Flashback Friday: Sonoma Raceway's treacherous Turn 1
Over the past few seasons, NASCAR road course races have appeared more like short track events with the level of beating and banging that takes place on the track.
However, big wrecks are nothing new at Sonoma Raceway.
The tricky road course in California wine country has been known to tear up sheet metal and get the best of competitors.
The 1999 running of the Sprint Cup race at Sonoma featured two spectacular wrecks at the end of the front straightaway just before the big uphill climb to Turn 2.
The first incident occurred on Lap 26 when Steve Park's No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet was turned around going into Turn 1. His car slid backward, hitting an earthen embankment protected by a tire barrier. The contact sent Park's car spiraling in the air like a toy car before landing right side up on top of the tire barriers. Park was able to walk away from the incident.
Nearly 70 laps later, Ken Schrader would find himself in a very similar predicament. Schrader's car spun and backed into the tire barriers at nearly the same spot Park had hit earlier in the race. While Schrader's car did not catch as much air as Park's, it did land on the roof. A track safety worker was quickly on the scene to help pull Schrader from the heavily damaged car.
Eight years prior in 1991, Richard Petty suffered a hard head-on crash at the end of the front straightway. "The King" hit the tire barriers that were protecting a concrete wall, destroying the front of the No. 43 STP Pontiac. After a few tense moments, Petty climbed from his car and walked into the ambulance under his own power.
While road course races as of late may have appeared more rough-and-tumble as in year's past, Sonoma Raceway has always been a track that can tear up equipment in a big way.
