8 Fans Injured as NASCAR Cup Car Hits Catch Fence

If you didn't see the end of the Aaron's 499 at Talladega today, you missed a pretty spectacular ending. Carl Edwards ended up in the air and into the catch fence on the front stretch as he battled for the win on the last lap (from NASCAR.com):
Despits severe damage to his car, including holes torn in the windscreen on the passenger side, Carl climbed out and jogged to the finish line on foot.

However, the fans in the stands didn't have the benefit of all the safety devices that Carl had and eight were injured:

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Eight Sprint Cup fans were injured on the final-lap wreck that sent the No. 99 Ford of driver Carl Edwards airborne into the safety fence on the front stretch at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

The incident occurred at the conclusion of the Aaron's 499 race that was won by rookie driver Brad Keselowski.

Fans were treated for what were described as mostly minor injuries from flying debris, according to NASCAR official Jim Hunter and Dr. Bobby Lewis, medical director of the track. Neither Hunter nor Lewis could say with certainty whether the pieces of debris came from Edwards' car or from the fence, which suffered considerable damage after absorbing the high-speed impact.

"After the incident that occurred on the last lap, we are treating seven patients for injuries received from flying debris," Lewis said. "The injuries appear to be minor and non-life threatening. One female patient is being transported by air, because of traffic, for further evaluation and treatment."

The fan transported by air to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital was being treated for facial injuries that included what Lewis described as a minor laceration of her lip and "possibly a broken jaw."

Lewis added that an eighth patient, also a female, was air-lifted to nearby Brookwood Hospital after suffering chest pains that occurred during or shortly after she witnessed the incident while sitting in the same grandstand section as the others who were injured.

It was a similar crash by Bobby Allison back in the 80's that gave rise to the restrictor plates and slower speeds. However, at 190+ mph you can still get one of these cars airborn under the right circumstances.

I'm guessing they'll be looking even harder at ways to slow these cars down.