Are IRL crashes more likely to involve injuries?

[slicktoast]

Is it me or are there more injuries in the IRL than in that other openwheel catagory. In its brief history, seems like a lot drivers have been sidelined.:confused:

[Dr. Austin]

We have sure had a bad run the last couple of weeks, Haven't we? Is it really a surprise that at 220+mph guys can get hurt? Especially when all the can hit is concrete?

I don't know what happened with salazar, but it was bad. the Scheckter/Lazier accident was down to poor judgment by Tomas, and that is a problem in all forms of motorsports.

But the IRL is a series that is always on oval tracks and always characterised with concrete walls all the way around. The combination of 225+mph and concrete wall is bound to get ugly once in awhile.

The Speedway has just announced that they are introducing softwall technology for the 500. It will be very interesting to see how much this helps. Someone is bound to test it. They are there for a whole month and going stupidly fast. I suspect we will have a pretty good answer within the first few days. I hope it is the one we want.

[SevenGrain]

I think that rather than focusing on their chassis suppliers staying away fron CART, perhaps they should demand a safer product.

The IRL chassis, more often than not, spin around and impact the wall from the rear. For whatever reason, the car does not appear to be doing the job of absorbing the impact as it should.

Back injuries have been quite common in the IRL. Buddy Lazier, Jacques Lazier(twice), Scott Goodyear and Salazar have all sustained injuries to their backs. Sam Schmidt is now confined to a wheelchair as a result of his back injury.

Soft Walls are definitely a step in the right direction, but I really think that the car deserves a look. Perhaps it's the design or position of the seat causing the back troubles?

I'm not saying that the IRL car is "unsafe at any speed" but any time that there are as many similar injuries as this, every avenue of safety must be explored...

[marcus]

exactly , every avenue should be explored , walls, cars, drivers , everything should be looked at.
the amount of injuries in this series does concern me and I dont really know why its happening.
i dont know much about this soft wall technology but it sounds interesting, but the car safety is something that needs looking into, maybe there is something wrong maybe not in the design of the cars but possibly in the construction of them , things that work well on paper dont always pan out in the field.
and ythen you have the drivers , the HANS device is the greatest thing to come along for a ages and has been proven to help neck injuries during a crash , im not going to say prevent injuries because thats not the case , but it ceetainly reduces the chances of a injury , i think that should be a mandatory requirment at every track they race on for all drivers.

its a tough situation really , we all know the IRL, the circuit owners, the drivers and the teams are always looking at safety and it is always trying to be improved, but hopefully we can get through the month of may without any injuries because i fear that Indy will be very fast this this year and im just hoping no one gets hurt.

[Glen Hartigan]

far from safe

[SevenGrain]

The Speedway will have a major announcement regarding the soft wall technology tomorrow, Wednesday May 1.

Representatives from the University of Nebraska, NASCAR, and the IRL will all be a part of the press conference.

[SevenGrain]

All about the SAFER wall

www.cartpages.com/SAFER.html

[The Beer Baron]

Was the university of Nebraska involved in the Dale Earnhardt investigation?

[SevenGrain]

I don't believe so. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been working on the energy absorbing so-called "soft walls" since 1998.

[OVERSTEER]

This "soft wall" technology is not the problem IMO, because simalar accidents have happened in CART and they don't have the injuries that the IRL have, work needs to happen with the IRL cars to make them safer.