Joe Mattioli.
Finally, they built a new, nice "rest area" for the drivers, crews, press and others with access to the garage. And they named it "The Dave Marcis Lounge."
At first, Dave was not amused, but later laughed about his namesake "potty."
As at all tracks, there's humor and fun to be found at Pocono Raceway. But it's tempered by the danger.
June 5, 2008 in Racing | Permalink
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Comments
Mr. Higgins Pocono is indeed full of great memories in Cup racing. The Mattioli's are fine folks. I know when I was on a Yates team in the 1980s I always dreaded Pocono, especially in July because of the gawd awful heat and how far the gasoline pumps were from the pit area -- and especially for the pits farthest away from the pumps. Even for a 25-year old in good shape that was a friggin haul to haul those gas tanks up and back to the station for 500 miles...And I say this with fondness, Pocono has to lose a date. The place isn't up to standards and a 500 race there is just not relevant in today's modern times. They took one of the best events in the history of NASCAR, the Southern 500 and farmed it out -- and sold it out -- to be in Hollywood on Labor Day weekend for nowhere near a sellout. And it has never made real sense to have a 500 mile race at Pocono within six weeks. If they can do it to Darlington then they can do it to Pocono.
Again I say the Mattioli's a fine people but geeze man let's get with it. NASCAR demands so many things out of other tracks, but Pocono gets a free pass. Yea, you know loyalty does go a long way but when I used to lobby in DC for longtime Navy contractor Grumman, who had built WWII planes for the US, the Navy in the late 1980s couldn't keep the F-14 program going just because of Grumman or out of loyalty. There comes a time when things have to change. No one can justify to me why Cup should be at Pocono for 2 races in the new Millennium. It just doesn't make sense.
But indeed the stories there are plentiful, from deer to Davey and Bobby Allison. The Mattioli's might do just as well to make the track a deer palace and build a Richmond track in the middle of the infield.
Posted by: Ed | Jun 5, 2008 3:37:12 PM
I like Pocono. I don't see why we have to keep getting rid of one or both of the old tracks to make room for a 'new' one. We don't have that many 500 mile races left and occasionally they produce good racing. Lots better than the road courses where they don't race at all. The road courses are boring, short, and pre-historic. Pocono is (at least) capable of producing unusual and unpredictable racing. I remember the 'rabbit chase' and a deer on the track over the years, also B. Allison's wreck. Pocono is not what is called the new typical track and for that reason we should keep it and keep it like it is.
Posted by: 9fanatic | Jun 6, 2008 6:13:31 AM
9fanatic I respect your opinion. And you have good points. It is an unusual shaped track. I like Darlington and Phoenix for the same reason. But two 500 milers for Pocono is way too much. Even if they kept 2 dates then a 300-400 miler and a 500 would be good. But the main reason I advocate Pocono losing one is because, despite all the praise due to the Mattioli family they essentially get a free pass for a 35 year-old debt. They haven't upgraded that facility in years. It desperately needs modernization to bring it up to minimal standards. It has been that way as I remember it all the way back to the 80s. In that respect they have learned well from the Frances: bleed the facility to near rot before dumping money into it. Talladega when built was a thing of beauty but even the Frances left it to go into disrepair before they spent money on it. The loyalty thing only goes so far.
More than anyone I could think of I am very strong on keeping NASCAR roots. Darlington, Daytona Dover Richmond Bristol; all should never go away. But Pocono could either lose a date and modernize or modernize a bunch and keep two dates.
To some extent I would say almost the same thing about Dover. Nowhere in the sport is pit road more dangerous. And these guys could gut that bank out and widen the whole pit area. But hey that co$t$ money. And they are stingy. Look at the garage area, a piece of crap for one of the premier auto racing series in the world. They say they have changes on the books but why haven't they done something in the good years? Now look at Sunday's race, 30,000 or more empty seats. These guys used to have a plan to modernize now they sit on their butts and count the dollars.
That's kinda my real bottom line for this series...So we keep 2 Pocono dates; who really cares. It ain't my decision. The real issue to me is why don't they make the facility better? Look at Bruton Smith, sometimes I think he has a little dementia coming on and sometimes I think he has dollar bills for breakfast but that company puts bucks into their facilities.
Posted by: Ed | Jun 6, 2008 9:45:04 AM
Ed, you are right about 'your grief' with the track, I'm sure, (my) having never been there....too far away from me....I agree that the tracks should be updated, ESPECIALLY the pit road and pit areas, and all tracks should have ENOUGH pit stalls or NO RACE. Won't get an argument from me out of that part. No telling how much jack all the track owners are making. NASCAR could make that happen if they wanted to. But, they are busy counting their money too!! And I don't have a problem if they want to make one race shorter, but they need to leave SOME things from the past alone, so us old fans feel at home. LOL
Posted by: 9fanatic | Jun 6, 2008 11:49:55 AM
OH Yeh, forgot to add, Bruton puts his money where his mouth is, that's for sure. I don't mind hearing him talk the talk, because he walks the walk. Oh my goodness, to have 'just a little teeney bit' of his money and know what it feels like to have that kind of financial security.....because I wouldn't need near as much as he does!!!!!!!1111
Posted by: 9fanatic | Jun 6, 2008 11:56:12 AM
You might want to ask the people of North Wilkesboro about Bruton's money & his mouth.
Posted by: Richard | Jun 6, 2008 2:19:41 PM
9fanatic you won't get any argument out of me on those points.
Richard you are correct to a degree on Bruton. I loved North Wilkesboro to death. Would love for it to be on the schedule. But it illustrates my point albout all this. NW couldn't stay on the schedule becuase they couldn't modernize fast enough.
Hey I am old enough to remember when their were over 50 races a year on the schedule, even a Cup race at my home track Greenville-Pickens, SC ( a great track and the site of the first flag-to-flag live broadcast of a race on network TV). I was real bumed out when G-P lost a Cup date. But it was inevitable. Dates were going to "big" tracks with much bigger seating capacity. NASCAR built it's roots on the backs of North Wilkesboro and Greenville-Pickens. I sold popcorn and peanuts in the stands there and saw Ralph Earnhardt -- yes Ralph -- race his beautiful cream #8 Chevelle there on dirt. It was a thing of beauty. But where is it written that GP or NW has a birthright to a Cup date? Times have changed. We don't have many phone booths left anymore or rear-wheel V8s. NW didn't fit in with the growth much to my sorrow. But to me Pocono doesn't fit in with the model now. Things change even when we don't want them to. Having said that NASCAR leaving Darlington on Labor Day was a Big Mistake. Somehow leaving Pocono totally or with one date doesn't seem all that bad to me.
Posted by: Ed | Jun 6, 2008 2:52:20 PM
Tom,
Why, in the context of this article, did you feel the need to mention "...Earnhardt, Allison, and Bonnett all are deceased." None of these three died at Pocono, nor as a result of injuries sustained at that track.
Aside from the mention of the Dave Marcis "rest area" tacked onto the end, this article is little more than a poor attempt to sensationalize the "danger" and "terrifying", "horrifying" racing at Pocono.
Posted by: mgj | Jun 6, 2008 11:01:24 PM
" As far as can be determined, this is the only time in NASCAR's so-called modern era, dating to 1972, that a fan has gone on a track while a race was in progress."
I beg to differ with that statement. What about the fan that came up to Matt Kenseth's car at Watkins Glen? Although the race was under red flag it was still officially in progress.
Posted by: Cat | Jun 7, 2008 12:56:55 AM
" As far as can be determined, this is the only time in NASCAR's so-called modern era, dating to 1972, that a fan has gone on a track while a race was in progress."
I beg to differ with that statement. What about the fan that came up to Matt Kenseth's car at Watkins Glen? Although the race was under red flag it was still officially in progress.
Posted by: Cat | Jun 7, 2008 12:58:19 AM
Ed, say that again? Pocono needs to lose a date? That's nonsense squared. What's wrong with the facility - and I mean do what Jeff Gordon won't do - NAME SPECIFICS.
Does it need a new garage area? The one they have isn't bad at all. When you say "it needs a ton of upgrades," name them.
When you mention GP and Wilkes, they were short tracks, not superspeedways. The sport outgrew short tracks by 1972; I'm surprised any were kept after 1971.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Jun 7, 2008 1:41:00 PM
To illustrate how nasty Pocono can be, some of the noteworthy wrecks in its history -
1974 - Lennie Pond was injured in a Tunnel Turn wreck with Roy Mayne.
1976 - Bobby Allison took off in the middle of a four-tire change; he spun out in the Tunnel Turn.
1979 - Earnhardt hammered the Tunnel Turn wall and broke his collarbone.
1980 - Petty smashed the boilerplate, stood on his nose, then got hit by Waltrip and Chuck Bown in the Tunnel Turn.
1982 - Earnhardt tagged Tim Richmond entering One and smashed open the boilerplate; Earnhardt slid on his roof to the exit of One.
1983 - Glenn Jarrett spun in Three and the rear clip of his Ford was sliced off by Jimmy Means and Bobby Gerhardt.
1984 - Bobby Allison got on two wheels in the Tunnel Turn.
1986 - Buddy Arrington spun in One, stalled, then Morgan Shepherd sliced off his rear bumper and Harry Gant drove almost through him. In July Tim Richmond lost it racing three wide with Bodine and Bonnett, spun into Petty (who was eliminated and livid over Richmond's driving), and lost a lap he made up to win in a photo finish with Bodine and Rudd; later Waltrip pinched off Shepherd in the Tunnel and he spun into traffic that wiped out five cars; Bonnett broke his shoulder.
1988 - Bobby Allison's near-fatal crash. In July Earnhardt tagged Brett Bodine and Lake Speed got swept up and hammered the boilerplate in One.
1989 - Jimmy Horton tore open the boilerplate in Three; later Greg Sacks and Speed smashed open the boilerplate in One and Sacks tumbled.
*** Critter story - during the yellow for Horton's crash a rabbit got onto the frontstretch (complete with ESPN graphic, as ESPN was covering the race) and the audience cheered when it slipped through a track crewman's hands before being caught and released.
1991 - Ernie Irvan got sideswiped out of the lead by Hut Stricklin and let Hut have it in Three; Petty flew over Rudd's hood in the ensuing melee.
1992 - Allison got cheapshot by Waltrip and tumbled down the north stretch.
1994 - Chuck Bown got tagged by Sterling Marlin and hammered the wall in One.
1997 - Bobby Hamilton blew a tire while leading, got back on the lead lap, passed 3/4ths of the field, then hammered the wall with another blown tire; he was shaken pretty badly.
1999 - Rusty Wallace punched One, then Dave Marcis hammered Two and got off the ground in a crash reminiscent of Mike McDowell's Texas tumble.
2002 - Steve Park and Junior smash the inside guardrail down the Long Pond straight.
But with these crashes, Pocono has also had very good racing over the years; even today it has seen some of the old competitive vineger, as last June Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin had a spirited dice up front.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Jun 7, 2008 1:54:48 PM
Gordon wants "a ton of upgrades" - wait it out, pal, because that new resort the Mattiolis are putting up will provide the seed money for just that.
Speaking of additional sources of revenue, the team that won the 1974 and 1976 Pocono races may be renamed Petty/Boston Ventures Enterprises with the pending merger of Boston Ventures into the Petty Enterprises team.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Jun 7, 2008 4:37:35 PM
Some other interesting moments from Pocono history -
The first stock car race was a USAC-sanctioned 500-miler in September 1971 won by Larry "Butch" Hartman. Geoff Bodine made his first superspeedway start in this race.
Because the USAC stock car 500 was held on bye week for NASCAR, several Winston Cup guys ran the race; Richard Petty rallied from a flat tire to beat Hartman in 1973.
Pocono was added to the NASCAR schedule in 1974 when Trenton Speedway was scheduled for a mid-July 300-miler but the event was cancelled.
Pocono averaged 45 lead changes a race (a higher average than even Talladega in the same span) in its first ten years in NASCAR.
Pocono has seen three four-time winners - Tim Richmond, Rusty Wallace, and Jeff Gordon - but Bill Ellott surpassed them with five wins, the last coming in 2002.
There have been only two first time winners coming at Pocono - Jeremy Mayfield and Denny Hamlin.
Built for Indycars, Pocono's first winning team was Roger Penske as Mark Donohue won the July 3, 1971 Pocono 500. Penske won seven Indycar races and presently has seven NASCAR wins at Pocono.
The 1992 season at Pocono turned out to be hauntingly bittersweet - in June Alan Kulwicki grabbed what would be his final win.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Jun 8, 2008 12:56:30 AM
Daly what has been and always will be "nonsensed squared" is you. Of cvourse I know G-P and Wilkes are short tracks. Do you?
You are an eccentric sort but sort of like the COT, taller, wider, uglier and less sleek than most. Pocono is a dump and they get a free pass by being buddies with France. It doesn't take an intellect like your to figure that one out. They are loyal to people that are loyal to them. That isn't a bad thing except when you look away from the truth. I remember a funny time in 1974 when I was on James Hytlon's crew. We went to Daytona for the July 4th race and Hylton had just bought a new Banjo car the needed finishing touches. He couldn't find a suitable garage in town so Bill France Jr. let him do his work in the speedway garage area 2 days before it opened up to the rest. I remember like it was yesterday. France was riding around the speedway with some dignitaries and other than that we were the only ones in the place. When I went out of the track to buy lunch for the team, the Pettys and Wood brothers (like the Roushs and Hendricks of today) were waiting outside to get in early and NASCAR wouldn't let them in. Why? Because James Hylton was the only premier driver at the time who didn't join in the driver strike at Talladega in 1969. So Hylton was rewarded many times over. NASCAR inspectors looked away many a time when they might not should have. Same thing with Pocono.
What really shows your ignorance is talking about the "sport outgrew" shortracks in the 1970s. What are Bristol Richmond and Martinsville with a total of 6 dates? And look at the crowds. Short tracks are the backbone of the sport, always have been always will. Why is the Prelude to the Dream such a success? The short tracks provide intimacy to the fans. You can see the fire in the drivers eyes. You hear smell and taste the sport in many ways a ton better than a 2 mile California Speedway or a 2 1/2 mile Pocono.
Just what did the sport outgrow Daly? You might have to go back to the future to right this ship. A Cup race at Greenville-Pickens or hell one at Eldora speedway just might be the ticket to the long term future of NASCAR Cup racing. But let us not pick on Pocono, the sport has outgrown road courses. The sport has out grown 2-mile race tracks that produce boring racing. Take your pick Mikey.
Pocono now doesn't put money into the infrastructure. But hey let's build a hotel across the street. Track owners are notoriously stingy. The Frances are and always have been. We would be a backwater sport still without SMI to counterbalance NASCAR's sometimes astounding lack of foresight. Bruton Smith is the antithesis of that as far as speedways are concerned. That doesn't always make him right but he does spend the money on his facilities.
Pocono just this week needs a repaving of the PIT LANE (that's one Mike if you can count), let alone the race track. It's unsafe (and isn't that ONE alone good enough to make imrovements? Gawd knows we wouldn't want to change the "ambiance" of the place to make it safer for the guys and gals who sweat the bullets. Hey they aren't the only ones. Dover's is unsafe. And soft walls still need to be in some more areas of some tracks.
You and your NASCAR apologists are always talking a good game of BS. But when it comes down to it they don't treat the competitors worth a dam on things that matter behind the scenes. Hell many years ago when I did the pit crew thing for a living -- and long before NASCAR bought it -- Darlington facilities for the competitors was third world. Ain't improved a whole lot today. Pocono may not be 3rd world but they a second world. You say Cup outgrew short tracks in the 1970s. Well my man Pocono is still stuck in the 1970s.
Daly you are all over these boards with your "insights" and stats. You remind me of an old MASH quote: "I don't know how your head fits through the door." It would be good to debate someone who has some meat to his cerebral cortex. Something has just frozen up in that area of your body for some time.
Just because Pocono has some good things happen on it doesn't mean they get a free pass. Look at Darlington. Some of the greatest moments in the history of the sport have taken place there. Hell some of those moments have been the greatest in ANY sport. Cale's dump over the side of the guard railing. Earl Balmer nearly taking out the press box. Richard Petty's flip that produce today's window nets. Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch race for the win. Same goes for Jeff Burton v Jeff Gordon. Harry Gant and his Southern 500 victory. How about Tim Richmond's? How about Cale and Dale's many victories there? The heat in the Pee Dee in late Summer. Lee Roy Yarbrough. Swervin Ervin's and Ken Schraders crash that ended Neil Bonnett's career. The GREAT GREAT David Pearson's performance on that speedway. The list goes on and on and on. Yet they lost a date. Why? What NASCAR wants NASCAR gets. Even if that means they look away at some things that are going on. They are the final say in all this even when they are wrong. And Pocono for 2 dates is wrong today and it has been for a while now. As much as I really dislike what Jerry Carroll did at KY to sue and continues to do so, just maybe the guy has a point. There is no rhyme or reason to the schedule.
Posted by: Ed | Jun 8, 2008 12:02:07 PM
As always Daly you show you are #1. It will always be the case. You have so much stored in that brain, so much computing power, no one will be able to keep up. I'll admit it man you are number Uno! You have it goin on. And you will always have the last word. Too bad you aren't much of a hu...
Posted by: Ed | Jun 12, 2008 10:10:17 AM
Who deleted my previous response to Ed?
Ed, here's the deal. Pocono has rebuilt itself since it dropped CART from its schedule after 1989, improving the physical plant, traffic control, etc. to become a superb faciltiy. The infrastructure there is fine as it is. BTW, before you rip that resort they're building, keep in mind that it will be a revenue stream for the track to improve further.
You mention pit road - the unsafe part is not pit road, it's NASCAR's rule closing pit road and packing up the cars for pitstops (which of course gives the officiating tower more control over the racing with phantom speeding tickets). The rule should be they can dive into the pits when they want as fast as they want but must come to a complete stop inside their stall before crewmen can go over the wall.
Why not aim your anger at NASCAR over that, Ed?
NASCAR outgrew short tracks because they are too small and do not provide good racing. Positional passing in the top ten on short tracks is rare. The sport didn't grow until superspeedways starting being built - those are the tracks that provided the sport's greatest races. Of NASCAR's 50 most competitive races, only one happened on a short track (1991 Southeastern 500 at Bristol), and that was because of a bizarre pitstop and restart procedure that lasted that one race. All but three of NASCAR's 50 most competitive races have happened at Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, Pocono, and Michigan.
You mention Darlington - for all of its history it has produced only ONE race with over 40 lead changes (the 1982 Southern 500) - Pocono has produced eight. Pocono also sees the lead change more than once on a single lap more frequently than almost every other track, especially one-groove Darlington.
Face it, Ed, Pocono is where the sport should be racing and the criticisms of it were not offered in good faith or based on legitimate concerns.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Jun 14, 2008 3:01:07 PM
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