Crown Vic driver Edward Caulder admitted he made some mistakes when constructing his car. Those errors went on full display during this accident at Lancaster Motor Speedway.
During their heat race, Edward’s friend Eli Smith hit the wall in front of him and rolled backwards. Edward clipped Eli’s car, with both cars rolling over.
“My car came down hard on all fours — it slammed me and I was in pain,” Edward, of Pageland, South Carolina, said. “Dazed, I looked around. My seat broke loose, and then I saw my cage also broke loose.”
Edward’s no slouch at racing. He had a front-wheel-drive championship at Magnolia Motor Speedway. He picked up a Crown Vic 2 years ago, after moving to South Carolina.
“I bought a roll cage from a former NASCAR Cup car,” Edward said. “The cage was in perfect condition, put together very well. But I didn’t secure it to the frame properly.”
When the racing community saw photos of what happened, speculation ensued. To clear the misconceptions, Edward said he did grind the rust off the frame before welding the cage to it. He also welded both sides of the cage to the car’s frame.
“I’m not the greatest welder in the world — I’m not even certified,” Edward said. “I’m a mechanic, and I’m good at that — I thought I could weld, too.”
Edward installed a racing seat and a four-point harness he bought as a package from Jegs. He wore a helmet he ordered out of a catalog but did not wear a head-and-neck restraint.
“It was on social media that my helmet flew off — not so,” Edward said. “I couldn’t get my helmet off — the track crew had to assist me.”
The track crew helped extricate Edward from his car, and he was then transported to the hospital. A CT scan determined he had a compact fracture of the L1 lumbar vertebra. The injury, however, did not prevent him from returning to work as a mechanic.
Dean Levi saw the photos of the crash. He’s a fabricator with DNA Motorsports and general manager of the Crown Vic Outlaw Super Series.
“It made me angry that someone had put themselves into that situation,” Dean said. “The cage broke loose; the seat broke loose. The driver and the cage were outside the frame of the car. A crash like this makes racing look bad as a whole. Now, people will say Crown Vics are unsafe.”
Dean worked in the Cup Series as a fabricator before turning his attention to booming Crown Vic class. Just this year, he has built 15 cars. Dean understands how to make a strong race car. In addition to poor weld penetration, Dean saw other issues.
“It is recommended to cut a hole in the chassis and put the tubing through the frame rail,” Dean said. “In [Edward’s] case, the cage was welded to the top of the frame. In the photos, it appeared that the cage’s total width did not go from frame rail to frame rail. Some tubing was stacked on the right side to mount the cage.”
By putting the mounting points of the cage through the frame, Dean said it nearly doubles the surface area of the welds. For racers who struggle with welding, he strongly advises enlisting a professional’s help.
“Even if it costs $500 or $1,000, your life is worth more than that amount of money,” Dean said.
Edward Caulder said other racers have offered to help him with his next Crown Vic build.
“I learned that I am not as good of a welder that I thought I was,” Edward said. “I’m a Crown Vic mechanic, not a fabricator. I’ll take up the offer for help with welding the cage to my next car.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
