“I just blew right over” - Harrison Burton talks about how a NASCAR car feels upside down

21-year-old Harrison Burton made his debut in the NASCAR Daytona 500 this Sunday. Unlike many other drivers, though, his debut was not something to remember well.

The Ford Mustang car #21 driver led three laps in his debut at the 200-lap race. His maiden appearance, however, was cut short when he flipped in a multi-car accident on lap 62. The wreck saw him finish 39th in the race.

Fortunately, Burton escaped the incident unharmed. On being asked what the car felt like upside-down, he replied:

“I don’t know. I’ve never had another one upside-down, so I don’t have any reference. Obviously, it got real light and blew over right. I don’t know if it was the diffuser that did it or what, but once I got backwards I just blew right over. As far as the cockpit and everything is safe. I didn’t get hit hard at all. Luckily, all good there and we’ll move on.”

Although the Wood Brothers Racing driver was disappointed with his outing at Daytona International Speedway, he was optimistic about his chances going forward. He said:

“I’m fine. I’ve hit a lot harder before, that’s for sure. It’s just unfortunate. I hate it for the Wood Brothers group. They brought a really fast Ford Mustang down here and ended up on our lid, so that’s never good. I’d like to look back and see what happened. I don’t know, I just got pushed and didn’t take it the right way – the car didn’t take it the right way or got pushed in the wrong spot. I’m not sure. I couldn’t really tell. I was looking out front to see what I had to do next to side draft the next guy that was on me, so just a bummer. I don’t really know what we could have done different, but we’ll move on and get better from it.”

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NASCAR places strong emphasis on safety

Crashes like that of Harrison Burton, or the recent Myatt Snider wreck in the Xfinity Series, appear horrific to the viewer. Fortunately, they are not fatal, and drivers usually escape incidents with minor injuries, or at the very least, shaken. This, however, was not the case some years ago.

In 2000, the sport lost three drivers in Tony Roper, Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin across its three national series. It was, however, the fourth death that triggered a chain reaction in NASCAR – the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001.

Losing a legendary driver in Earnhardt Sr. pushed the officials at NASCAR to introduce safety measures, something they were reluctant to do in the earlier years. Subsequently, the Research and Development Center opened in 2002, which brought in a number of changes to the sport.

In 2001, NASCAR mandated drivers use HANS (Head And Neck Support restraint) devices. These devices are considered to be one of the most crucial developments in ensuring safety, especially preventing basilar skull fractures – the reason behind Earnhardt Sr.’s demise.

That, coupled with energy-absorbing SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers, six-point harness systems, updated roll-bars and changes in rules and regulations, has brought about the safety that we see in today’s NASCAR.