On the Right Track How Safety Innovation Saved the Sport of NASCAR
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On the Right Track How Safety Innovation Saved the Sport of NASCAR A research paper by Doug Robbins 1 Doug Robbins English Composition II 23 February 2017 Robbins – Lumerit College Composition II – Assignment 2 Since NASCAR was officially incorporated on February 21, 1948, (History.com) drivers have competed on sand, dirt and eventually, asphalt and concrete. The motivation for them was to either win the race or finish as high as you can in the running order. The prize money was the “driving” factor that kept these racers coming to the track. The ability to make enough money, in order to provide food and pay bills, outweighed the driver’s concern for their own safety. Cars crashed and drivers were severely injured or died. That was the chance they were willing to accept every time they climbed into a race car. Still the racing continued to grow and more tracks were built. While technology improved as the years went by, drivers were still getting hurt or killed as a result of on track accidents. The sport experienced multiple tragedies during the first 14 months of the 21st Century. NASCAR went through a period of reflection and reacted. The actions they took, resulted in making racing more safer for the drivers of today, than at any time in its 70 year history. On May 12th, 2000, at the New Hampshire Speedway, a 19 year old budding NASCAR star would lose his life during an (Xfinity) race practice. Adam Petty, the grandson of NASCAR racing legend Richard Petty, crashed his race car into a concrete wall, reportedly at over 130mph, while entering turn three at the speedway. The single car, head on collision, was caused by a stuck gas pedal that did not disengage. Petty was killed instantly on impact. The cause of death was due to a “massive head trauma” or the medical term “fatal craniovertebral junction injury or 2 CVJ (Lentati). On July 7th, 2000, another NASCAR driver was killed in nearly the same location on the New Hampshire track, in the same manner and due to a “stuck throttle.” Kenny Irwin, Jr., a Cup Series regular, was just 30 years old (Halford 12). Sara Lentati wrote in the April, 2015 issue of BBC Magazine, that NASCAR reacted to the “stuck throttle” issue by introducing a mandatory switch that was to be installed on all of the race cars/trucks (steering wheels), that race in its series’. The switch would consist of a red button that when activated, would immediately shut off the vehicle. Adam’s father, former race car driver and current NBC broadcaster, Kyle Petty, described the effect of the new safety device: “The ‘kill switch’ is like shutting off the main [circuit] breaker in a house. When you pull the main switch, every light goes off. [With the kill switch]…all the power of the car goes away” (Lentati). Lewis Franck, a motorsports writer commented, “NASCAR has always been slow to implement safety changes, [compared to] Formula One and other motorsports” (Lentati). Three months later, (October 12, 2000), at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, Tony Roper, suffered a severe neck injury after a head on crash with the track wall. The neck trauma was so severe it cutoff blood flow to his brain. He died in the hospital the following day, at 35 years old (CBSNews.com). Three drivers dead. Each one representing one of NASCAR’s top three racing series, (known today as) the Camping World Truck Series, Xfinity Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. All three from head on collisions with concrete walls and all three died from severe neck trauma. Some may have viewed this as the NASCAR version of the “celebrity curse of threes,” with such a short timeframe between the tragedies. But 4 months after Roper’s death in Texas, the racing world would change forever. 3 On February 18th, 2001, the sport of NASCAR stood still. Running in third place, behind the first and second place cars he owned, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was doing his best to hold of the competition. In the middle of the last turn of the Daytona 500, (the biggest and richest race of the year), and with the checkered flag in the air, Earnhardt, Sr. died in a collision with the outside retaining wall. His famous/infamous #3 black Chevrolet was bumped from behind and at 180 mph, the car impacted the concrete wall, slid down the banking into the infield grass (George). He was killed instantly. The cause of death was….wait for it…, a fatal craniovertebral junction injury (G. Smith 759). Gone in less than an instant was the 7-time NASCAR champion (one of only two at the time, former driver Richard Petty, the other) and winner of 76 cup races at the sports highest level. Father, husband, son and grandfather. Farmer, businessman, celebrity and “everything NASCAR.” The one fans referred to as [the other] “Man in Black” or “The Intimidator,” was dead. Concrete walls, head on collisions and severe neck trauma, once again, rained down upon the racing landscape. For NASCAR, the HANS Device or equivalent was still not a mandatory part of the driver’s safety package (G.Smith 760). Dale Earnhardt, Sr.’s (#3) deadly crash into outside wall at Daytona, on Feb 18, 2001 4 The HANS Device (Head and Neck Support) was designed in 1990 by two men, Dr. Robert Hubbard and his brother in law, Jim Downing. Larry Webster wrote in Car and Driver (online) that at the time of the HANS project, Hubbard was employed as a biomechanical engineer at Michigan State University. His previous occupation was with General Motors working with “crash dummies” in order to understand and improve on passenger safety during car accidents. Downing was a race car driver and brought plenty of on track experience to the table. He was also able to experiment with the HANS and provide real time feedback during the early stages of development. The idea behind the creation of the HANS Device was because a racing friend, of both Hubbard and Downing, named Patrick Jacquement, died in a racing accident in 1981 (G.Smith 756). The cause of death to Jacquement, was “fatal craniovertebral junction” or CVJ. The force of the head and neck moving forward, during impact, caused the base of the skull to fracture and the bones to lacerate the carotid arteries that supply blood to the head and neck. The effect of this “whipping action” leads to massive hemorrhaging of blood. According to Dr. Gabriel Smith, “this traumatic injury was the most common cause of death in motor sports, prior to 2001” (756). 5 The initial prototype for the HANS was ready for testing in 1984 (Webster). The idea for the invention was to reduce/eliminate further skull fractures during racing incidents. The HANS consists of a collar type device (made up of Kevlar and carbon fiber) that the driver places onto their shoulders and has straps and fasteners to connect to the drivers’ helmet. During an event such as an impact with a wall or another vehicle during a race, the driver (secured with their seatbelt) would not go into motion and their head and neck (along with the additional helmet weight) would be restricted from snapping forward due to the HANS restraints. In 1990, the Hubbard /Downing “company” was formed in Atlanta and began to sell the HANS device. According to Downing, he thought they would sell out of the HANS Device as soon as the doors opened (Webster). Over the next 10 years, only 250 units were sold. Downing said that they were not making any money and that they continued on in order to provide “a service to the racing community.” Webster mentioned that “a case could be made that HANS Devices should be standard equipment for the estimated 400,000 amateur racers in the U.S. However, he goes on to say that the “price [of anywhere from $800-$1600 for the HANS], is likely the problem” for that particular demographic. Downing did close with the fact that they “took orders for about as many HANS devices, the first week after Earnhardt’s death, as they did since they opened” [in 1990] (Webster). Former Racer Jim Downing, exams an early version of the HANS Device he helped co-invent. 6 In 2003, Dean Sicking was the director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was given a task by then NASCAR president, Mike Helton, to install SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reducing) barriers, at all of the oval tracks where NASCAR’s top three racing series compete (M. Smith). Sicking knew from experience, that there would not be enough materials, (mainly the 8x8x3/16-inch steel tubing), to complete such a huge task at all of the NASCAR tracks, by the end of 2004. After buying up all the available steel tubing in the United States, Sicking went back to NASCAR, with a plan. Styrofoam inserts to absorb impact 8x8x3/16-inch Steel Tubing Original concrete wall Racing Surface Cut away view of the SAFER Barrier (Steel and Foam Energy Reducing) Because it wasn’t realistic to cover every square inch of (concrete) wall, at every track that NASCAR races, Sicking and his team devised a type of “triage” system for each racing venue, until more material came available. They looked through all of NASCAR’s accident records from each track, to include injuries and fatalities, in order to identify the most critical safety areas first. Next the team looked at areas of a particular track where a driver had a hard impact, but did not sustain any injuries.