Catchfence

To this day, Rick Carelli’s NASCAR Truck Series crash in the 1999 race is one of the scariest moments in Memphis Motorsports Park history.

Early in that race, Carelli cut a tire and rocketed into wall between Turns 3 and 4.

After a nasty wreck in the trucks race in 1999, Rick Carelli was hospitalized in Memphis for nearly two weeks.

These were the days before Dale Earnhardt’s fatal 2001 crash at Daytona that would prompt a host of safety-minded changes. So Carelli’s truck slammed into a concrete retaining wall and not a SAFER barrier. Dale Earnhardt’s fatal 2001 crash at Daytona that would prompt a host of safety-minded changes. So Carelli’s truck slammed into a concrete retaining wall and not a SAFER barrier.

Head and neck restraints weren’t yet mandatory, so while the outside of his truck was getting mangled, Carelli’s body, especially his head, was taking a beating inside the truck.

“I saw Ricky when he hit, and came around the next lap and he wasn’t moving,” Ron Hornaday told The Associated Press a year after the wreck. “When he wasn’t moving the third or fourth time, I was real concerned.”

- Memphis Commercial Appeal