Crashes illustrate impact of advances (2024)

If there was any lingering doubt in our minds about how successful NASCAR's diligent drive to improve driver safety since the 2000 and 2001 seasons, when they suffered a rash of driver deaths, it should have been erased at Las Vegas on March 2.

Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon experienced extremely hard crashes during the Las Vegas Sprint Cup race and walked away without serious injury. Kurt Busch also experienced a hard hit into the SAFER barrier but it did not appear to be as hard as Stewart's crash. They are all no doubt stiff and sore after absorbing very high "G" loads when their cars hit the wall but that is a far cry from having to spend weeks or months recovering from injuries (or worse) that they might have experienced several years back.

In my opinion, Gordon's more direct impact with the inside concrete wall was far more frightening than were either Stewart's or Busch's angled blows into the SAFER barrier installed on the outside walls at Las Vegas. Although, in talking with some veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup team members, such as Doug Shaak who is an experienced research and development specialist, Stewart might have received a higher "G" force "spike" because of the angle and manner in which his car impacted the wall. Things may not always be as they appear to the naked eye Shaak noted. That is why they have the "black boxes" on board to record the information for scientific study, he said.

Shaak, who runs his own shop and contracts with teams to help develop special projects, said you need to look at all of the factors to better determine how severe and direct the impact is on the driver. For example, Stewart's right front tire was flat while Gordon's front tires were still inflated when they crashed. An inflated tire can act in a manner similar to an air bag in your passenger car and help soften the blow into a wall so Stewart's hit could have had a more direct transfer of the impact to the roll cage and thus to the driver. It is a very complex science to evaluate each crash and determine what happened because no two crashes are alike and no two cars are built exactly identical even though the COT is built to meet NASCAR's very strict tolerances.

Nobody would know for sure without evaluating the data from the on-board black boxes NASCAR requires the teams to carry in each car. NASCAR does not publish or share information garnered from their on-board "black box" data collection systems except with the teams whose cars are involved in a crash.

Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition for NASCAR, politely declined to give an opinion about the Las Vegas crashes but noted that the data collected will be thoroughly evaluated and processed by NASCAR as part of its ongoing effort to improve safety in the sport.

So you are telling me that the COT is still considered to be a work in progress?

"Yes, as are all aspects of safety and competition," Pemberton replied. He noted that NASCAR works with the teams, the individual tracks and a variety of experts in the different scientific fields in an effort to improve the sport.

But, because we are talking about Las Vegas, my personal "bet" is that the "G" load impacts in both Stewart's and Busch's angled crashes exceeded those experienced by Dale Earnhardt in his similar -- though fatal -- crash in 2001 at Daytona and therefore should have caused them serious physical injury, if not worse. The good part of that statement is the "should have" because they both, along with Gordon, walked away from very serious crashes.

Because a head restraint system such as the HANS device is now mandatory in NASCAR I contacted HANS representative Andrea Walker and asked her if they had any opinion concerning the Vegas crashes. Bob Hubbard, who is the inventor of the HANS device, replied with the following statement: "From the broadcast video and the comments by Jeff Gordon, it's obvious that he survived a very severe crash at Las Vegas. This is the kind of crash where the HANS device is needed. From what Jeff says, the HANS device performed very well with the other co*ckpit safety systems."

Hendrick Motorsports builds their own carbon fiber seats for their drivers so Gordon's seat also performed well. The difference in the structure of today's seats and how they were built just 10 years ago is amazing. Twenty-plus years ago the teams used the frames from cargo van seats as the base structure for their race car seats. Then it evolved to semi-formed aluminum seats with some neck and shoulder support to today where the driver is literally encased in a protective cocoon from his head all the way down to his ankles. Where the old converted van seats cost a couple of hundred dollars to construct, today's sophisticated cocoon seats cost as much as $10,000 each.

If you are, in any way, claustrophobic then you would not enjoy sitting in a NASCAR race car. One of the downfalls of all that increased protection is the driver's movements are now heavily restrained and his vision is obstructed to his right and to his rear. That has placed a much greater emphasis on team spotters to work with the driver to advise him when he is clear of a competitor in traffic during a race.

Stewart's movements and speech appeared to be a little slower than normal after his second crash of the weekend. He had to be supported and helped to the ambulance by track safety personnel on Sunday because of minor leg and ankle injuries and a very sore back. His interview outside the care center after his release seemed to be in slow motion, indicating that he was having to concentrate to answer the reporter's questions. But he said that he was OK even though he felt his Sunday crash was one of the hardest hits he had ever experienced. He skipped the Monday morning Sprint Cup test session at Phoenix to rest up but was back in his race car that afternoon.

Gordon actually appeared to have weathered his much more severe (my opinion) near head-on crash into the solid concrete interior retaining wall better than Stewart did with his angled contact into the SAFER barrier on the outside wall. Gordon's crash was so violent that his car's front end disintegrated on impact [as designed] and its radiator was thrown a long distance down the track. The engine was pushed back into the driver's co*ckpit area as well. All evidence of an extremely hard hit. A hit from which a driver would have suffered serious, if not fatal, injuries just a few years ago.

Gordon was very vocal and critical about the lack of a SAFER barrier on the interior wall right after his crash. He called for Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports, the LVMS track owner and operator, to get soft walls on the inside of the track and to change the back wall where he hit so hard.

"I looked down and I saw where the transmission was and it was no longer there. I really tore the thing up," Gordon said. "Thankfully Hendrick Motorsports and everyone with this DuPont/Nicorette Chevrolet builds an unbelievable race car because that is the hardest I've ever hit."

While I'm sure that part of his frustration was caused by the surge of adrenalin still pumping through his veins right after hitting the wall so violently and realizing that he had dodged a very large bullet, his complaint also has legitimacy in that there are almost as many crashes into inside walls as there are into outside walls where NASCAR has chosen to emphasize the placement of the SAFER barriers to date.

NASCAR has never been known to make rash decisions, primarily because its officials want to make sure they do not create additional unforeseen problems in an effort to solve the problem at hand. They are to be commended that they have accomplished so much concerning safety in such a short period of time. However they should not rest on their laurels just because we have not experienced any more serious injuries or deaths to drivers since the Earnhardt tragedy and safety became a priority.

Gordon praised his crew for building a strong and safe car that allowed him to survive such a violent crash without serious injury. Hendrick drivers do have the luxury of driving very safe and dependable race cars. But we should not forget that the current car is the product of NASCAR's design and development efforts that have cost the sanctioning body many millions of dollars to create a safer race car.

The basic problem faced by NASCAR, the teams and their drivers is that what is the fastest way to do something is usually not the safest way to do it. Let's start with the basic fact that races are speed contests and not safety contests. Couple that with the racer's mentality that "It will never happen to me" when he thinks about the pitfalls of an action and you have a classic dilemma. NASCAR's enforced safety regulations today are light years ahead of what they were 40, 30 or even 10 years ago, but "boys will be boys" as the old saying goes and the teams and their drivers will stretch the limits as far as they can to gain a competitive advantage.

I've been around the sport long enough to have witnessed or known about some very serious safety rules infractions that slipped through the inspection process in the "good old days." Things like hiding extra fuel in the roll bars or in secret side panels of the rear fenders. Or making the roll bars out of lighter tubing to save weight. NASCAR has greatly improved the system with a much more thorough inspection process today. And, they have eliminated those types of infractions to everyone's benefit.

As Pemberton said, it is considered a work in progress at NASCAR. They will continue to work on improving the safety of the cars and the tracks so drivers can walk away from serious crashes like Gordon and Stewart experienced at Las Vegas.

Bill Borden is a former championship winning crew chief who operated David Pearson's Racing School for many years.