Safety Matters

The first sign of trouble is the frightening screech of tires as a speeding car spins out of control, then an explosion-like blast when it whaps into a concrete barrier, bringing an audible gasp from a crowded grandstand.

Sometimes the scenario gets worse. Geoffrey Bodine’s truck, after being knocked into the wall during a race at Daytona in February, became airborne, caught fire and disintegrated. The roll cage in which Bodine was confined was buffeted about by 3,400-pound trucks as if it were a pinball.

“My God, he’s got to be dead,” gasped a press-box veteran who had seen more than his share of serious accidents. “No one could survive that.”

Tense moments later, after emergency crews had pried Bodine from what was left of the tangled machine, the crowd erupted with a huge cheer. Bodine, stretched out on a gurney, lifted his hand as he was being wheeled to the ambulance.

He was not only alive, his injuries weren’t devastating--a broken wrist, broken vertebra in his back and multiple bruises.

Even Bodine, who is expected to resume his career May 6 at the Richmond, Va., race, was amazed.

“The first two or three times I saw the truck, I looked at it and couldn’t believe I came through it,” he said. “Through videos and still pictures, you could see that my body was just flying around inside [the roll cage], arms flying, legs. My feet have hurt terribly, my knees, elbows, fingers, toes--everything hit something.

“I have studied the tapes and slowed it down so I could analyze what was happening and it’s just absolutely amazing how that truck blew apart and then how I survived with as little protection as was left with the truck. It was truly a miracle I survived.”

The “miracle” is the result of long hours put in by hard-nosed NASCAR officials who insist that teams religiously follow safety rules in construction and use of equipment at the racetrack.

“In everything we do from a technical standpoint, our first concern is safety,” says Gary Nelson, NASCAR Winston Cup director and the series watchdog. “Safety is a work in progress. We never stop looking for new ideas and we never stop inspecting what we already have in place.”

The roll cage, an intricate web of steel tubing that forms a cocoon around the driver, is the most important safety feature of a race car.

In the early days of NASCAR, stock cars had not so much as a roll bar. Drivers sat behind the wheel with no more protection than anyone in a passenger car. In 1949, the rules called for a single bar, called the main bar, behind and above the driver’s head. That was all. There was no more than 15 feet of tubing inside the cockpit.

Today, 150 feet of 1 3/4-inch tubing, with a minimum width of .09 of an inch, is used, crisscrossing from the roof to the seat with every connection welded to assure maximum security. Some teams use thicker tubing, but anything less, or any soft metal such as aluminum, is prohibited.

“Like I said, roll-cage rules are a work in progress,” Nelson said.

A few years ago, seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt rolled his car at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and although the main bar held up, it was bent and the roof was somewhat crushed. Earnhardt’s crew added another vertical bar to give the cage added support.

“Other crew chiefs saw the new bar, decided it was a good idea, so it was written into the rule books the following year,” Nelson said. “NASCAR has the best minds in the sport and when we get ideas like that from drivers, crew chiefs or sometimes manufacturers, we often incorporate them into the rule book.”

All roll bars within the driver’s reach must be padded, and drivers are secured in their seat with quick-release lap belt and shoulder-harness combinations.

Doors do not open in race cars, they are welded shut. Drivers must climb in and out of the window. As protection against T-bone hits on the driver’s side, at least four steel bars are built into the door. Some teams use five. To prevent arms or a driver’s head from coming through the window opening, a nylon mesh screen is mandatory.

Making rules and implementing them is only part of NASCAR’s operation. The sanctioning body is also meticulous in making sure rules are followed.

About 35 officials are at each event, checking and rechecking vehicles before and after the race. At Daytona, where the NASCAR season begins, 50 officials check out all the new equipment.

“Part of our job is to convince competitors that we have their welfare in mind,” Nelson said. “We seldom get feedback on how important our inspections are. It seems rather mundane to check every car at every race, but when situations such as Bodine’s accident occur, they realize how important it is.”

Inspections begin long before cars reach the racetrack. Most chassis and roll-cage assemblies are built by two South Carolina manufacturers, Hopkins Engineering and Laughlin Racing Products, and NASCAR is there from the beginning.

“Our inspectors are like building inspectors, but we don’t tell them when we’re coming,” Nelson said. “We give them no schedule. We drop in from time to time, but with no pattern. We like to surprise them. Basically, we maintain a good relationship, because they know we have everyone’s best interests in mind.

“We realize that the manufacturers are in business to make money, but by insisting on a level playing field, we emphasize that their competition will not have any advantage in construction of Winston Cup cars. We just don’t want any corners cut in areas of safety, and we let them know that we will not tolerate it.”

That doesn’t mean that some teams don’t try.

Richard Petty once said, “If you ain’t cheatin’ a little, you ain’t likely to be winning.”

Nelson and his watchdogs realize that, but they are relentless in trying to prevent it. Some say Nelson is in charge largely because when he was a crew chief, he was one of the most innovative--to use a polite word--crew chiefs in the business.

“Years ago, cheating was done in major areas where it could be more easily detected,” he said. “Now it is more sophisticated. It is our desire to convince teams not to try, because we will catch them and when we do, we will embarrass them.”

When a culprit is caught, NASCAR makes it public. The offending parts are displayed in the garage area and crew chiefs or other offenders are fined, sometimes suspended.

A few years ago, one team was caught drilling holes in the roll bars to cut down on weight.

“When we caught them, we told them to load up their car and go home,” Nelson said. “It has not happened since.”

Nelson grew up in Redlands and learned about stock cars working with Ivan Baldwin, who terrorized Southern California short tracks with his driving in the 1970s.

“I was a 16-year-old kid when I started welding for Baldwin in his garage in Highland,” Nelson recalled. “I consider a welder a craftsman.”

Nelson also considers welding a vital part of NASCAR inspections. All of his inspectors must attend welding school so they can tell a proper weld from an improper one.

Among his jobs before becoming NASCAR’s chief inspector, Nelson was crew chief for Bodine when his Hendrick Motorsports car won the 1986 Daytona 500.

“I had a personal attachment to Geoffrey, so after seeing all the devastation, I sort of dreaded going to the hospital the night of the accident,” Nelson said. “When I got there, I was shocked at how well he looked, considering what he went through.

“When I walked into the garage the next day, I told the guys they had to be proud of the job they’d done. It sometimes takes a situation such as Bodine’s to find out how much our job means.”

NASCAR doesn’t limit its changes to those suggested by the stock car crowd. They are in touch with Formula One, CART, IRL and NHRA, discussing measures involving safety and what is best for racing.

For instance, when a loose wheel from a wrecked CART car flew into a grandstand at Michigan two years ago and killed three spectators, NASCAR got information from Formula One on restraining loose wheels.

Even though NASCAR had never had that problem, it mandated that restraints be built into Winston Cup cars.

Curiously, although NASCAR’s Winston Cup series rule book goes into minute detail about chassis construction, roll bars, seats, seat belts and shoulder harness, it has only three lines regarding helmets. The only rule is that they “meet the specifications set forth in the Federal Motor Vehicle Standard Regulations or meet the specifications set forth by the American National Standards Institute Inc.”

“Helmets are a personal thing and drivers have their own idea of what they want to wear,” Nelson said. “Bill Simpson has set safety standards that other manufacturers comply with. Our only rule is that each driver must wear a helmet.”

Simpson is a former Indy car driver who suffered head injuries in a crash at Indianapolis in 1973.

“Helmets were made back then primarily for motorcycle riders,” says Simpson, now one of the industry’s major safety equipment manufacturers. “I told them they needed to make a helmet for someone who runs into a fence at 200 mph. When one helmet manufacturer quit, I hired their workers and went into the helmet business.

“There is no relationship whatsoever between a 1973 helmet and a 2000 model. It has been an evolution, one improvement after another. For instance, helmets that used to weigh five pounds, are now down to two pounds, thanks to aerospace technology and the lightweight components they have developed.

“Today’s helmet does everything asked of it, but we are still working on solving one element--the sudden stop. On sudden deceleration, the brain moves inside the skull. That is what happened to Ernie Irvan when he hit the wall in Michigan. There were no marks on him or his helmet, but the angle he hit rotated the brain. That’s why it took him so long to recover.

“What we are working on now is a collar that is attached to the helmet that will slow the deceleration. We have to find the answer to keep the brain from moving around.”

Indeed, the evolution of safety is a work in progress.

NAPA Auto Parts 500 Facts

* When: 11 a.m. Sunday

* Gates open: 7 a.m.

* Television: Channel 7

* Defending champion: Jeff Gordon