--> ? I thought one of the key points of an SA helmet vs. an M
--> helmet was
--> that it could absorb multiple hits... Wouldn't one-time
--> crush padding be
--> something you wouldn't want? After all, your head's likely
--> to come back
--> that way soon, right?
The ONLY difference between an SA and an M Rated helmet is the SA helmet has
a Nomex liner. That is it. A friend of mine actually contact the Snell
Foundation to ask this very question. The number of impacts was not
relevant in this accident anyway. His face might have hit the steering
wheel, not the helmet. He needed a closed face, not an open face for that
to have come into play.
--> > Dale Reinhardt died because of multiple failures. a) He
--> hit a wall. b) A lap
--> > belt broke. c) there was nothing to separate his chin
--> from the solid object
--> > it hit. d) nothing to slow down his chest before it hit
--> the same solid
--> > object. e) there was nothing to restrain his head's
--> movement reletive to his
--> > torso.
--> >
--> > NASCAR has finally shown itself to be the WWF of racing
--> once and for all.
--> > How did that belt fail? why did it take five days to
--> announce it? Was the
--> > saftey harness ever inspected by the sanctioning body?
--> Why didn't anyone
--> > notice the failed belt on Sunday?
-->
--> You don't think that's just a _bit_ extreme? Since when was _any_
--> sanctioning body directly resposible for safety? Seems to
--> me that most
--> any rulebook I've ever read said something about how car
--> prep was the
--> competitor's responsibility. Perhaps a failed belt shoulda
--> been caught in
--> tech, but it for damn sure should've been caught by the team.
The belt did not fail. I just read where Earnhardt like to redo his own
belts to make them more comfortable when he was driving. That is most
likely why the belts "failed".
--> > The only problem with this tragedy for NASCAR is that now
--> sponsors might
--> > want answers NASCAR can't give. F1 hasn't had a death
--> since Sena (?) in '94.
--> > Higher top speeds, much smaller cars.
-->
--> Less cars on the track. Probably less passes in the entire
--> race than
--> NASCAR has in one lap. No big concrete wall on the edge of track.
-->
--> Look, I'm not trying to paint NASCAR as some shining white
--> knight. I'm
--> just saying that to immediately demand their heads is
--> wrong. If Earnhardt
--> did in fact die due to a failed belt, the responsibilty for
--> that belt
--> falls squarely on the team, and maybe on the belt
--> manufacturer. It sure
--> as hell doesn't fall on NASCAR tech until after those two.
-->
--> Btw, I don't believe that NASCAR has rules _against_ the
--> HANS device,
--> right? Do they have rules against stuck-throttle kills?
--> One-time crush
--> foam? Slightly thicker AL seats? Who's really to blame
--> for any lack of
--> adoption of safety devices?
Actually NASCAR does have rules against certain safety devices. The Aluminum
seat vs. the Carbon Fiber seat is one such rule. The lack of mandating
certain things being checked in Tech is another lack of a rule. I have seen
NASCAR Tech's. They don't last very long and they mostly are looking at the
templates for the car shape. NASCAR seems to do a season tech of some type
at each race shop. I know the SCCA does the same type of season tech, but
they still hold a safety tech at the track, this is something that NASCAR
does not seem to do. The NASCAR tech does not focus on safety as much as
you might think it would. I know that the CART and F1 series check for
safety on an ongoing basis. The main reason could be that those cars are
constantly changing. Those series also require that their cars be able to
pass certain types of crash tests. The FIA takes F1 cars and actually
crashes them to see just how strong the cars actually are. I know that CART
has also done this, has anyone EVER heard of NASCAR doing this? It has
never happened. They just keep adding more and more steel tubes into the
chassis and hope they are doing the job.
Yes, it is up to the various sanctioning bodies to determine and set what is
and what is not a safety item. Just like F1 and CART has ruled that the
HANS Device must be worn this season, NASCAR needs to step up and do
something as well. Make all of the drivers wear closed helmets, make it a
rule that they must wear a HANS Device. Have the three guys fueling a car
during a pit stop wear full flame suits. Not just the regular race suit.
Get them into balaclavas and helmets and gloves and anything else that is
needed. I know that one or two teams are doing that this year, for the
FIRST time! NASCAR thinks they are on the forefront of safety, they are at
the back of the bus when it comes to safety.
More will be coming out about this crash as the days and weeks go on.
NASCAR is going to come under a tremendous amount of fire for their own
screw ups in this accident. Hopefully something good will come out of this
crash as something good came out of the Senna accident in '94.
It will be interesting to see.
Larry Joffe
SM #27/127
2000 Audi TT Quattro
http://larrytt.dnsalias.org
larry@auditt.org
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