Ricky Craven interview days after his Talladega wreck

[@holladay40]

hahaha looking at that seat now compared to the composite seats of today... and knowing there wasn’t Hans then. It’s crazy! These guys had no idea how bad ass as they were.

[@abservice968]

They'll say the same about these times in 30 years

[@SAVikingSA]

Hell, most of the guys use LaJoie seats now, go look at Randy's Daytona crash to see why he started building them.

[@evileeyore1093]

My favorite driver of all time. This guy took some of the hardest hits in NASCASR history and kept coming back time after time and never gave up. Many years of driving in inferior equipment he accomplished a lot for a guy who drove for independent teams after getting dumped by multi car teams who gave up on him. Was sad the day he retired. He got the closest win in NASCAR history over Kurt Bush and won races in all 3 of NASCAR's top 3 divisions which included Trucks. Thanks for the memories Ricky!

[@NCMarrk]

There are a few inaccuracies in your statement. I suggest you listen to this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6S3eqZ9fdmGopI

[@evileeyore1093]

@@NCMarrk Thanks for the link. Had not seen that. Doesn't change anything I commented on in my opinion. Not sure what you think is inaccurate, but OK. Dude was still the man. With all his physical issues, he came back time after time. He made the decision to keep racing and won. Sure, he stepped away for a year or so, but he had good reason. Then he came back, drove for a couple single car teams. He took Cal Wells and his single car team to victory(twice). He won for Rousch in the truck. (Should have gotten the 6 car from there when Martin stepped down). Saw his crew chief run him out of gas in a great run in the truck one evening in Milwaukee. He was fun to follow. One of the few drivers to have bowling balls made with his name on them. Class act. Have a good one. Drive fast, turn left! LOL

[@jeffkimble8857]

He was one of the unfriendliest drivers I have ever met. After 9/11, Charlotte Motor Speedway invited local fire departments to come to race. Several of firefighters were then selected to ride around the track with drivers in the back of pickup for the parade lap after introductions. I was in the truck with another firefighter and with Craven. He asked if I was with FDNY, I said no and said I was with a local dept. He turned away and never spoke again for the rest of the ride. I also used to get a fire helmet signed each year to raffle and raise money for a burn center. Most of the drivers were super nice and and happy to help firefighter causes. Craven was never the least bit friendly compared to other drivers. Even the I was not a Gordon fan, in one instance there was a crowd of about 20 people waiting for Gordon one day after practice. One of the people with Gordon said he would not be signing autographs that afternoon. However, Gordon pointed to me and said come with him and he brought me up into the hauler to sign the helmet and tell me how much he appreciated the firefighters.

[@Clrwatrtom]

Ditto that! I was in the OV Hill grandstand the day Ricky put the 41 in the turn 1 catch fence at Talledega, and spoke with him and Allen Bestwick that morning in the Winston tent. He recognized my brother in I as members of his hometown.

[@KellieLeigh48]

@jeffkimble8857 somehow I sense the CAP in your story is real

[@iLikePlanez]

I wish they still did this, like if there was a huge near death crash, they would show the car and how the driver survived to educate people that the next gen cars are pretty safe.

[@559043]

I miss NASCAR from the 90's

[@gregpeters8844]

That was my 1st dega race have been back every year since!

[@christophersmith8486]

Hell yeah!

[@kevincouture627]

Who cares

[@gameonsports69]

@@kevincouture627 who cares about you

[@3SZ]

@@kevincouture627 clearly people do otherwise they wouldn’t have liked the comment

[@JONISTI1]

Was there... sitting in the narrow grassy area on the backstretch not far off the fence... also saw Bill Elliott break his leg that same Day

[@stratslinger]

That was a sharp paint scheme

[@oldermusiclover]

i keep wondering why they never put those kind of fuel cells in passenger cars

[@mec4703]

One tough Mainer

[@sarah2930]

Look at this wreck & Dale Earnhardts Sr how & why did this guy live while Dale didn’t ?? Just asking no arguments

[@BigStretch__]

Because surviving crashing isn’t about how fast did you crash ….its about how fast did you Stop…dale sr head moved forward at 80 millisecond’s at 160. Ricky went air borne and the car was able to be slowed down as crashed

[@davidj.7227]

Is this car at the Talladega museum?

[@fearlessshadow5856]

Theres a huge gap in the A pillar

[@tylercole273]

Is this car demolished now or is it held in a musuem?

[@travisstoner7936]

It's in the Talladega Motorsports museum at the speedway if I am correct. Michael Waltrips car that he destroyed at Bristol when he hit the crossing gate is there also.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

And in some ways the NextGen is Safer. We can clearly see how well the frangible front & rear clip were deformable to protect the driver. This week Cody Ware, Alex Bowman & Kurt Busch are out with concussion like symptoms. This Craven Era car frankly has effective safety features that have been removed. Today, it appears to this fan that The Show has become *more* important than driver safety.

[@NCMarrk]

The front and rear clips back then were designed to absorb the impact of a crash, the cage was the more durable and strong point on the car. If they had today's seat designs along with the hans device it would have been a near perfect chassis design. Today's POS car is way to stiff and over engineered with little driver/crew chief input. What looks good in theory and design doesn't necessarily apply on the track, that's why testing was so important back then. Bill France once said, the car manufactures would never control Nascar, it seems they have now with bunch of clowns running it now.

[@robertstone9988]

Play didn't walk away they had to cut him out of it he had a broken back. Also the window that did not do its job his arm came out the window you can see it clearly and still pictures of the flip. He's lucky to be alive.

[@onamissionracing]

his arm never came out the window, i've seen lots of pictures and the window net is still in place in all of them?

[@phippstreecare]

Three or four cars went under him when he was in the fence🏁🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@titled_pksf7163]

Ricky craven flip scary 41 and 6 and 24

[@danieledwards1422]

Crash trivia...how many cars passed under Ricky while he was air bourn???

[@peytonsayers475]

5

[@Graderman3587]

He was lucky

[@andyhamilton8940]

Nascar priorities today: 1. Wokeness 2. Political correctness 3: Fixing Daytona 500 poles.

[@kawai99100]

Yes, I'm tired of every week making me feel like some terrible racist white person. Phil Lester and his rant on how we did him so bad. We just want to see some racing, we aren't against anyone.

[@BANGITSME87]

Awwwwww you’re a triggered little snowflake!!!

[@BANGITSME87]

@@kawai99100 ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

[@BANGITSME87]

@@kawai99100 Lester and Bubba are booed every single week. Keep telling yourself y0u aren’t against anyone triggered snowflake. Go back in your Trump bunker and leave us normal people be.

[@kawai99100]

@@BANGITSME87 Trump??? You are confused . I have nothing to do with politics. Lester booed every week. You know when the last he raced? Oh Bubba thinks he is nascar. A snow flake. Explain what you mean a little more in depth.

[@magpie-nn5ob]

Safety first in NASCAR is a joke. They don't allow tire telemetry.

[@andypage9]

You clearly don't know anything about NASCAR safety

[@magpie-nn5ob]

@@andypage9 Tell that to Ernie Irvan. If he had tire telemetry he wouldn't have almost lost his life at Michigan.

[@scottt3100]

Wrong

[@Celtics17]

I hate Craven he took my dad out in the Oxford 250 heats and still made the race.