Is "Let Go of the Wheel in a Crash" REALLY News to Stock Car Drivers?

I need veteran NASCAR fans' help. It's possible I owe Darrell Waltrip a very big apology.

During the Lap 2 crash at Daytona, in-car footage showed five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson letting go of the steering wheel after his car made impact with the wall. At the time Darrell said Jimmie was following the example of veteran IndyCar driver Danica Patrick who let go of the wheel when a crash was unavoidable earlier in the week.

During the crash, Jimmie's in-car video shows the first impact (front end to the wall) ripping the wheel out of his hands, and after that he very intelligently seemed to say "to hell with this" and folded his hands over his chest to avoid injury. Then DW says he's seen a lot of crashes ... but he wonders if the Cup guys aren't taking a cew from how Danica Patrick let go of the wheel during her crash. ]

Being an open-wheel guy, I know that EVERY driver lets go of the wheel when he or she has irretrievably lost it. As Danica told the AP "In IndyCars, you learn to take your hands off the wheel. I was trained when there is no saving it and no hope, you let go. That's what I did." (Story here.)

When an open-wheel car hits something the steering wheel usually spins violently and holding on to it is a fantastic way to get your wrists snapped like dry twigs.

So during Johnson's crash it struck me as completely ridiculous for DW to say that Jimmie was following Danica's example because, well, it never occurred to me that stock car drivers don't react the same way in a crash as open-wheel drivers. But now I wonder if I'm wrong wrong. Maybe it IS accurate that Jimmie went to school on Danica's demonstration of an open-wheel practice. SO, help me out. I have not seen enough stock car crashes to know what common practice is.

So, since I can't ask Jimmie, help me out in the comments ... was it unusual for Jimmie to let go of the wheel as he did? I may need to send DW an apology.

UPDATE: I tweeted the question to Jimmie Johnson and this exchanged ensued ...

So there you have it. I don't owe Darrell an apology after all ...

Comments

[KahneFrancis5]

No it wasn`t cause if you look at Kasey Kahne`s wreck he let go of the wheel too. Just like Danica and Jimmie did. I also owe DW an apology

[KelseyUSA]

Depending on the nature of the wreck, I don't recall ever seeing many Nascar drivers remove their hands from the wheel. I'm not talking about Speedweeks races this year. They might at the last second, but I don't think it has ever been as big of a risk to hold on as it is in IndyCar.

[Deb Drake]

I watch a lot of Nascar, and I don't recall seeing it before. Doubtless some of the other guys do it, but I would imagine there were those who saw the Danica clip and thought "hey, good idea."

I do recall a guy years ago at my local 1/3 mile track breaking his wrist because he got caught in the wheel when he spun - and he never even hit anything.

[Tammy Kaehler]

Isn't that a standard practice in sportscar racing as well? Also, do they take their feet off the pedals at the last minute, too? I would think a driver wouldn't want to be pushing against the impact, so to speak.

[FTHurley]

I think it comes down to whether the driver has raced a car without power steering before. Power steering helps dampen the violent reaction of the steering wheel in an accident. My guess is that this is why Kasey Kahne does it but some of the guys who came up through stock cars don't as much.

[Jeff H]

This was absolutely baffling to me. I was a pretty casual racing fan in the 90's as a teen, a non-fan for many years, and have only just started to get back into open wheel in the past 7 years or so again as a fan...and I feel like I have ALWAYS heard that you let go of the wheel, particularly when you're about to hit the wall. I assumed this was a rule for all racing disciplines. It could make sense that it's more of a danger in open wheel (exposed tires = bigger risk of violent direction change???), but I doubt it. And actually, the NASCAR wheel is larger and could arguably have more momentum behind it, so the risk should be greater. I was stunned by this all weekend that they pretended like it was an "Indy" thing.

[mike]

Kasey Kahne raced sprints and midgets and even atlantics for one year before NASCAR. I recall seeing a lot of NASCAR wreaks where guys don't take their hands off the wheel and their thumbs/wrists usually turn out fine, but I doubt DP is the first driver to ever do it as they make it sound. I'm sure different drivers do different things, I also recall a few years ago Rusty Wallace describing he liked to take his arms and legs off the pedals, leaning forward ball up when about to take a big impact (I guess that was before the days of HANS).

[Keith_KaGee]

Think what would have happened to Kyle in the Shootout if he took his hands off the wheel? ;)

[Jeff Downer Indianapolis, IN]

DW still owes us fans a apology for that "Ickey Suffle.".

[Ancient_Racer]

Well, as others have said, I do not recall seeing it before, and I've been a fan since 1958, but I am willing to think it may be, given the attention to Danica's wreck, the "New Car effect." You know, like when you buy a new car you see the same car everywhere when before you bought it you did not see any.

[bradman]

I think it may also depend on what type of steering box a car has. Most formula cars have rack and pinion steering in which the force of a wheel being turned suddenly by hitting a wall can be transmitted through the mechanism pretty directly and forcefully to the steering wheel. If a car has some form of worm steering box (worm and roller; recirculating ball) that sort of mechanism will not transmit such energy as directly and forcefully to the steering wheel. At least that has been my understanding. Please let me know if I'm full of hooey.

[redcar]

I think they've always let go of the wheel in Nascar, it was just a more last-minute, open your hand thing. The big difference I noticed--demonstrated several times this weekend by Daniker--is how Jimmy and Kasey pulled their arms back onto their chest, or helmet in D.'s case.

Waltrip has been around long enough, racing and broadcasting, to know plenty. And he recognized that it looked very different.

[Chris]

Certainly makes a change from DW claiming that NASCAR pioneered SAFER barriers and the HANS device ...

[BVielhaber]

Methinks DW was a little too excited with the Monday Night crowd and the fact that the race finally started and that's why he gave Danica all the credit. I don't know if he was intentionally making the connection because he knew the amateur status of last night's audience or if FOX was priming their talent to over-explain, over-connect everything, but I didn't think Johnson did it because Danica did it. I think in some cases, the drivers believe they can wheel themselves out of any pickle, but that particular one was not to be, and Johnson knew it.

[GeorgeK]

I think it's circumstantial; light contact with walls/cars, keep control, hold on and try to recover. When a HARD impact is evident, let go.

[Karen Kinnard]

Since the in car cameras, we all have a better idea of the violence that goes on inside that car during an impact. I have see this before in NASCAR and other racing sports. We've all see Dale Earnhardt Jr just let go of the wheel, not cross his hand on his chest as JJ and KK did. I've watch Tony Stewart let go of the wheel during a very hard impact. What Danica, Jimmie and Kasey did was just pure muscle memory. I believe DW had good intentions of trying to explain why Danica threw her hands up beside her helmet. Not to let us know she was paniced, just because its what she has always done in a crash to protect her hands and arms. Jimmie Johnson has done this before, its what he does if its an impact he can't control. So, to DW, its not an Indy Car thing, it's a race car driver thing.

[S0CSeven]

If Mike Joy is the only annonouncer that can speak English (past grade 5) what would you expect from 'ol boogity boogity when he's told to hype Darnica?

As I recall it, Danica "taught them what to do" when about to hit something solid. I guess all those other ex-open wheelers must have forgotten that.

You go Danica....... but now the NASCAR fans will have to put up with all the bullshit we did .....which is NOT her fault.

At least the 'Danica 500'at Daytona was interrupted on lap 1.

[E]

Danica also taught Mario, A.J. and Petty the wheel release move.

[Ron Ford]

I can take about 20 minutes of ol' DDubya, but 6 hours? Sheesh!

When stories first began to appear about the possibility of Danica moving to Nascar ol' DW expressed the opinion (available on YouTube) that a woman could not handle a NasCar car-cars too heavy, races too long, etc. Now he is suggesting that she is teaching things to NasCar drivers. As the world turns.

[homer]

this is standard in F1 too, even if you're a passenger, you tend to keep hands on wheel until impact is imminent, then hands OFF.

[pressdog]

Thanks for the comments. Just updated this with the my full exchange Twitter exchange with Jimmie. I appreciate him setting us straight. I tend to agree with GeorgeK ... light contact in a stock car - hang on. Big hit- let go. Danica/other open-wheelers probably have to get the hang of the situational let go deal.

[Leigh O'Gorman]

To be honest, I've never known a racing driver to not knowingly take his/her hands off the wheel when they're about to crash, irrespective of single-seaters, touring cars or sportscars.
My jaw dropped a bit when he DW made that comment.

[Becbeat555]

Bill, thanks for the great blog. I also think that DW went overboard with his comments about Jimmie following Danica's example. However, DW did have a point when he later said that we've seen lots of in-car cameras, but we haven't seen that move used very much until recently. I think Karen makes a good point that it's the folding of hands along the chest that we haven't seen as much. It makes sense to me that if it's a big hit and a driver realizes he can't save it or correct it, it's better to just let go.

[Deb Drake]

A follow up comment. I think a lot of it is muscle memory/a learned response particularly in drivers from a background where the wheels are more exposed.

One thing I remember from the Sport's Illustrated photo of Stan Fox's big crash at Indy was that even though he was probably knocked out at that point, his arms were folded.

[John S]

Ton of comments. Must be a Danica thread. All these comments and no one mentioned that drivers pull hands and feet inward to avoid them flying around the cockpit and slamming into rollbars and dashboards etc. These are also a source of broken ankles and wrists. (Love the 'Dog)

[Bent Wickerbill]

I am fairly certain that Danica places her hands on her faceshield (conditioned response) because there is no windshield in an Indy Car and when debris is flying around the track in a crash, one's hands may be the only thing that prevent some high velocity projectile from penetrating ones faceshield...