By The Commish

Tumblin’ Dice The notion that talented young drivers can be dangerous to themselves and other drivers isn't a new one in NASCAR. In 1995, Jeff Gordon's third season, he inadvertently triggered one of the worst wrecks that Talladega Superspeedway has ever seen. What made it worse was that his chief victim was his friend, teammate, and role model, Ken Schrader. Back then, the second Talladega race took place in mid-July when the track was slippery from the scorching heat.

Saturday's preliminary race set the tone, as the cars of both Randy LaJoie and Ward Burton flipped despite their newly-introduced Roush roof flaps, and sent Robbie Reiser to intensive care with head injuries from another crash. After the race, Cup series Director Gary Nelson, other NASCAR inspectors and Schrader's engineer Gary Eaker, an aerodynamics expert, spent more than an hour on the track trying to determine why the cars had flipped. "My opinion is that because the front of the car was on the apron and the back of it was on the banking, that contributed largely to the accident," Nelson concluded. "I'd like to think of it as a freak thing under unusual circumstances."

Still, the drivers were nervous going into Sunday's DieHard 500, and good behavior held for the early parts of the contest. On Lap 138 the field was going down the backstretch when Gordon barely grazed the left rear corner of Schrader’s Budweiser car, turning him sideways into Ricky Craven and starting a wicked 11-car melee. "It was a weird situation," Gordon said. "I fell in line behind Kenny and (Ricky) Craven was behind me. Ricky had so much momentum coming out of the turn and that gave me momentum. I could either run in the back of Kenny or try to dive down inside, so I tried to go inside. The car got loose and all of a sudden my right front touched Kenny. When I saw him airborne, it was very scary for me. I was very concerned for Kenny immediately."

Watching the wreck on YouTube provides a reminder of how frightening the wreck was. As Schrader's car turned, air got under the rear end and the car went airborne before it landed on its side at the bottom edge of the track and began a series of barrel rolls, sending the hood and sheet metal flying. It then stood on its nose, spun once and flipped several times before settling on its side. Miraculously, Schrader crawled out, black-eyed and sore but otherwise uninjured. When Schrader's car was hauled back to the pits, the only part still intact was the driver's roll cage.

Behind Schrader and Craven, other drivers were still wrecking, leaving the track littered with debris and damaged cars. Among those involved in the crash were Gordon’s third teammate Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield, Todd Bodine, Robert Pressley, and Bobby Labonte, who crawled out of the passenger side of his wrecked car, sat on the roof for a moment, then shook his fist at Gordon when the DuPont Chevrolet slowly passed on the next lap. "I know it was an accident, but, man, I feel awful," Gordon told his team on the radio during the ensuing caution. He was so distraught that Ray Evernham sought out Schrader after the driver was released from the infield care center to have him talk to the younger driver by radio. "The great thing about Kenny is he never seemed angry about it," Gordon said the following week. "He was on the radio before the race was over assuring me he was OK. He was trying to pump me up because he knew how upset I was."

Gordon finished the race in eighth place but remained distraught. "I can't apologize enough to Kenny. He should be kicking my butt right now. You know I'd never do that to my teammate. He means a lot to me," the younger driver explained. "Somebody got on the outside of me and I got loose and got into him a little bit. I never felt so bad in a race car after getting into somebody, especially my teammate, whom I respect a lot."

Gordon said the incident played a role in his slipping backward in the race, in which he ultimately finished eighth, even though he led the most laps. "It certainly played a role with my performance the rest of the race," he told reporters. "I was very upset at myself when I knew I was racing that hard when my tires were pretty worn out at that point," he said. But it was his relationship with Schrader, not the poor finish, that bothered the young Hoosier the most. "I never met anyone who didn't like that guy," Gordon said. "Kenny is a team player, and I feel like I'm a team player. He was having a good run, and he's had enough bad luck. He didn't need to have any more caused by me."

Even the following week, Gordon was still apologizing. "When I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Kenny up in the air, it scared me and upset me, especially it being a teammate and someone I respect so much. As soon as I got home, I called him. He wasn't home, so we didn't talk until Monday. I really didn't know what to say. It was a mistake on my part. I hope it never happens again."

Schrader, too, was still talking about the incident the following week. "I knew what was going to happen as soon as it went around backwards. It's happened to me a lot of times in sprint cars. Your hands go from the side of the steering wheel to the bottom of the steering wheel and you hold on real tight and just duck your head," he said. "I kept my head down and held onto the wheel as hard as I could until it stopped doing what it was doing. You think ESPN might show this a time or two?" With typical Schrader humor he added, "Turning over doesn't hurt you at all. It's when you touch down." He still teases Gordon about the episode. Both can laugh about it now.

The crash made Gordon re-evaluate his own driving style, though he didn't feel it would have any lasting effects. "I've been sideways at Talladega," Gordon said. "I've had my share of bangs and bruises in midget and stock-car racing. I hope it won't stop me from being aggressive. I've seen Dale Earnhardt drive the wheels off a car and he's taken some hard hits, but it hasn't slowed him down." Still, the young driver learned a lesson that day about driving with respect for his fellow competitors that he’s taken to heart over his career. Maybe somebody should forward those clips to some other young, talented drivers, before it’s too late.

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