Sudden Impact:
Remembering some big NASCAR crashes by Ben White, NASCAR Illustrated April 2005 issue
[Excerpt]
Michael Waltrip defies all odds in crash at Bristol Race: Budweiser 250
Date: April 7, 1990
Track: Bristol Motor Speedway
Of all the crashes in NASCAR history, the one possibly remembered most is that of Michael Waltrip's frightening experience during a NASCAR Busch Series event in 1990 during the Budweiser 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Once Waltrip's Pontiac got into the wall, it exploded before a stunned and silent crowd.
"We reached lap 171 of the 250 laps in the race," Waltrip said eight years later. "On the way to the front, I was passing Robert Pressley; I was on the outside of him, I got on the outside of Pressley. He didn't have a ton of experience, and he really didn't know what he was doing exactly right that day. He moved over and hit my left front tire with his car and it shot me right into that wall.
"I didn't see the opening in the wall. I thought I was at least going to hit the wall good enough to bend the car and definitely put us out of the race for the day. When it hit, my mind was thinking, 'This won't be any real big deal.' Then I remember I couldn't get my breath. I didn't knock my head on anything, but I tried and tried and couldn't get my breath.
"Likewise, I blacked out. I remember not being able to breathe for a minute and panicking. The next thing I remember I was coming to, and I remember as plain as day sitting there and a bunch of people messing with me and looking at me. I didn't understand why they were so tore up about the wreck.
"Later, I found out the biggest part of the car left intact was the seat I was sitting in. The car had broken in two. Several parts of the car were embedded in the retaining wall, including the passenger side door part of the roll cage and the right front tire.
"When I came to, I was afraid to look down because I thought I might have lost something. I did look down, and there was my feet, my legs, and everything looked pretty normal.
"Where the motor was supposed to be, I saw I could slide right out. I slipped out the front and stood right up.
"When I saw the wreck on video, I just could not believe it. I was asking if we could fix the car and dumb things like that, and the people in the hospital were saying, 'Just sit here and wait until you see this.' When I saw it, all I could say was, 'Man!'
"I shouldn't have hit the end of a wall. That was a bad deal to do on a race track. When I did, it just tore the car apart. I was just very blessed and very lucky. That day, we experienced a miracle."
Sudden Impact: