Retired NASCAR veteran Elliott Sadler says he was involved in a crash that was so alarming that he was privately shown it once and the footage has been sealed away ever since.
During an appearance on the Dale Jr Download this week, Earnhardt and Sadler shared recollections about the two biggest crashes the latter was known for throughout his four-decade NASCAR career, one that occurred in 2000 at Michigan International Speedway and the other at Pocono Raceway in 2010.
First, this crash at Pocono:
Fans have long speculated there was additional video content that NASCAR had shelved and Earnhardt wanted to know if there was some merit to that.
“The crash at Pocono where it ripped the motor out,” Earnhardt asked. “There’s this small cult group following or whatever that believe there’s something that happened in that wreck that NASCAR doesn’t want anybody to know about. What in the world is that?”
Sadler said there’s no there, there.
“With the Pocono wreck, there is nothing that NASCAR is hiding,” Sadler said. “The reason there’s not a good picture of the wreck, where I hit at is too far off the track. Like, there’s no camera angle for it.
“There’s a wreck on the backstretch. I slow down. My teammate runs into me and pushes me across the grass. I’m thinking, ‘I’m just going to nose off this wall here. It’s not going to hurt.’
“All the sudden, when it hits, it hurt. I had no idea, the fence made a V [shape] with the earth behind it, keeping it where it wouldn’t give any. I got out, saw the engine. I just kind of laid on the track and just waited for somebody to come get me.”
NASCAR sealed Michigan crash footage
It’s this crash that is hiding footage from.
“What is the wreck where there is some video evidence that NASCAR’s hiding,” Earnhardt asked. “We’re gone get in trouble with big brother here.”
Sadler doesn’t have anything to hide anymore.
“I’m not going to get in trouble. I don’t do anything anymore,” Sadler said. “In 2000, I wrecked at Michigan in practice. In the Wood Brothers Citgo car. They say a piece of exhaust pipe had feel off. I’m going down the front straight-away and all I heard was a boom.
“We blew the right rear tire. And, when it blew, the right rear quarter panel blew straight out. So, it made it like a wing of an airplane. So, when I went this way. It went straight up. And, I was actually higher than the catch fence.”
Sadler saw the damning footage once.
“NASCAR calls me to the trailer,” Sadler recalled. “And, they have a video of my wreck.
“They show it to me and they say, ‘That’ll be the last time you ever see that video because you’re higher than the catch fence and we don’t really want to just show that to everybody. Everybody don’t need to see that.’ “
“A whole car length. I was nose down and I was higher than the whole catch fence. That’s how high I was.”