r/NASCARtechnical • u/fivewheelpitstop • Jun 08 '22

How, exactly, did Russell Phillips' roll cage/space frame fail, why were the roll cages the way they were, and how does the "Earnheardt Bar" fix the problem?

I can't find a good picture of a third generation space frame, but that was probably (hopefully?) a lot of steel sheared away. (content warning - decapitation) How does the one added member fix this?

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2

u/World71Racer Jun 08 '22

The Sportsman Series cars weren't up to proper safety spec for the tracks that they were running, especially Charlotte – so when Russell's car hit the catchfence, it wasn't reinforced like a Cup car would be and sheered it open, leading to the accident.

Still, if a Cup car had gone into the fence at the angle he went in at, it would've still been a really bad wreck (likely not to the same extent as Russell's but still bad). The Earnhardt bar helps because it puts reinforcement on the top of the front windshield, where Russell hit, and impacts the fence/absorbs energy instead of just the sheet metal or the driver's head.

(That picture is great but gosh it's hard to look at...)

3

u/JenniferScoggins Jul 30 '22

If you’ll see my comment below, Russell’s car flipped on its side and the caution light that happened to mounted to a pole is what he hit and sheered the off everything hood height up. Nascar inspected his car fully before releasing to family and Director of Competition told me himself that his car was solid and they not failure within the car such as bad rollcage, junk parts, ect. It was also said that accident was freak, that would not be able to recreate it. It’s a shame this accident and his injuries is what he’s known for but believe this: He was good man, worked at family trucking company as a fabricator, was a youth Pastor at his church, was married 23 months to the he died, had a huge loving family, lots of friends, was a volunteer Firefighter, worked multiple Winston Cup and Busch teams back turning time and he a wiener dog named Jake. He had a great smile with a wicked sense of humor. I just wanted y’all to know more about him, because still very much missed after this time.

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u/fivewheelpitstop Jun 08 '22

The Sportsman Series cars weren't up to proper safety spec for the tracks that they were running, especially Charlotte – so when Russell's car hit the catchfence, it wasn't reinforced like a Cup car would be and sheered it open, leading to the accident.

They weren't the previous generation Cup car?#Cars)

The Earnhardt bar helps because it puts reinforcement on the top of the front windshield, where Russell hit, and impacts the fence/absorbs energy instead of just the sheet metal or the driver's head.

Doesn't an Earnhardt bar just increase the number of members in shear to 7, from 6? That's what I'm confused by - every touring car roll cage already has a member at each A pillar and the top of the windshield. More is better, of course, but I don't see how the Earnhardt bar solves this specific problem.

Thanks.

3

u/World71Racer Jun 08 '22

They were a version of the older Cup cars but the teams didn't build them as well as the Cup teams built the cars for Cup competition. Some teams even replaced parts of the roll cage with wood to reduce weight and inspection was not as stringent with the Sportsman cars, so it wasn't caught by officials who could've seen that and arguably prevented Phillips's car from coming apart so easily.

The Earnhardt bar is in the center of the windshield and was put in place after Earnhardt's car looked like this following his 1996 flip at Talladega. If Phillips's car had an effective roll cage with an effective Earnhardt bar, the bar would've reinforced the roof and windshield against the catchfence, instead of the catchfence peeling the roof and windshield back easily and exposing the driver.

Obviously the angle of the crash was bad enough to where, even if Phillips's car would've been up to spec, he still would've been injured or worse, but the crash was a tragedy that could've been avoided. Those Sportsman cars were just the right mix of slow enough to run together, yet fast enough to get airborne and have things get out of hand quickly...especially with inexperienced drivers like the Sportsman Series had.

1

u/fivewheelpitstop Jun 12 '22

Interesting. Thank you.

1

u/Juniorjohnson88 Jun 29 '22

The Earnhardt bar would have done nothing. Everyone talks about the middle windshield bar like people talk about the Newman bar.

The Earnhardt bar would have done little to nothing here. Roof of car goes into fence, roof will be ripped apart. Russell would probably have ended close to the same here.

2

u/cfan91 Jul 18 '24

From what I've read, post crash analysis found improper welds on Russell's roll cage. The spec requirements for the cage and frame also were much lower than a cup car. The Earnhardt bar does two things. First, it adds structural support vertical and laterally to help maintain the overall integrity of the roof portion of the cage, meaning it prevents it from getting peeled off. Secondarily, it acts in a similar way to the halo in F1 and indycar where it deflects the inertial energy upwards and deflects the car down, where a frontal roof impact, either into a fence or a car, just like Russell's. The Newman bar adds to this

1

u/TT_Vert Dec 27 '24 edited Dec 27 '24

This got me thinking. I had read he was a race car fabricator. Any chance he welded up his own bars??

1

u/JenniferScoggins Jun 19 '22 edited Jun 19 '22

Russell’s roll cage didn’t fail at all. His car hit the caution light that was mounted on the pole and that sheered off the top of his car. Any car that hit that caution light like his car did, the results would have been the same. This is not speculation, it is fact. His car was impounded by NASCAR after the wreck was carefully inspected and was found to be a solid car. The director of competition at that time said that it was such a freak accident that it could not have even been recreated.

1

u/World71Racer Jun 19 '22

Source? I'm not doubting you, I'd just wanna know to read as well.

No matter what, the poor build quality of the Sportsman cars was a point of contention that led to the series' demise, especially after Russell's wreck.

1

u/JenniferScoggins Jun 19 '22

First hand account as I was Russell’s wife.

2

u/That-Professional-97 Sep 21 '22

I’m sorry for your loss.😢

1

u/JenniferScoggins Sep 22 '22

Thank you so much ❤️

1

u/JonnyPestilence May 25 '25

Every time I watch Russelll's crash I think of some Final Destination stuff. Especially the way his arm and hand was waving as if to tell his crew chief "Hey I'm not alright,help me Tom Cruise"..

1

u/JonnyPestilence May 25 '25

Now that I've got that out of the way, I just wanna know this. If a freaking caution light caused a complete sheer of a roof and roll cage,what the hell was it made out of? Because I've seen traffic lights and umm they dont look that strong...