Lug nuts. Dangerous?

[Apache Racing]

I was always wondering why Nascar allowed the pit crews to just let the removed Lug nuts zing all over the place during a pit stop, and not have them collected.

You would think sometime a car peeling out of the pits has got to launch on of those back and hit someone.

Almost like a loose rocks on the side of the road, you could pelt someone with lug nuts.
Considering the weight of them, I am really surprised I have never heard of anyone being injured, and no preemptive rule to make sure it doesn't happen.


Any thoughts?

Duck

[KurtBuschFan]

I thought about that the very first year I watched, but if you watch how the drivers usually pull outta their pits, they'll rarely run over where the lug nuts drop to.  And of course they sweep up their pit box after the driver leaves....if it's a problem, nothing will change until someone gets seriously injured.

[Apache Racing]

h I understand how they pull outta their box, but what about when they have a full pit road, and drive over the lug nuts from the pit in front of them?

I agree though, don;t think we will see a change or any mention till someone gets hurt.
I guess forethought is just to hard sometimes.

Duck

[KurtBuschFan]

Of course...never thought about driving through the pits in front of them.  But I don't know that they would necessarily have a problem with that since you usually see the teams sweep up the lug nuts following each pit stop.

[Apache Racing]

Of course...never thought about driving through the pits in front of them.  But I don't know that they would necessarily have a problem with that since you usually see the teams sweep up the lug nuts following each pit stop.

Well I was thinking of a yellow flag stop, when they all are in, and all leaving around same time, before they can sweep.


Duck

[KurtBuschFan]

Hmmm...don't know.  You know now I'm gonna be watching the pit stops very closely the next few weeks now.

[Apache Racing]

Hmmm...don't know.  You know now I'm gonna be watching the pit stops very closely the next few weeks now.

Well I'm glad I made pit stops a bit more interesting for ya.. 

Duck

[KurtBuschFan]

I kinda wanna rewind the truck race here and see what they do there....but I've just started the green-white-checker...Hornaday is gonna beat Allmendinger, but A.J. is gonna win a truck race very very soon.

[Apache Racing]

Was a great race.
Glad to see a Chevy in Victory Lane and not Toyota for change.

Duck

[KurtBuschFan]

Also great to see Ron's kiddos there on the truck in victory lane...and funny to see them trying to get the sponsor stuff on tv.  And great to have Ron win the first race with Camping World as a sponsor

[Chris]

just my 2 cents...
when yellow flag pits stops happen...
most all the cars (seem) to hit the pits at the same time, and are going into or out of THEIR pits when cars are in pits in front or behind them.
That being the case,.. I think it's kinda hard to run over the lugs from other cars just because you rarely drive threw their pit stalls.
NOW you do have a point.  Generally if a driver is going to kick up a lug nut it will be when he is exiting his own pits, and will be his OWN lug nuts.  Sometimes they will drop off and roll under the car.
If you watch a night race you'll see the lugs kick up when cars leave because of the sparks fly.
The crews have all the helmets, and other safety gear on so I doubt it would be a problem..... for YEARS they been doing this and never had anyone injured because of this.  And the crews USED to just wear t-shirts, matching jeans, no helmets, etc.  SO they are now more protected than ever.

Biggest issue I ever saw was getting run over by the other race cars.
Bill Elliott had a crew member get killed in the pits by (I think) Ricky Rudd at Atlanta while Bill was having the crew make a right side tire change.  That was what brought in the "pit road speed limit" (if I remember correctly)
Drivers USED to come in and get "as close as possible" to the opposing pit crew members just to see if they could "intimidate" them and throw them off their game making them mess up their pit stops.  Anything to gain an advantage... 
Must have been uncomfortable being a tire changer, having no pit road speed limit,.. and having drivers INTENTIONAL get as close as possible to you.
Those guys had some large kohonas

[Roswell]

Those guys had some large kohonas
 Yeah, just think what would happen if someone runs over one of those!!

[racin_girl72]

I remember hearing Robin Pemberton when he was Rusty's crew chief talk about a time when he used to be a tire changer.  He had a lug nut, a rather hot one, come flying back at him and go down his shirt.  Remember this was back when they wore regular shirts on pit road instead of fire suits.  He said it left quite a nasty mark.

[Racergiant]

When I was doing hot pits in the Winston West series - the lug nuts may have gotten zipped back at you from your driver going thru the pit stall ahead of you but, by the time the lug nuts got back near you, you were already back to the wall and they didn't have much force left by then anyway.

Plus - the firesuits are fairly thick and would give the crew a decent amount of cushioning from that kind of impact...

[falcon325]

Those guys had some large kohonas
 Yeah, just think what would happen if someone runs over one of those!!

ROSWELL!!!!!