SPRINT CUP AARON’S 499 AT TALLADEGA AUBURN FOOTBALL Auburn cruisin’ for recruits in ’DEGA VU ‘Tiger Prowl’ limo By CHARLES GOLDBERG burn flags and the “AU” logo, News staff writer is not the only unusual thing Race fan gets scary AUBURN — Stretch limo. about these recruiting trips. Seven assistant coaches — Cool shirts. Flags flying. view of Edwards’ the maximum allowed by the Auburn’s coaching staff is NCAA — are in the limo. crash — just traveling in style this week Usually, assistants go their on a recruiting blitzkrieg separate ways on recruiting like in ’87 when he across the state that will hit trips. 35-40 high schools in a four- “We want to concentrate saw Allison wreck day period designed to pro- all of our energy in one area mote a single message. at a time,” Luper said. “This By MIKE BOLTON “It’s a message that Au- is unprecedented in college News staff writer burn is for real as far as re- football this time of year.” cruiting is concerned in this Parts of the catch-fence and Though coaches can’t talk parts from Carl Edwards’ car state,” said recruiting coordi- to players now, per NCAA landed on fans sitting in the nator Curtis Luper on Mon- rules, Luper said the limo O.V. Hill grandstands at Talla- day night. and the mass of coaches dega Superspeedway on Sun- The recruiting travels for seemed to have the head- day, according to one witness. the “Tiger Prowl” limo began turning impact he was Denny Conlon, an Atlanta Monday in the Mobile area looking for Monday. man who sat on the front row and will work its way up the “I’m sure when we pull up about 15 feet from where the state, finishing in Birming- on a campus it will have an car knocked down part of the ham on Thursday. The limo, fence, said he ducked out of which is decked out with Au- See AUBURN Page 5C instinct as the car came his way, but what happened next was a blur. He said speakers mounted on the fence were knocked down and a piece of Edwards’ fender landed in the grandstands about 10 feet from him. Seven fans were injured in the last-lap accident during the Aaron’s 499, including an Alabama woman, Blake Bob- bit, who suffered facial inju- ries. She was airlifted to UAB Medical Center, where her condition was listed as “fair” on Monday. SPECIAL The woman’s relatives de- clined an interview with The Auburn football coaches are hitting the recruiting trail News. this week in the “Tiger Prowl” limo, with seven assistants Conlon said Edwards’ car piling in to gang up on several key recruiting state hot came at the stands as if in spots. slow motion, but once it struck the fence, events hap- ALABAMA FOOTBALL pened quickly. Medical and police personnel were on the FILE scene within a minute, he said, and quickly ushered Like Carl Edwards’ last-lap drama on Sunday at , ’s uninjured fans from the car also went airborne in the at Talladega, above. His car collided into Ex-Super Senior exits grandstands. the steel-cable fence and scattered debris into the crowd. Allison was running over 200 “They got us out of the mph when his crash happened, which led to NASCAR slowing speeds down on LSU to play for Saban stands pretty quickly,” Conlon superspeedways with carburetor restrictor plates. said. “I saw debris in the stands but didn’t really have By IAN R. RAPOPORT this behind me right now,” time to see exactly what it News staff writer said Jones, a McGill-Toolen was.” TUSCALOOSA — Alabama High product. Conlon, who was with a The No. 3 player on the group of 83 fans, said the football coach Nick Saban turned to his former school 2006 Birmingham News Su- crash was much like when per Seniors list announced Bobby Allison struck the to secure secondary help for the future. on April 3 that he was trans- frontstretch fence in 1987, an ferring from LSU because he accident which he witnessed. LSU cor- nerback wanted more playing time. Conlon, who was sitting in the He originally targeted Au- same seat that day, said that Phelon Jones, a burn, but he said he was accident occurred more than turned off by the glut of up- 400 yards farther down the Mobile na- tive, said perclassmen the team would track. boast in the secondary. Josh Hester of Raleigh, N.C., he will was also on the front row Sun- leave Ba- UA will lose three senior day just feet from where Ed- ton Rouge Phelon Jones cornerbacks after 2009. “I feel I can come in and wards’ car struck the fence. following Leaving LSU to be able to start,” said the He said the crowd was pep- the spring transfer to 5-foot-11, 195-pound Jones, pered with parts of the fence semester Alabama and play who will sit out this season, See TALLADEGA Page 5C for the Crimson Tide. Jones then have two years of eli- started two games and made gibility. “Saban said I’d have 15 tackles for the Tigers last a good chance, because they FILE ELSEWHERE season. have a lot of players leaving.” y NASCAR says no major The car of member of Hueytown crashes along the tri-oval The Jones family met with Because Jones is not en- changes planned for fence during the 1993 fall race at Talladega. His wreck was a driving force behind NASCAR Saban on Monday to receive rolled yet, Saban cannot ’Dega racing / 1A adding roof flaps to its cars. the final word. “I’m happy that I got all of See UA-BOUND Page 5C NASCAR gives fans what they want THUMBS UP William “The Refrigerator” Perry. The e’ll race like this least — buy the hint of dan- But it is supposed to be was airlifted to a Birmingham former Chicago Bears defensive lineman, until we kill some- ger, the scent of disaster. Ev- only a hint, only a scent. The hospital after suffering chest one of the NFL’s most popular players in “Wbody.” ery time the lead pack roars danger — at least to the fans pains that occurred during or the 80s, is making improvement in a South That’s a heck of an ad cam- by at 190 miles per hour, spit- — is not supposed to be real. shortly after she witnessed the Carolina hospital. His condition was upgraded paign, isn’t it? But don’t think ting pieces of rubber and track They buy the ticket to see the crash from the same grand- Monday from serious to fair condition. The 46-year-old show, not become part of it. stand section as the seven for a minute that Carl Ed- and grit on them, they are so Perry has been hospitalized for two weeks to deal with wards’ post-Talladega, post- Unfortunately, on Sunday, who were injured. enthralled by the spectacle complications from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a chronic ”Big One” synopsis of his that they actually try to move at least a handful of fans did It was very much remi- flight into the fence on the last both. By now, you’ve un- inflammation disorder of the peripheral nerves. closer to the potential peril. niscent of Allison’s car coming lap Sunday won’t sell a few doubtedly seen pictures, if not off the same turn at the same thousand more tickets to the video, of Edwards’ car going track and taking off toward THUMBS DOWN next NASCAR event. RAY Bobby Allison, leaving the as- the same grandstand in 1987, Florida High School Athletic Associa- Immediately after the race, MELICK phalt coming off the last turn the flight that not only Lowe’s Motor Speedway be- and sliding along a catchfence prompted the taller, stronger tion. High school athletes in Florida will gan offering 1,000 seats for its that appears to be stretched to catchfence that served so well play fewer games for the next two years next NASCAR race priced at the limit in doing its job of Sunday as a safety net be- under a new rule approved by the Florida $14 each. Why 14? Because keeping Edwards’ car inside tween car and fan, but forced High School Athletic Association that is that is how many cars were the confines of the track and NASCAR to introduce this designed to save money during tough economic times. involved in Sunday’s biggest out of a packed grandstand. whole concept of smaller en- wreck. Seven fans became part of gines, restrictor-plate racing, The group’s board of directors voted 9-6 Monday to cut Don’t tell me NASCAR the story, treated for injuries new aerodynamics and roof the number of varsity games by 20 percent and all other doesn’t know what sells. that were described as “mi- play by 40 percent through the 2010-11 school year. The Fans — some of them, at nor,” although one woman See MELICK Page 5C policy applies to all sports except for football. The rule change was designed to cut costs for Florida high school Ray Melick and Kevin Scarbinsky video: Talladega’s closing seconds: athletic departments, which are facing tough budget ONE-MINUTE MADNESS Awesome or awful? Go to al.com/sports/birminghamnews constraints.