I remember reading an article on racing trauma years ago. Some of the
injuries received in a high speed accident are not necessarily related to
safety equipment.
When a car continues to roll and loose pieces, like Tony Stewart's wreck,
energy is being disapated, less energy from the impact being transmitted to
the driver.
In an accident such as Sr. Earnhardt's, the car comes to a rapid stop while
the body, and the internal organs are still traveling at speed. The impact
injuries are the internal organs being damaged inside the body, the brain
impacting the inside of the skull, as the body begins to slow. Nothing needs
to invade the passenger compartment.
The tone of Darrell Waltrp's voice conveyed the seriousness of the
accident..... a sad loss to the racing community. Thoughts and Prayers to
Theresa Earnhardt and her children.
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Andy" <marka@telerama.com>
To: "autox mailing list" <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2001 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: <sigh> Dale Earnhardt
> Howdy,
>
> On Sun, 18 Feb 2001, Kevin & Deana Brown wrote:
> > While watching the 24 hour race at Daytona a few weeks ago I noticed
> > that Dale, who was codriving one of the Corvettes, was wearing an open
> > face helmet. Even one of the announcers commenting on it and on how
> > much less protection it provided when compared to a full face one.
> > Plus he was not wearing one of the new neck restraint devices. Since
> > he died pretty much instantly in a head on collision with the wall it
> > makes you wonder.
>
> Lets not jump on that bandwagon too quick. Everyone's saying either
> "massive chest injuries" or "a blow to the back of the skull" as the cause
> of death. The doctor / emt at the press conference catagorically stated
> that a closed face helmet wouldn't have matter and that a Hahn's device
> (?? forgot the name) likely wouldn't have helped.
>
> I'm much more interested in knowing what/how something got into the
> passenger compartment. The left side of the car looked fine, but you
> couldn't really get a good look at the right side. Like everyone, I
> thought it wasn't a big deal, and was in some ways payback for how much
> he'd been blocking.
>
> > It is too bad, I guess that it can happen to anyone. He will be in my
> > thoughts tonight.
>
> Yeah. It really sucks a lot. I'm not a big nascar fan, but it still blew
> me away. A bad deal all the way around. Obviously for the Earnhardt's,
> but its also gotta make M. Waltrip's first win, what should've been pretty
> amazing, into one of his worst days.
>
> Mark
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