senor honda

Brake failures lead to Johnson, McMurray wrecks

Sunday, 11 June 2017


By Kelly Crandall / Image screenshot via FS1

Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray both walked away from vicious wrecks within moments of each other in Turn 1 at Pocono Raceway on Lap 97 of the Axalta presents the Pocono 400.
Going into Turn 1, Johnson believes something might have failed with the brakes as the pedal went straight to the floor. Smoke also bellowed out of the rear tires and soon the No. 48 was sideways into the grass before coming back on track and slamming into the wall with the right side of the car.


Over the radio, Johnson told his team he was OK but he "got away with one there." After climbing from his car, the seven-time champion took a few minutes to catch his breath while sitting by the wall.


"The smoke, I think, is the brake fluid coming out of wherever failed and onto the rotors," Johnson told FS1 after leaving the infield care center. "I can only speculate that I got the brakes too hot and when I went to the brakes they just traveled straight to the floor. I didn't even have a pedal to push on. At that point, I threw it in third gear and I was just trying to slow it down.


"I was heading to the grass and I was wondering why I didn't turn right and get to the wall sooner, but I'm fine. Certainly, a big scare. I haven't had a scare like that since 2000 at Watkins Glen. So, just want to let my wife and kids and my mom know that I'm okay and I will go change my underwear and get ready to go home."
When the car started to get away from him, Johnson tried to slow it down by steering toward the grass. He admitted it was the opposite of what he thought he would do if he ever again found himself in a situation like Watkins Glen.


"I told myself if this ever happened again I would turn immediately into the outside wall and try to slow myself down, but my instincts, you are looking at the corner, you look at all that real estate to the inside and I pointed it down to the infield," Johnson said. "Once I was in the grass, I was like, man, I've been here before, I should have just turned dead right into the wall and got to the wall right away. You have a split-second decision to make there. Fortunately, this one turned out well for me, just an exciting ride.


"I didn't have a long pedal or anything to tell me to not use my brakes like I had been. And when I went in the corner and hit the pedal, it travelled immediately to the floor and I could see a little puff of smoke and I knew I was in big trouble. I quickly stuffed it into third gear and tried to slow the car down and got into the grass. Fortunately, I had a decent angle when I hit the wall in Turn 1. Outside of scaring myself pretty good, all is well."
A little way behind Johnson was McMurray, who happened to have the same issue and also hit the wall. McMurray then had to quickly bail from his Chevrolet when it caught on tire.

senor honda

video interview:
NASCAR - Brake failures lead to Johnson, McMurray wrecks

senor honda

It looked like this Watkins Glen 2000:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbkIBWEp91Q

In the split second he hit that wall, his soul was ripped from his body, diverted towards hell where the devil tried to bargain for it, but it was moving too fast, thus he gained the power without selling his soul, and it flew back into him. He climbs out, realized this has happened, and raises his arms.
Captain ATG

That... That would explain quite a lot, actually.


Dana Chappell
To the idiots wishing he'd had an injury, you obviously aren't real NASCAR fans. If you were, you'd remember 2000 had enough injury and death. Had Johnson been hurt bad or worse, add that to the fatal crash of Adam Petty a couple months before, Irwin, Roper, Bodine's near death. NASCAR might have ceased once Earnhardt died or earlier. Just keep that in mind before you run your mouths.

senor honda

"I didn't really even see the 48 car wrecking until I just went down and I got on the brake pedal and my pedal started to go to the floor and I had a little bit that I could kind of pump it and I thought I was going to be okay," McMurray said.
"And then, I don't know if I got into some oil or what happened, but I just started spinning and didn't have any brakes. So, it was really weird that we kind of both had the same thing happen at the same point on the racetrack, but fortunately, we are both okay and yeah, move on."

senor honda

Jimmie Johnson has tied the 7 time NASCAR champion record with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.