A camera cable snapped at Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600. That alone doesn’t sound too bad, but when you rephrase it as “a huge cable snapped and fell across the track and stands, causing entire sections of people to get violently whipped every time a car came by and hit it,” it gets pretty terrifying. What you see above is a spectator’s perspective on the danger, featuring the horror of a possible impending death, and all the color you’d expect from the track crowd, namely

- people who won’t get out of the way, even when they’re about to get hurt
- a guy who tells everybody to “get down” but won’t stop filming the cable flapping in his face
- wooing
- people grabbing the cable, which is a totally smart thing to do when fast cars are pulling it

Here’s an excerpt from a first-hand account of the accident, courtesy of Yahoo Sports contributor Geoffrey Miller.

The cars raced toward us on the frontstretch, I grabbed my dad’s shoulder, pulled him down and we ducked between the seats.

After the field roared by, we stood up and joined the growing frenzy around us desperately waving and yelling to draw the attention of someone – anyone – who could bring the race to a halt.

No officials seemed to notice. Several fans tossed beers and other items toward the track, hoping the splashes would gain notice.

Still, a second time, the field raced towards us. Fans below us desperately yanked the cord from the track while others scurried out of the way or just simply ducked. Sections of fans all around us continued to holler. (via Yahoo)

Scary. Ten fans were injured and a bunch of stock cars were damaged, but thankfully they called a caution when they did and the situation didn’t turn out a lot worse. Here’s another, slightly more graphic angle of the accident, exclusive to With Leather:

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It’s very difficult to share a news story that starts with, “a man shot himself at the NRA 500,” and give it the proper gravity. A guy died, you know? That’s not funny.

At the same time, it’s so thematically notable that it makes sports bloggers feel like Oscar f**king Wilde, so we’ve got to talk about it. Here’s what happened at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night:

Fort Worth police have said a man who was camping in the infield died of a “self-inflicted injury” after getting into an argument with other campers. The incident happened late in the Sprint Cup race.

Police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight has said alcohol may have been a factor. Knight said several people witnessed the incident, but nobody was in danger.

Track spokesman Mike Zizzo say the death occurred “in or around a pickup truck” in part of the infield near the middle of the backstretch. (via AP)

I’ve read this a few times now, and aside from the obvious stuff (“guy shoots self at gun race”), the “in or around a pickup truck” part is hanging me up. My guess is that the track spokesman didn’t want somebody assuming the guy killed himself in a stock car or whatever, but at the risk of being assumptive and stereotypical, doesn’t EVERYTHING at a NASCAR race happen in or around a pickup truck? I say this as a proud, adoptive resident of Texas. “I bought some cotton candy in or around a pickup truck,” etc.

Predictably, not everyone believes a guy could shoot himself at an event sponsored by gun enthusiasts. Some folks are saying the story has been fabricated by the Elitist Liberal Media — Piers Morgan has already lost his shit about the NRA 500 a few times, and he pretty much does his show in a t-shirt reading “Elite Liberal Media” — so let’s jump over to YouTube and see what’s reasonable.

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Next Media Animation’s “Taiwan Animation” of the Daytona crash has all the absurdity and hyperbole you’d expect — fans being killed and turned into cheering ghosts, all the cars being Toyota Corollas because they don’t have a stock car stock animation, NASCAR literally erasing the video from YouTube — but the best part is easily the fact that nobody at NMA thought, “hey, it’s probably a bad idea to ask NASCAR fans what they think of this insulting, wacky parody video made by Asians.”

From the YouTube description:

As every NASCAR fan knows, you come for the crashes and stay for the races. But are NASCAR officials taking fan safety seriously enough?

NASCAR fans are stoic. Talk to any fan and they will admit to accepting some level of risk when watching the races live. Furthermore, the fine print on the back of admissions tickets would seem to absolve race officials of liability if fans are injured.

But despite the risks, are NASCAR officials doing enough to ensure no fan is ever hurt? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Predictably, NASCAR fans left their thoughts.

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Grave Digger is always a relevant metaphor.

Richie Reynolds was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, and his doctors told him that he has between 6 months and a year left to live. But instead of sitting around and feeling all sorry for himself, Reynolds decided it was time to enjoy life one last time, and his family agreed. So they called up the Sports Car Driving Association and worked out a deal to let Reynolds, a huge racing fan, get behind the wheel of a stock car and take a few laps on the track at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

I wish they would have also asked for a live AC/DC soundtrack, but I guess you can’t really push your luck with last wishes.

Reynolds said racing around the track made him forget all of his troubles.

“When it’s my time it’s my time,” he said. “It’s totally a dream come true. Never expected it in my wildest dreams.”

Richie’s feelings are if these are his last days, he may as well make them days of thunder. (Via WABC New York)

I think this is amazing, but then I’m a sucker for stories like these. I’m not sure it can get much better than a man finding out that he’s dying and his family showing their appreciation by fulfilling a dream that he probably never thought could come true. Unless maybe if a really attractive woman re-tells the story. And of course I can make that come true for us all.

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Stock NASCAR photo.

Greg Biffle hadn’t won a Sprint Cup race in almost two years before he overtook everyone’s least favorite NASCAR driver, Jimmie Johnson, to win the Samsung Mobile 500 yesterday in Ft. Worth, Texas. But in even better news, With Leather’s official favorite driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., took his place in Victory Lane on Friday night after he won the Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. Because we can, we take full credit for his victory.

Even better than all of that wonderful NASCAR news, though, is that self-proclaimed “TV news producer, writer, wife, asshole and owner of 2 dogs” Jenny Johnson Tweeted her experience at the Samsung Mobile 500 from the moment she started driving to Ft. Worth, and the result was pretty funny. That is, if you have a good sense of humor about NASCAR.

I don’t know anything about Johnson, other than pretty much every girl I know follows her on Twitter and they all think she’s a riot. However, I’m sure if you’re a NASCAR purist you won’t take too kindly to her playing off the stereotypes that everyone who goes to races – especially *clap clap clap* deep in the heart of Texas – is a toothless hillbilly redneck. As a NASCAR fan, though, I still get a kick out of the jokes, so let’s not take ourselves too seriously, y’all.

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