This is one of the most wild, incredible, and flat out shocking wrecks in NASCAR history. The best part is that Michael Waltrip walked away from it and completed a 500 lap race at Bristol the next day. What you are about to see is cool. This fan shot NASCAR footage from Bristol 1990 shows Michael Waltrip’s wreck but it has been edited and given both context and play by play overlay from the race broadcast of the same day. There’s loads of neat stuff in here but the history and detail shown are the best parts.
Race cars hitting gates is a thing that has taken many a life in professional (and amateur) competition. From the likes of NHRA drag racing to open wheel and stock car racing, gates at tracks are a necessary but highly dangerous evil. We’re not sure a single person on Earth has hit a gate with as much destructive repercussion as Michal Waltrip did in 1990s and lived. Not only lived, but raced the next day.
The car is beyond decimated and this was a crash on a track that isn’t even one of the fastest, especially in 1990. That’s one last piece of context. We know what Bristol looks like today. It is very quaint in 1990. It is not totally encircled with 150,000 seats, the OG concrete stands can be seen, and the infield is even wide open with nary a tractor trailer truck in sight.
This is a really neat video.
