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Holy Qualifying NASCAR Crash

If this was pre-Dale Earnhardt's death he'd be dead. The safety technology has come a long, long way.

What gets me is the amount of guys I race with that don't take safety seriously. My race car is the safest one of everyone I race with, pretty much the same safety stuff the cup guys use.
 
Originally posted by: trmiv
If this was pre-Dale Earnhardt's death he'd be dead. The safety technology has come a long, long way.
Click to expand...

Wasn't then HANS device available then? I thought Earnhardt just didn't want to wear it because it was uncomfortable.

Anyway...safety technology and equipment sure has. Quite amazing.
 
Originally posted by: pyonir
Originally posted by: trmiv
If this was pre-Dale Earnhardt's death he'd be dead. The safety technology has come a long, long way.
Click to expand...

Wasn't then HANS device available then? I thought Earnhardt just didn't want to wear it because it was uncomfortable.

Anyway...safety technology and equipment sure has. Quite amazing.
Click to expand...

It was, but it took a major star like him dying for people to really take safety seriously. He was larger than life in NASCAR, and when he was killed everyone realized that if he could die, anyone could. Of course that was always the case, but race car drivers can be hard-headed about safety.
 
How the hell did he walk away? Wasn't that the same kind of crash that killed Dale Earnhardt a little while ago?

edit: ah, answered by trmiv above.
 
Originally posted by: trmiv
Originally posted by: pyonir
Originally posted by: trmiv
If this was pre-Dale Earnhardt's death he'd be dead. The safety technology has come a long, long way.
Click to expand...

Wasn't then HANS device available then? I thought Earnhardt just didn't want to wear it because it was uncomfortable.

Anyway...safety technology and equipment sure has. Quite amazing.
Click to expand...

It was, but it took a major star like him dying for people to really take safety seriously. He was larger than life in NASCAR, and when he was killed everyone realized that if he could die, anyone could. Of course that was always the case, but race car drivers can be hard-headed about safety.
Click to expand...

Who's to say McDowell wouldn't have worn the device anyway...as some drivers did pre-Earnhardt. I know how important DE was to nascar...that's obvious.
 
Originally posted by: pyonir
Originally posted by: trmiv
Originally posted by: pyonir
Originally posted by: trmiv
If this was pre-Dale Earnhardt's death he'd be dead. The safety technology has come a long, long way.
Click to expand...

Wasn't then HANS device available then? I thought Earnhardt just didn't want to wear it because it was uncomfortable.

Anyway...safety technology and equipment sure has. Quite amazing.
Click to expand...

It was, but it took a major star like him dying for people to really take safety seriously. He was larger than life in NASCAR, and when he was killed everyone realized that if he could die, anyone could. Of course that was always the case, but race car drivers can be hard-headed about safety.
Click to expand...

Who's to say McDowell wouldn't have worn the device anyway...as some drivers did pre-Earnhardt. I know how important DE was to nascar...that's obvious.
Click to expand...

I know of no NASCAR drivers that wore a head and neck restraint before Dale died. Afterwards many started, and it took a mandate by nascar to get them all to wear them. Early on it was the Hutchens device, which IMO sucks. I had one for a year and I hated it, it was a pain to use properly, hard to put on, difficult to get in the car, restricted head movement, and didn't work that well. The HANS is miles above it, I've used it for the past three years.

Also, it's way more than the HANS that saved him. The cars are totally different now than they were then, all tracks have soft walls, the seat technology is MILES above what it was back then, all drivers are running at least 6 point belts, all drivers are running cage nets, and NASCAR has very strict safety inspections to ensure everything is properly installed.
 
Originally posted by: Canai
How the hell did he walk away? Wasn't that the same kind of crash that killed Dale Earnhardt a little while ago?

edit: ah, answered by trmiv above.
Click to expand...

Three major safety improvements saved his ass compared to Dale Sr:

1) A SAFER barrier with crush panels to absorb crash impact.
2) The "Car of Tomorrow" platform, which was also designed to absorb crash impact and survive rolls.
3) The HANS device, which kept the driver in his seat where he belongs.
 
Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Originally posted by: Canai
How the hell did he walk away? Wasn't that the same kind of crash that killed Dale Earnhardt a little while ago?

edit: ah, answered by trmiv above.
Click to expand...

Three major safety improvements saved his ass compared to Dale Sr:

1) A SAFER barrier with crush panels to absorb crash impact.
2) The "Car of Tomorrow" platform, which was also designed to absorb crash impact and survive rolls.
3) The HANS device, which kept the driver in his seat where he belongs.
Click to expand...

I'd say seat technology is probably just as important or more important than all of those. The strong full containment seats now are so dramatically better than the one's they ran then it kinda scares me I ever got in a race car without one.
 
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Holy fuck how is he alive?

NASCAR sure has done an amazing job with the safety aspect of their sport.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is why we watch. Now if he would have gotten out all wooozie, flipped up his visor, and puked it would have enhanced my viewing pleasure.

 
Originally posted by: Baked
The NASCAR restrain system is fucking amazing.
Click to expand...

Um, he had a HANS system on his neck which nascar resisted for many years even though it was used for years prior to neckcar adopting it. Those barriers definitely helped but I think the HANS probably saved his life more than anything.

Edit-David Coulthard, a Formula One veteran, said it best, when responding to nascar drivers complaining that wearing the HANS device made getting out of the car difficult, he responded, "try getting out of the car with a broken neck."
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: Baked
The NASCAR restrain system is fucking amazing.
Click to expand...

Um, he had a HANS system on his neck which nascar resisted for many years even though it was used for years prior to neckcar adopting it. Those barriers definitely helped but I think the HANS probably saved his life more than anything.

Edit-David Coulthard, a Formula One veteran, said it best, when responding to nascar drivers complaining that wearing the HANS device made getting out of the car difficult, he responded, "try getting out of the car with a broken neck."
Click to expand...

One of the biggest fears of any race car driver is fire, and the danger of it is even worse for drivers of closed cockpit race cars. So the difficulty in exiting the car is a valid complaint, but can be greatly minimized if the fire fear is reduced. Cup cars now have very advanced fire systems compared to even just a few years ago.

Trust me is a massive bitch to get out of a closed cockpit race car quickly with the amount of safety equipment used. It really isn't just the hans though that makes it difficult to get out of the car, it's the combination of the seat and the hans. At least on the COT cup car they focused on making the window opening larger to make getting out of the car easier with the newer safety equipment.

All of that said, I would never race without a head and neck restraint and all of the other safety equipment I use.
 
Now that crash was a hell of alot worse than DE's crash by a mile. It's amazing he walked away from that one even with the safety systems.
 
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