[Joe Fan]

One other point I would like to bring up is the rigidity of the NASCAR chassis and lack of crush space that has been talked about. Larry McReynolds has been one who thought this to be an important factor and area for improvement and I generally agreed from looking at a Winston Cup up close.

However, looking at the slo-mo film footage of a Winston Cup car that was crash tested under the same criteria of Earnhardt's car, I was surprised to see how crushable the car was in this situation and I think that a "Humpy Bumper" (a carbon fibre bumper mounted to the front of the chassis) would be the best way tackle this problem. I also don't think that rigidity is necessarily a bad thing as it is needed to help protect the driver in rolls. A rigid chassis may transfer more forces on to the driver (which is where the humpy bumper comes in) but it should beneficial in preventing the speed of the car from decreased too dramatically. As Dr. Rabbin noted, sudden velocity changes of 40mph or more has a high incidence of fatalities. So, a rigid chassis with a carbon fibre humpy bumper that would absorb and prevent energy from being passed on to the driver seems to be the best option for NASCAR to head towards in the interim.

More importantly, HANS type devices seem to have more relevance of anything brought up as a safety resolution for this problem in my opinion. Although, the maker of the HANS device cannot be guarantee how much energy it can absorb or how successful that it can be in preventing basilar skull fractures from head whip, the non-technical benefits seem to be pretty clear to me. It is not real clear that head whip is what causes basilar skull fractures. I am inclined to believe that a blunt force trauma to the head (ie the head hitting something like a steering wheel as it is thrown forward or backward against the headrest) is what really what causes basilar skull fractures in these instances. So, any device that limits and prevents the driver's head from hitting something, should prevent most of these type fractures and deaths.

If you seen the film footage in the presentation of Johnny Benson door slapper, a simple side impact appeared to be rather violent to the driver. This contact caused Johnny's goggles to be thrown off and the degree of movement of his head was surprising, almost shocking really as his head completely bent the side head support. It makes you appreciate the forces of simple crahses.

The idea of the driver's head hitting objects in the car is what is causing most of the deaths seems to be reinforced with crash of John Nemechek. John Nemecheck's death was not due to basilar skull fractures, but from impact to the b-pillar. It basically spilt his brain almost completely in half down the brainstem from what I have heard from someone close to that situation. The outcome of this crash was the creation of the "Nemechek Strap" by Bill Simpson that basically was a small webbing device that is mounted above the driver's head and by the window, and this device prevents the driver's head from hitting this part of the roll cage.

Now, should NASCAR automatically mandate HANS type devices? No, maybe in a year or two but I concur with NASCAR that these devices need to be developed more for stock car use and most of the drivers are wearing these devices now anyway. Tony Stewart and Jimmy Spencer were the only drivers that weren't wearing one of these type devices last Sunday at Michigan. Drivers seem to be concerned about how quickly they can get out of a car that is on fire with the device. So far, they are getting out fairly quickly but what about an unconscious driver, will safety crews be able to detach these devices quickly if they have to pull a driver from a car?