I apologize for this comment if it seems rude. It is not intended as such or as a "flame". After spending time inspecting the car in question again last night, my "devil's advocate" response is, have you seen the car in question? I have and the door is the thing that took the lion's share of the impact. If you'd like to have a look at the car, swing by Mauldin and I expect that Sam or Brian or whoever is there at the time will let you look at it for yourself.
I do have to agree that something does have to eventually tranfer the force. In that regard, every single nut, bolt, rivet, and piece on the car plays its role. This is especially true of the tires and their coefficient of friction in regard to Newtonian physics (objects at rest tend to stay at rest, objects in motion tend to stay in motion) and their tendency to keep the car from moving perpendicular to the intended course. While I agree with the meat of your statement, let's don't over-analyze this. :-)
Scott "Righty" Franklin
BTW, I spent an hour or more with Sam last night and he seems to be feeling and getting better every day.
NASCAR is like watching a ceiling fan run and cheering for one of the blades to win - unknown
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