DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Bad as this was, it could have been much, much worse. There has been much worse, for auto racing spectators, in America and abroad.

Here, Saturday, the catch fencing was shredded and the steel reinforcement cables severed by the heaviest shrapnel I've ever seen come from disintegrating cars at a major race.

Yet that catch fencing did the best job, against a harsher test, that catch fencing has ever done. It was the result of years of research and improvement, after tragedies that took fans' lives.

The engine from Kyle Larson's car, and a wheel and A-frame assembly, tore through the fence. But they didn't go into the seats. They were contained on the concourse area in front of the stands. That was huge.

One tire did get into the stands, hitting one man in the head, according to witnesses. He reportedly was critically injured. Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood III reported 28 spectators injured, 14 transported to hospitals and 14 treated at track medical facilities.

Bobby Allison's car rests on a trailer after a crash at the 1987 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. A tire went down, and he sailed into the catch fence, halting the race for three hours while the fence was repaired. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Flying tires have been a race promoter's nightmare for decades. Most recently, tires and shrapnel kiting over fences caused two tragedies in less than a year in Indy car racing in 1998 and '99.

Three spectators were killed during a CART race at Michigan International Speedway in '98, by shrapnel that flew over the fence and into the stands.

Less than a year later, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, three more fans were killed by one flying tire during an Indy Racing League event.

Those two tragedies prompted heightening and strengthening of catch fences, and widening of their overhangs, at tracks nationwide. NASCAR was proactive at that time, mandating tethers for wheels and hoods on its cars.

But no tethers are totally invulnerable to shearing in crashes as violent as Saturday's.

The worst motor racing spectator tragedy in history was at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1955. Pierre Levegh's Mercedes shot into the main grandstands, immediately killing 81 spectators and Levegh.

Officials at Le Mans decided not to stop the race, fearing that if they did, the ensuing bedlam would further jam the small roads from Circuit de la Sarthe back into the town of Le Mans, blocking the paths of ambulances carrying dozens of badly injured.

Some French journalists believed the death toll eventually exceeded 100.

Ironically, the very reason the cars were racing in such tight packs at the end of Saturday's race here -- carburetor restrictor plates -- was the result of a near-disaster for fans at Talladega, Ala., in 1987.

Bobby Allison's car went airborne into the catch fencing in front of the main grandstands at Talladega. Witnessing it live with my naked eyes, I feared for a split second that this could be worse than Le Mans '55, that hundreds if not thousands of spectators might be badly injured or killed.

Allison's car shredded the catch fencing, but two huge steel cables, running parallel behind the fencing, stretched for a moment like monstrous rubber bands, then held. They kept the car from going into the stands.

That weekend, Bill Elliott had set what remains the all-time NASCAR qualifying record speed of 212.809 mph. Owners such as Junior Johnson pleaded with officials to do something to lower the speeds, with Johnson saying the cars were getting beyond human control and that the rear end of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS was literally lifting up off the pavement entering Turn 3 of the giant, 2.66-mile Alabama track.