Every NASCAR Story 'TOO DARK' for ESPN (Part 4)

From “Black Saturday” at Raleigh Speedway to fatal pit road chaos, bankrupt teams, and careers derailed by drugs or a single social post—this 17-minute rapid rundown hits the darkest NASCAR stories most broadcasts skip. No fluff, no outro—just the hard chapters that reshaped safety rules, reputations, and even the sport’s business model.

You’ll see how Talladega’s fence strikes birthed the plate era, why Atlanta’s 1990 tragedy changed pit road forever, and how off-track decisions—from BK Racing’s bankruptcy to high-profile suspensions—still echo today. Part links are in the description if you want the longer series.

Part 1:    • Every NASCAR Story 'TOO DARK' for ESPN (Pa...  
Part 2:    • Every NASCAR Story ‘TOO DARK’ for ESPN (Pa...  
Part 3:    • Every NASCAR Story 'TOO DARK' for ESPN (Pa...  


Timestamps:
00:00 — “Black Saturday” at Raleigh (1953) — two drivers killed, 15-car inferno
01:29 — Jeff & Brooke Gordon Divorce — love story to high-finance scandal
02:57 — Talladega 1987 — Bobby Allison fence strike → birth of restrictor-plate era
04:32 — Tyler Walker (2013) — three-state police chase, meth bust, sentencing
06:16 — Edwards into Talladega fence (2009) — fan injuries, rules & fence changes
08:06 — BK Racing Bankruptcy (2018) — charter auction, team collapse
09:56 — “Friday” Hassler (1972) — fatal Daytona 125 qualifier, safety wake-up
11:51 — Noah Gragson (2023) — social-media suspension, later reinstated
13:10 — Atlanta 1990 — crewman Mike Rich killed → pit road speed limits
14:12 — Carl Long (2009) — engine oversize penalty that crushed a small team
15:28 — Shane Hmiel (2010) — lifetime ban after repeated drug violations

Tags:
#nascar , #nascarcrashes , #nascarstories

Martian Cowboy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...