2000 Brickyard 400

The 2000 Brickyard 400, race number 18 at Brickyard Motor Speedway, is widely considered one of the most historic Brickyard 400's of all time. The reason why is because of an 18 car crash caused by Chick Hicks on lap 159 which involves part-time racer Ralph Carlow getting into the catch fence at more than 285 kmh and badly hurt. The fact 18 cars crashed in the big one on lap 148, plus three racers retiring earlier and two racers crashing later means only 14 of the 36 racers finished.The crash even involves Johnny Blamer in it as this was one of his many, many DNFs in his career.

 The amount of g force in Carlow's crash was a terrifying 52g!!, which is the 3rd highest ever recorded in Piston Cup history with only the crashes of Morris Axler in the 1963 Calladega 500 at 57g and Murray Clutchburn in the 1990 Nightdona 500 at 60g.

Carlow would miss the next 6 races (without replacement as Lee Jr's debut year was 2001) before returning briefly for the Boston 350 and does not attend the next couple of races until he made a proper return in the Fei 400 (race 26). He had no backups due to being part-time and also because he went rookie in 2001 and Lee Jr debuted in the same year.

Rusty Cornfuel and James Cleanair (who has serious injuries) were also BADLY damaged and were replaced by Clarkson and Aikens for one race. James was hit in the underside by Todd Marcus.

The 13 that finished were winner Chuck Armstrong, Claude Scruggs in 2nd, Eugene Carbureski in 3rd, Chick Hicks (the one who caused the accident) in 4th, rookie Davey Apex SOMEHOW in 5th, Ponchy Wipeout in 6th, rookie Slider Petrolski in 7th, Murray Clutchburn in 8th, Misti Motorkrass in 9th, Aiken Axler in 10th, Ernie Gearson in 11th, Ryan Shields in 12th and Winford Rutherford in 13th.

The reason the accident happened is Chick bumped Billy Oilchanger and sent him into the other cars.

Sadly The King was involved. The race was red-flagged and restarted normally.

The race was extended to 203 laps, due to green/white/checker, because Lee Revkins blew an engine.

## Television Biography

Network: RSN

Announcers: Bob Cutlass and Darrell Cartrip

## Transcript

### The Big One

Chick: Get out mother-(Seal Bark)!

(Pushes Billy Oilchanger)

Billy: STUPID CHICKEN HICKS!

Darrell: OH NO! MULTIPLE CARS INVOLVED!

Bob: THE KING INVOLVED! AND WHAT THE (Dolphin Censor)!? HOW DARE THE GODLY RUBY EASY OAKS IS IN IT! ALL THE GODLY LEGENDS ARE INVOLVED! THE KING, DALE JR, AND NONE OTHER THAN RUBY FREAKIN **DIFFICULT** OAKS!!!

(Bob bawls and hugs Darrell)

Darrell: OH NO NO! **THE GODLIEST RACER EVER! CARLOW IN THE CATCH FENCE! SEVERE DAMAGE! JAMES CLEANAIR SIDEWAYS IN THE OUTSIDE WALL AND TODD MARCUS HIT HIM ON THE UNDERSIDE!**

Bob (stopped crying): HORRIFIC STUFF HAPPENED HERE TODAY AT INDIANAPOLIS! RUSTY CORNFUEL IN THE AIR ONCE AND HITS THE GROUND RIGHT ON HIS ROOF AND FLIPS ONCE AND THEN LANDS ON HIS WHEELS! (cries again and worse) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

(on the track)

The King: Is everyone ok?

Greg: I'm ok.

Johnny Blamer: Yeah me too.

The King: Surprising coming out of you Johnny.

Johnny Blamer: Do I crash that bad all the time... I'm fine for real!

Kevin Shiftright: GUYS COME HERE!

The King: Okay Kevin.

Kevin Shiftright: Oil! Oil is leaking out of Ralph Carlow! Rusty Cornfuel is damaged too and so is James Cleanair.

James: I can't see a thing, guys! Have I gone blind?

The King: No you haven't James. You are on your side facing the outside wall.

James: Aikens will replace me for sure. I feel like my engine is malfunctioning and my oil is leaking a bit.

Rusty: Clarkson will replace me for sure. My roof is badly hurt while I flipped as well.

The King: I guess settles you two but now moving on to the important part. Ralph Carlow.

Kevin Shiftright: OH NO HE SEEMS TO BE ***DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***

The King: What?

Dirkson: King, how the hell did you and Ruby stay calm all the time during these situations!

The King: Well my father helped me during my first big crash and he was very calm during the times his fellow racers crashed back in the early '50s, obviously including the Hudson Hornet's crash in 1954.

Dirkson: Now I get it. Not bad for a rookie like Dale Jr.

Dale Jr: You're right, Dirk.

### Roger and Luke see King is involved

Roger: OH NO OUR KING IS INVOLVED (cries) I JUST SAW MANNY FLYWHEEL HIT HIS SIDE! NOOOOO!

Luke (Cries): NO NO NO!

(Dinoco Team Radio)

The King: Don't panic guys! I'm alright. We should worry about Ralph Carlow. He hit the catch fence hard just now.

Roger: Oh.

Luke: He's okay!

Claude: OMG, MISTI!!

Misti: Yes?

Claude: THE KING SURVIVED!!

Misti: HELL YEAH!

Claude: SOME GOOD NEWS, RIGHT!?

Misti: YEAH!

Ponchy: But RALPH CARLOW! HE IS MOST CERTAINLY D.E.A.D or DEAD! JAMES BRUSH BETTER BE ON THE SCENE!

The King: He will be. It's James, so obviously he will help him. I wish it was Fred Watcar though. He could fix up Carlow into a race-worthy condition in seconds.

Roger: SECONDS!?

Luke: FREAKING SECONDS!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

The King: Yeah. Remember back in 1973 when I crashed? Fred Watcar and his wife Anne helped me get back into shape quickly even though I missed eight races. They may very well be the only reason I got 7 world championship titles. I could have very well died that day but I did not, and it's all thanks to them.

(Roger starts to cry)

Roger: I SALUTE YOU MR WATCAR! YOU SAVED MY RACER'S LIFE!

(Back to Bob and Darrell)

Bob: James Brush on the scene. HE IS SHAKING HIS HEAD!

Darrell: This-This means. CARLOW IS GONE! (cries) NO NO NO!

Bob (crying): But Carlow is in the ambulance! I guess he MIGHT survive but most likely not.

(back to the track)

James: Those (Yee) idiots... I shook my head because we knew Ralph was beaten up pretty badly. But he will live.

River: Thanks for explaining James.

James: Ralph will miss some races, but he will live fine.

River: Thank you. Anyway, we're with James who said "Those (Triggered) idiots" as well as Indy 500 and CARCA legend Johnny Rutherford. What do you feel about Ralph as well as all you racers?

James: Bad.

Johnny Rutherford: Surely worse than what I have seen in my career. I remember seeing Al Unser Sr. flipping badly back in 1978, he was in critical condition and he missed the 1979 Indy 500.

The King: Yeah, very bad.

Roger: NOOOO! HE IS GOING TO (2x Seal Bark) DIE!

Luke (cries): Ralph's gone.

Chick (nervous): I-I-I never thought it would come to this.

Murray: Oh no.

Ryan: WHY WOULD HE HAVE A BAD CRASH!?

Johnny (cries): WAAAAAAAIIIIIII!? THIS IS NOT FEEEEEERRRRR!!!!

River: It's okay, Johnny- I mean, back to you Bob and Darrell! Sorry.

Darrell: Well, thanks, River. We'll be back with more flag to flag racing footage in just a moment while we are stopping the Brickyard 400 of 2000.

### Conditions on Carlow (3 days later on RSN News)

River: We're here with Fred Watcar. And conditions on Ralph Carlow are updated. Fred?

Fred: He is alive. But he is seriously hurt and thankfully he did not end up in a coma, like Robert Johnson in 1959.

River: Okay back to Bob and Darrell in the news.

NOTE: While Watcar retired in 1993 he still checked seriously injured racers until his death in 2001.