DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There are dog whistle references in every racing series, meant to shock and underscore seriousness.
When defending IndyCar series champion Will Power meant to forcefully assert last week at Auto Club Speedway that the racing conditions that preceded a last-lap crash that sent Ryan Briscoe tumbling were potentially lethal, he invoked "Las Vegas." Former series champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a 2011 crash, the last IndyCar driver to die in the series.
As Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman slogged through the Daytona International Speedway garage in the early morning Monday, a terrifyingly reminiscent accident scene behind him on the apron after a crash at the finish, he invoked "an event in 2001.