SCORE Journal

Progress In Safety SCORE Takes A Systems Approach By Don Taylor, Stand 21 Safety Foundation Director Photos by Dick Gray At the recent SCORE Safety Workshop, I had the opportunity to go over with SCORE CEO and President Roger Norman, several of the changes he has made including the overtaking issue to improve off-road racing safety. From my perspective of having worked for the NHRA, and with NASCAR, SFI and Snell, pioneering the motorsport safety program at General Motors Racing, and now as the director of the Stand 21 Safety Foundation, I can see what SCORE has accomplished over the past five years to improve safety in off-road motorsports. It seems that whenever talking about safety, Roger Norman starts by telling his story of his friend and motorcycle rider Tim Nugent. “I was running 120 mph, and Tim was going about 25 mph. I was getting ready to pass two other trophy trucks when he thought it was clear. Two trucks went by and Tim didn’t realize that there was a third truck that was going way faster than the first two. That’s when I hit him,” said Norman. “I only saw Tim for what seemed like a half-second, not even enough time to do anything on a narrow dirt road, I thought he was dead”, said Norman. The incident happened during the 2010 Baja 1000. Luckily Tim Nugent was not killed and has recovered from his injuries. Norman has done all he could for Tim Nugent along the way, befriending him during his painful recovery and beyond. But every time Norman recalls that day, it’s obvious that the terrible feeling is still with him, and he wants others to not have to experience it. With that turning point, Norman became determined to fight for greater safety in the sport he loves. With the opportunity to purchase the series in 2012, he saw the chance to make off-road racing safer. “How do you fix it? You buy it and then make the changes. I had to buy it to fix it,” says Norman. THE EARLY DAYS Norman quickly found out, running a race series is not an easy business, as there is always somebody unhappy with your actions and quick to criticize, despite your best intentions. You’re at the sharp end of the stick. Suddenly those who were your fellow racers are now complaining to you, “I got everything from, why can’t you do such and such? So and so was cheating. What are you going to do about it? Don’t make new rules, we won’t be able to afford to race anymore,” said Norman. “Or, they simply attacked me personally.” Competing, attention to safety, and constant pressures from sponsors, as well as the ebb and flow of manufacturer involvement, are all things Norman has to balance. There’s also the effort required to grow the media coverage, and all of the logistics and politics required for running an event in Mexico. All the while, cash is going out the door. Norman admits that running a series is tougher than it looked from the outside. Being in charge holds great responsibility. All of the decisions made, sponsorships arranged, and deals brokered ultimately trickle down and affect the teams which impact their costs, rewards, and safety. As in all forms of racing, there may have been periods of uncertainty, yet the SCORE series has continued to move forward under Mickey Thompson, Sal Fish, and now Roger Norman, since 1973. Norman feels a responsibility to preserve its rich heritage, the very nature of desert racing, and not make too many changes. It is inherently dangerous, and wide open, with few rules. Given those parameters, the challenge is to minimize the avoidable risks, while holding on to what makes it exciting. If you see the work Roger, and his wife SCORE Vice President Elise Norman, along with a skeleton crew put into the series, you have to be impressed. Nevertheless, Norman is also very approachable, and he does listen. Safety Passing Motorcyclists Jumping right into his new position at the start of 2013, one of Norman ’s first priorities was the problem encountered while passing slower vehicles, often in a dust cloud, sometimes with great closing speeds, and especially dangerous at night. Norman’s initial action was to separate motorcycles from four-wheelers. This left many two-wheel racers unhappy and vocal about it.  They also felt medical response attention was being directed away from their group, and that their category was not as appreciated as it should be. Through meetings, rule changes, education, videos, taking input from the Kurt Caselli Foundation, Norman was able to make the peace and make it safer. To further improve overtaking safety for motorcycles, and for everyone else, last year SCORE adopted a new electronic technology solution, with use of the Stella III, a vehicle-to-vehicle, and GPS, signaling device. It radically reduces the unknowns in the passing of slower motorcycles or any other slower/stopped vehicle. Every SCORE racing in SCORE, large or small, fast or slow, must be so equipped. If you are not familiar with it, basically the Stella III is a dash-mounted box with a display, lights, and buttons that have the ability to communicate between vehicles, as well as track vehicles, and send an “SOS” to race control. “There’s a blue button that allows you to warn the person ahead of you that you’re passing, and if they say are a motorcycle they have to get out of the way,” says Norman. “So if they hit their blue button, they’re saying they’re clear, they're off the course, go!” The rules specify that if you don’t respond to the faster vehicle’s request, you can be reported and disqualified. “It’s just the cars in your class that don’t want to get out of the way,” says Norman. “You just have to prove you’re actually fast enough to get by them.” With such devices, SCORE Race Central can simultaneously track the location of all vehicles on the course, whether moving or still, and whether they need medical assistance. Medical Resources And Response Besides overtaking motorcycles on the course, another item Norman gave early attention to was improving medical resources and emergency response. “Because it is Mexico, we want to provide medical, life, and unlimited Para-Medivac,” said Norman. “When we started this, we found out that every ambulance had less-than-basic life support. When I was a racer, I was thought that’s great, they’ve got an ambulance there. Then when I took over, I found out that the guy who was getting the money for it was just taking the money…and they didn’t have anything to save a life, not even a Band-Aid.” Immediately, Norman made sure all of the ambulances had life support capability. SCORE now works closely with Cruz Roja, the Mexican Red Cross, and its volunteers who also cover the public roads year-round. They typically respond to head-on collisions (two a month), so are well experienced in handling injured drivers and spectators. As it turns out, many of the Cruz Roja units also had no Jaws of Life so SCORE bought them some, by the dozens. “The nice thing is that anything we buy them saves lives throughout all year. It’s not like we’re just buying it for our organization” says Norman. In addition, Norman’s personal paramedic, from when he was racing, plus many others come down from the U.S. to assist Cruz Roja in training before events. “We have a rescue helicopter, we have a rescue airplane, and we have about 24 ambulances,” says Norman. “But it can be up to an hour for someone to get to you, especially at night, because nobody’s allowed to fly at night” Because of this, teams are required to carry emergency signaling devices, survival supplies, and a first aid kit aboard their vehicle. At the Workshop it was suggested, to help themselves after an incident, and others before EMS assistance arrives, that racers and team members could benefit from receiving more first aid training. CPR training should be included as heart problems can be aggravated in the desert environment. Also suggested was the addition of an easy to use tourniquet to the onboard first aid kits. Norman welcomed the feedback and said these ideas will be considered. Water should also be thought of as a first aid item. Besides washing off wounds and other uses, its greatest value is in staving off dehydration, which can lead to disorientation, poor decision-making, and heat stroke. It cannot be stressed enough for everyone to hydrate before and during a race event…yet many still overlook it. See information on hydration presented by Dr. Terry Trammell at the 2016 SCORE Safety Workshop: Brain concussions are another injury that may happen in the course of a race weekend. For more on concussions, including comments by Dr. Steve Olvey see: CONCUSSIONS: A Growing Concern in Motorsports The first aid kit and some first aid knowledge are very important. Before Cruz Roja gets to the scene, the first to arrive is most often another competitor. Another of the many things that Norman has implemented is a Good Samaritan Rule. When other teams stop and render service to downed riders or trucks there is no penalty, there’s a credit to their time re-race scoring. With the Stella III system, SCORE Race Central can simultaneously track the location of all vehicles on the course, whether moving or still, and determine whether they need medical assistance, who stopped to assist, and for how long. “We know within five to 10 minutes what we are crediting those racers. That allows people to not worry about stopping, because it’s a timed event,” says Norman. “Every race we have one or two cars stop to help somebody. All we have to do is verify that the accident really happened, and they were really stopping to help, not to work on their car. We haven’t had a problem with that, but we watch for it just in case.” It should be noted that besides the required Stella III signaling device, riders and drivers are still encouraged to personally be equipped with a Spot signaling device. Required previously by SCORE, and used by hikers and explorers, it is a GPS tracker, plus an emergency-signal sender. It also can send pre-recorded messages to friends and family. As coverage in the desert can be spotty, having a number of communications devices for backup is recommended. CAGED VEHICLES With the majority of the required safety equipment in the rulebook centered on protecting the drivers, history has shown that being inside of a caged vehicle is very likely to keep the driver and co-driver safe. The biggest rule change in driver personal safety equipment initiated by Roger Norman has been the required use of a certified HANS (head and neck restraint system), which is also required in most other race series around the world. Besides researching and purchasing the spec-required safety equipment, the racer must also make sure it is properly installed/fitted and maintained. The Rulebook cannot regulate every last detail for safety items, and inspectors can’t always catch everything, especially once the race begins, so it ultimately falls on the team to make sure protection for the driver is optimized. It is incumbent on the competitors to have their own checklist for safety item preparation and maintenance. For example, do you have the correct roll bar padding, are the belts properly mounted and adjusted, are fire bottles checked, and so forth. The goal is not to just “get thru tech” but also for the team to do all they can in preparation and during the event, to keep their drivers safe. Larger, professional teams have long had these practices, but newer sportsman level teams should also develop their own formal routines and procedures in vehicle safety. CREW SAFETY While the center focus of safety is most often driver protection, much needs to be done to protect the people surrounding the vehicle, namely the crew, during pit stops, and in general. Dangers to crew members include the possibility of getting burned. Although there is a cost to it, teams need to consider providing a high level of safety equipment for their crew people handling fuel. To minimize the chances of getting hit, run over, cut, blinded, or suffer other misfortunes, responsibility must fall to the team and the individuals to stay alert, use the right tools, etc. The big professional teams, and pit crew services like those of Baja Pits bring lots of experience in knowing what to do and following established procedures. It can be worthwhile for newer sportsman teams to observe them in action, and ask questions. Sharing knowledge of better safety practices helps everyone. Historically, the majority of the fatalities over SCORE race weekends have occurred with crews in the chase trucks, even with paved road speed limits. Norman made a rule that if anyone in the chase vehicle feels uncomfortable with the speed, they should report it to the driver, and ultimately the team manager if the driver does not slow down. Not addressing this issue may result in team disqualification. Remember, just like in real life, beyond the written safety rules, SCORE’s Safety Guidelines state, that you must bear the ultimate responsibility for your own personal safety and that of your team, family and friends in attendance. SPECTATORS Providing spectator safety is critical in all types of racing, and the responsibility of everyone involved in conducting the event. On closed circuits, spectators can be separated from the race vehicles by walls and fence barriers. At the SCORE event start and finish lines, spectator fences and barrier tape zones are used and have now been extended for more spectator control. But with up to 1,000 miles of race course running thru less populated, government or privately owned land, erecting a continuous barrier is unrealistic for so many reasons. Along the entire course, spectator patrol and enforcement are the duties of Mexican authorities. The Mexican government, local and national officials, invite the series into their country and therefore provide the policing. “We’re getting a lot more help from the military, and the police, federal, state and local agencies down there,” says Norman. “We have about 20 meetings now per race regarding safety.” To help control spectators, unlike in the past, there are now formal laws in Mexico against interfering with the racecourse, with enforceable fines. At the same time, the enthusiastic fans in Mexico wish to be as actively engaged as possible which can also put them, and the racers, in danger. In areas not patrolled, spectators still stand at the edge of the course or right on it, playing a game of bravado, waiting to part at the last instance, while touching the vehicles as they go by. And as everywhere else these days, turning your back to take a selfie is popular, but very dangerous. Fans also become engaged by moving the directional signs along the course. “Our spectators are interactive. It’s not like at other sporting events, where the spectators are just sitting there in seats watching, our spectators like to get involved, and help make jumps to make the racing more exciting, or dig ditches or pull some old junk car out onto the course,” says Norman.  “You have to deal with booby traps. Crazy things like that have happened.” Add to that the possibility of speeding racers encountering a large farm animal. Besides working ever more closely with Mexican authorities, what else has SCORE done to help reduce the danger to, and from, spectators? One initiative has been using social media for education and for peer pressure. “We do a lot of things on social media. We do a lot of safety videos where our racers are talking about safety and asking the fans to stay off the course. It’s helped a lot. We’ve gone and created a group called Afficiano Responsible. It has about 12,000 members all throughout Baja,” says Norman. Their campaign is basically “Don’t do something stupid”, reinforced by the serious fans of the sport. “They post the dumb things that happen at each race and make fun of the idiots who are doing these stupid things,” says Norman. “So it’s made it very unpopular to be an idiot in Baja, and that’s done an awful lot. By people seeing this it promotes the fact that these people are not cool. It’s not cool to do that kind of stuff. Fortunately, more people are taking it upon themselves to be more respectful of the race cars.” CONCLUSIONS Overall, Roger Norman has taken several big steps to move off-road racing safety forward while facing many other challenges, to the benefit of all groups in the sport. Some have involved new rules for hardware and race procedures, while others have resulted from his influence, negotiation skills, and willingness to listen. SCORE has learned that improving motorsport safety is work that is never done. There will always be dangers in off-road racing. New problems will be identified, while new solutions will be found, and applied, usually at a faster rate. Racers need to share responsibility with SCORE to make things safer. Rules should cover vehicle class definition, basic safety hardware, and race conduct. After that, personal responsibility must be taken by all involved to avoid the need for more and more rules. Rules cannot cover all the possibilities of what could go wrong, and shouldn’t be needed to cover items that should be common sense. SCORE can continue to lead the safety crusade by helping educate teams on what they can do “before” to reduce their odds of having an accident, and “after” if one does occur, to eliminate or reduce the chance of injury. THE FUTURE From my perspective, I can definitely see that the future of off-road racing safety will include more electronic devices. Expect electronic capabilities to keep advancing, to better detect where dangers lie, going beyond recognizing the presence ahead of slower or stopped vehicles which Stella III does today. Communications and emergency response will further be aided by the use of more drones, TV cameras, and additional electronic checkpoints. Long-term, drivers will be better able to visualize other dangers like obstructions, animals, spectators, at night and in the dust, through the use of advanced RADAR and LiDAR systems being developed for autonomous vehicles. SCORE will continue to hold an annual SCORE Safety Workshop where racers and teams can raise issues away from an event in an open setting, and give everyone a chance to discuss safety. Yves Morizot, president of Stand 21 Safety Foundation, has assisted SCORE in organizing the annual safety workshop, arranging for motorsports safety experts to address the group, and has committed to do so in the future. July 28, 2018, marked the third annual SCORE Safety Workshop. In addition, the SCORE Journal will continue to cover the Safety Workshops so that their content can reach a greater audience, as well as feature safety topics year around. SJ

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