Russell Phillips

Who was Russell Phillips?

Russell Lee Phillips was a NASCAR Sportsman Division driver from the United States. He was killed in a crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1995.

It was the 17th NASCAR Sportsman start for Phillips, who had one top-10 finish and just won his first pole position. The crash occurred on lap 17 of the 67 lap event. Phillips was in 10th place when his Oldsmobile was hit by the car of Steven Howard, who steered high to avoid a two-car spinout. Howard's car forced Phillips' car onto its right side, then smashed it roof-first into the retaining wall. Until 1996, NASCAR cars were not yet required to be equipped with the "Earnhardt bar", a roof-support bar running down the middle of the windshield, designed to prevent fatal roof collapse in roof-first accidents. His roll bars failed to protect the roof; both the roll bars and the roof itself were sheared completely off the car, exposing the interior of the driver compartment and grinding it against the wall and fence. When the vehicle came back down onto the track on its wheels, there was a massive "gaping hole" where the roof was supposed to be.