Do people have to die for things to be changed? In NASCAR officials are always looking at safety and standards that are always changing. NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Racing. NASCAR is always looking at and advancing in safety, because racing will always be dangerous, that is what gives the racers the thrill. The only thing that NASCAR can do is try to make the driver as safe as possible without compromising the racing thrill. NASCAR safety has dramatically improved as a result of advancements in technology and necessary reactions to tragic events.
Despite all of this however, more work still needs to be done as cars evolve to ensure driver safety. What can NASCAR do to create a safer environment for the drivers in the car you may ask. The responsibility of safety is not only in the hands of the driver or the track they all have to work together to create a safer environment for racing. NASCAR sanctions tracks throughout the United States.
At the beginning of every year they send out their rule book to the tracks and some rules such as seat belts. neck restraints. nd rules on getting out of your car on the track are required. On the other hand the other rules are just guidelines. The tracks can pick or choose which rules that they want to follow or they can change the rules slightly. It is up to the track officials to choose the safest rules to follow to have a safe and controlled racing experience (DeRidder). Not only are varying rules an issue in keeping the drivers safe. At NASCAR’s level the cars are inspected on a weekly basis to make sure that everything is up to NASCAR’s standards and rules.
At the smaller tracks that are sanctioned by NASCAR they do not have the manpower to check very car every week to make sure that the driver or crew didn’t change anything or just not have the right equipment. Also, at the NASCAR level they have a new car almost every week unlike at the smaller tracks where racing crews do not have the money to have new cars every week. In the lower classes cars can be driven as long as it passes inspection at the beginning of the season.
Most of the time if a car is in a bad wreck, the next week the car comes back to the track the car needs to be inspected again to make sure it still meets safety requirements. Although, his should happen every time sometimes it is forgotten or overlooked, because of the shortage of officials (DeRidder). There have been advances in technology through the years to help create safer cars and tracks for the racers to be on. Everything from helmets to the walls on the track has been looked at and changed to create safer experiences for the drivers.
Mark Aumann stated, “The first helmets used by NASCAR drivers were of a design called a Cromwell, which basically looked like a hardhat attached over the ears and under the chin with a leather strap”. As you could assume this has hanged many times throughout the history of NASCAR. “By 1957, a California company named Bell began manufacturing polystyrene open-faced helmets and law enforcement. “(Aumann). This was a big improvement to the old design because it fitted around the face and down the neck of the driver better. Unfortunately, full faced helmets were not made mandatory until Dale Earnhardt Sr. as killed (Aumann).
Drivers are not the only ones now required to wear helmets. Now, any over-the-wall crew member are also required to after,”an accident on pit road which resulted in severe head njuries to a crewman in the final race of the 2001 season”(Aumann). Another innovation in NASCAR’s safety is seat belts. According to the article, “SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, CHANGES DEFINE RACING ERAS” when NASCAR started out seat belts were optional items. “by the early 1960s, shoulder straps were added but many drivers were resistant to the change, particularly since the threat of fire was a constant issue” (Aumann).
When fire in the car is an issue that drivers are worried about, they want to be able to get out of the car fast and easily. The next improvement to the seat belts was that hey created a five point harness that has belts that come over the shoulders, around both sides and and one in between the legs of the driver to prevent them from “submarining” which is when a driver slides forward under the seat belts in the event of a crash. Although many drivers thought that five point belts worked, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed while wearing one in the Daytona 500.
After this many drivers switched to a six point belt that wrapped around the legs of the driver and had a quick release so in the event of a fire the driver could still get out of the car fast. Seat belts have been ever evolving since the beginning of racing from no belts to six that hold the driver in place in the event of a crash. NASCAR’s safety has so many aspects of it and another one of them is roll cages. Roll cages are pretty much what they sound like they are metal bars that keep the car from crushing in on itself in the event that it rolls over.
In “SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, CHANGES DEFINE RACING ERAS” they talk about what roll cages were and what they are today. When NASCAR began roll cages were only a bar that ran from the door up to the roof and back down, Built into the stock ordered car. As safety began improving teams began to build more safety bars into the stock cars from the factory. Mark Aumann states, “With the advent of the current chassis design, NASCAR officials require each to be certified for competition – and in the event of an accident, it must be re-certified before getting the go ahead to be used again”.
This is one way that bigger tracks differ from smaller tracks; at smaller tracks a car does not necessarily think to re-inspect a car or the track does not have enough officials to spare to inspect a car. A fuel cell is another one of NASCAR’s innovations to make the drivers safer. SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, CHANGES DEFINE RACING ERAS” states that, “until 1964, most teams used a welded metal fuel tank. But those would rupture in hard crashes, and leak if the car got upside down”. Metal fuel tanks cause safety hazards for drivers for many reasons.
Not only does it create a hazard in the sense if leaking gas but it also could create a hazard for the car catching on fire and burning the driver in the event of a crash. NASCAR’s answer to this problem “was to use a fuel cell, reinforced with a rubber bladder and foam. In the event of an accident, the fuel cell is designed to limit the potential for gnition of the fuel and to keep it from leaking. ” stated Aumann in the article, “SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, CHANGES DEFINE RACING ERAS”. This change by NASCAR has made drivers safer for over 50 years and has saved many drivers from serious burns and other injuries.
Not only do fuel cells keep drivers from being burned, fire retardant suits also make the drivers at less risk for burns. As Aumann’s article states, “Drivers wore little more than jeans and a T-shirt in NASCAR’s early days, although fire retardant solutions were sometimes added to the material in an effort to give the driver time to escape a burning vehicle”. As you can see, the driver’s were not required to have any protection from fires in the beginning. When drivers and officials realized how serious burns are, “DuPont began development of a fire-retardant material called Nomex” (Aumann).
Many drivers tested out the new uniforms. “SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, CHANGED DEFINE RACING ERAS” states, “today, drivers wear several layers of fire-retardant clothing, including underwear and gloves made from Nomex, allowing them to withstand flames until safety crews can arrive on the scene”. This innovation created a way for drivers to be safer in the event that he car did catch on fire and the driver can’t get out of the car, causing the driver to have to wait for safety crews to respond.
One of the biggest safety hazards in stock car racing is having the car catch on fire in the event of a crash. There have been many innovations in stock car racing to help reduce this risk, like fuel cells and fire-retardant suits as stated above, but there is also one more onboard fire extinguishers. Before, drivers had no control over the fire from the inside of the car, that all changed after an accident where the driver was burned very severely (Aumann). Aumann states, “NASCAR began requiring fire-extinguishers to be carried in the cockpit of all cars…
In 2003, NASCAR required an additional fire-extinguishing cylinder solely dedicated to the fuel cell area in all three major touring series, mounted in the cockpit and automatically activated by heat”. Not only does NASCAR require fire-extinguishers in their cars but also, smaller tracks and NASCAR sanctioned tracks are required to have fire-extinguishers in any racecar (Deridder). Fire safety in stock car racing has been improved immensely over the years to keep the drivers from getting burned. Window etting is also an improvement that was necessary to keep drivers safe.
When you think of window nets you think that they do not do much they are just small nets, but they keep the driver of the car safer than you would think. Before window nets, driver’s arms and heads could be crushed against the track in the event that the car flipped over and could cause serious injury (Aumann). Window netting is a simple solution that saves many drivers arms and careers. Racing seats were not introduced to stock car racing until the 1980s, before that many drivers modified the stock seats the the vehicle (Aumann).
In the rticle, “SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, CHANGES DEFINE RACING ERAS” the author states, “following a number of accidents involving serious head injuries, padded headrests were made mandatory”. Not only were racing seats a new innovation but, padded headrests helped to reduce injuries to the driver such as head injuries. Aumann states that in an interview with Randy LaJoie talks about how before all of the safety information we have now drivers didn’t worry about knowing what was safe because they didn’t really know what could happen to them if their didn’t have the right safety equipment or it wasn’t installed properly.
