What is it with nascars rules and common sense........

[Budmakesmewiser]

Steve Park might not come back to the WCS because of his injuries in the Busch series in which the
hutchens restraint device did not help one bit yet
NASCAR knowledgeable of the fact that it does not
work for side impacts,still mandates the Huchens or Hans,if they are going to mandate that the drivers are going to wear some type of head and neck restraint device which is stupid anyways,why don't they mandate firesuits and helmets.

[Joe Fan]

Is the HANS more effective in side impacts? I wouldn't think that it would be that more effective. I think NASCAR is addressing the cockpit area of the car right now to find ways to make it safer. Some drivers like Jeff Burton have been real proactive about this and have even developed some of their own equipment to protect them from hitting their heads against roll bars inside the car.

As far as I know, NASCAR does mandate helmets but firesuits haven't been mandated yet. Some people are allergic to the chemical that makes these suits fireproof.

[The Beer Baron]

Any Neck restraint device like the HANS or the Hutchens device only works for forward and back move-movements , it isn't designed to be effective against side impacts.

Could NASCAR look at redesigning the seat which would allow for a survival cell for the driver?

Could the driver be moved say 6 incehs to the right and away from the tubular frame?

I don't know where Steve Park hit his head and what he hit it off.

[Emfa]

Originally posted by The Beer Baron
...
Could NASCAR look at redesigning the seat which would allow for a survival cell for the driver?
...

Some folks have already been looking at an improved seat - Jeff Burton, Randy Lajoie IIRC?? From what I gather, they have some good ideas but once again, Nascar won't approve them - let alone mandate them - until they have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are better than what they currently have. Who knows how long that will take. Maybe with the new R&D center in Charlotte they will speed up their review of seats.

[The Beer Baron]

I believe we have a more safety concsious NASCAR now, and they'll do what's necessary to make it safer!

[Emfa]

I sure hope so, and I think they will. They do seem to be much more responsive now.

[moto39]

You must be kidding. NASCAR has had the ability to make their vehicles safer for years but refuse leaving it up to drivers and teams to make their own decisions. I was reading an interview with Bill Simpson on an open wheel site and he is really ****ed at NASCAR for allowing implications that his belts were at fault for EarnHarts death. Simpson said everyone, I mean everyone knew Earnharts seat and belt setup compromised the breaking strength of the belts by as much as 2/3's and yet heads were turned. Simpson told Earnhart on a hunting trip a couple of years ago that configuring his belts like that was going to get him in trouble one day. WC cars could be constructed to come apart(collapse) like a Champ car on impact thus absorbing the brunt of the impact and saving the driver from much of the impact G,s. Unfortunatley this would disable the car for the rest of the race. Nascar and the teams want to be able to pound the car back together and roll it back out on the track(sometimes with half the body panels missing) in order to score points. Fender banging and bumping would be unacceptable as the softer construction of the cars would lead to more serious damage if these tactics were used. It would seem that designing a truely dafe car in WC contradicts what the average WC fan wants to see, a WWF smackdown event at 190 mph. It's sad, but the technology to build cars safe have been around since the early to mid 80's and NASCAR is just now thinking about implimenting some of that technology.

[Emfa]

I guess it's all relative.

Are they more responsive to safety issues than they were 5 years ago? Yes.

Are they as responsive as some other sanctioning groups? No.

Do they have a lot of ground to make up? Yes.

Are they moving in a positive direction? Yes. (I'll try to look on the positive side.)

PS - welcome aboard moto39!

[The Beer Baron]

Welcome moto39, I don't think that NASCAR fans want to see a WWF Smackdown style race, many grow up watching short track racing at their local tracks and see the banging and rubbing, so it's a tradition , and a different style of racing. You don't see them punting each other off on the faster tracks, the cars skin is quite deformable and hence if caught in wrecks the skin bends and the handling characteristics go away!

[Lee]

I will add a welcome, to the forum, as well moto39, but I will add, straight-up, that your ca*tness, is showing, and is plainly evident, as per your several repeted references about NASCAR being, and NASCAR fans wanting to see the WWF! This is not appreciated! With regards to the issue of safety, you ca*t-types don't miss a single chance to cast disparaging statements, critize, or in anyway shine anything other than a bad light on NASCAR! NASCAR could design, and run a 100% crashproof, safest race car ever designed, not have another death for 100 years of racing, and you ca*t-types would still critize, ridicule, and in every other way possible, accuse NASCAR of being backward, uncaring about safety, or whatever other thing negative that could possibly be said about the organization! NASCAR has been on the receiving end of extreamly bad luck, in the past two years, and your series has managed to be lucky enough to dodge the death bullet, on several occasions, during this same time frame! Prior to that, the shoe was on the other foot. Just remember, the pendelum will eventually swing back the other way, for both series, and you won't be able to decree NASCAR as such a deathsport, nor brag on the safty record of your series, as the shoe will be back on the other foot! You read it off an ow site, yeah, your really going to get completly objective, non-bias, view, with regards to even the mention of NASCAR, there! The repeted WFF references are typical ca*t c rap, and are wearing extreamly thin!

[floid2000]

Nascar are the people who allowed Richard Petty to drive in cowboy boots until his retirement,Harry Gant REFUSED to wear fireproof gloves.Jimmy Spenser didnt like the Hans device, so he didnt wear it. Earnhart wore a 1960s type helmet until the day he died...... The only time Nascar ever showed any interest in safety was when Bobby Allison danced across the top of the catchfence at 200+ MPH.Within a month we had restrictor plates.
The next time safety came up was almost 20 years later when Earnhart got killed

Nascar.. concerned about driver safety? I don't think so