A nylon rope from FOX’s overhead camera snapped during Sunday’s running of the Coca-Cola 600. The unusual event caused extensive damage to the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch who had been leading the race. Marcos Ambrose also ran over the rope and managed to wad it up underneath his car.
While under Ambrose’s car the rope severed a brake line. Other cars who received damage including Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin.
NASCAR would red flag the race due to the unusual circumstances and then give crews 15 minutes to make repairs to their cars without having to worry about losing their position in the field.
Ten fans were injured as a result of the rope failure, three of which were transported offsite for further evaluation. None needed to be hospitalized.
Cable caused damage to several cars on track including race leader Kyle Busch and Marcos Ambrose. twitter.com/hbpRacing/stat…
— HBP Racing (@hbpRacing) May 27, 2013
FOX Released the following statement:
At this time, we do not have a cause for the failure of the camera drive line that interrupted tonight’s Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and our immediate concern is with the injured fans. The camera system consists of three ropes — a drive rope which moves the camera back and forth, and two guide ropes on either side. The drive rope failed near the Turn 1 connection and fell to the track. The camera itself did not come down because guide ropes acted as designed. A full investigation is planned, and use of the camera is suspended indefinitely.
This camera system had been used successfully at this year’s Daytona 500, last week’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and other major events around the world. We certainly regret that the system failure affected tonight’s event, we apologize to the racers whose cars were damaged, and our immediate concern is for the race fans. We also offer a sincere ‘thank you’ to the staff at CMS for attending to the injuries and keeping us informed on this developing situation. When we have more information on the cause of the equipment failure, we will share it with you immediately.
