SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/751602
SAFETY ASPECTS CAN'T BE IGNORED Reports about Earnhardt's lack of interest in using a head and neck restraint are common online and elsewhere in the media. Earnhardt often complained that they were far too restrictive inside the cockpit. Yet, his death ironically sparked a huge change in NASCAR safety equipment, including the use of the head and neck restraints. There have been other fatalities in racing that were also preventable, had drivers been wearing a head and neck restraint. These include Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Greg Moore, John Lingenfelter, and the list goes on. According to the experts, there have been so many racers injured or killed from these types of injuries, that to even consider climbing into a race vehicle without wearing head and neck restraint is like playing Russian roulette. Sure, racers believe they might be ok, but the chances are stacked against them. This alone makes a head and neck restraint one of the most important pieces of safety equipment in every racer's kit. According to a published study by the Charlotte Observer, "No driver in Indy Car or in any of NASCAR's major touring series has been killed by a basilar skull fracture since the adoption of the universal use of head and neck restraints." HISTORY BEHIND THE HEAD AND NECK RESTRAINT In the early days of off-road racing, a simple foam neck (horse) collar was all that was available to prevent the head and neck from whipping too far forward in a crash. But the foam collar did little to actually reduce the tremendous forces of an impact. Then along came HANS© (head and neck support) and lives were being saved, supported by studies written by the leading experts on the topic. HANS© was created by Bob Hubbard and Jim Downing in the early 1980s. HANS is the acronym for head and neck support. The early HANS© was not as accepted by drivers and teams as both Hubbard and Downing may have liked, due to its size, weight, and shape. But all that began to change in the 1990s when a new generation HANS© was introduced, which was lighter, more comfortable to wear and less restrictive. Essentially, HANS© works much like your passenger car airbags, reducing the force of a frontal collision to limit injuries caused by neck shear, tension and load by up to 70 to 80 percent in some cases. 073 SCORE JOURNAL