Earnhardt Inquiry Leaked

[Emfa]

You may have already seen that the Orlando Sentinal has published some information about Nascar's inquiry into the Daytona death, but if not, here are the key points:

Multiple sources closely tied to the investigation have revealed some of the findings to the Orlando Sentinel but have requested anonymity.

Here are three key points, according to the sources:

NASCAR race cars, built by individual racing teams and inspected by NASCAR, lack sufficient crush resistance in the front ends to adequately protect drivers from the severity of crashes. Redesigning probably will be recommended, with energy-absorbent bumpers and the aluminum-foam "crush box" currently under development.

Earnhardt's fatal basilar skull fracture will not be blamed on a broken seat belt. Investigators have essentially confirmed the findings of Dr. Barry Myers, the independent expert appointed to settle a legal dispute between the Sentinel and Earnhardt's widow, Teresa. Myers found in April that Earnhardt died of a violent forward head whip. He said the seat belt, even if it had been broken in the crash, did not cause the fatal injury.

Emergency medical technician Tommy Propst might have incorrectly concluded that Earnhardt's lap belt was intact when he arrived at the crash scene.

NASCAR president Mike Helton and chairman Bill France Jr. declined to comment on the findings of the investigation. It is also unclear what NASCAR will do with the results.

If this is true, it may actually be a step in the right direction - I hope so! This should be good news for Bill Simpson too.

The full story is at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...me%2Dheadlines
The full report is due to be released on Aug 21st.

[Joe Fan]

It will be interesting to see what is in NASCAR's final report. I suspect that there will still be some surprising news in it. I still wonder about the seat belt issue because some expert claimed a while back that you do not get basilar skull fractures from just the whipping forward motion, that a blow downward on the head is required. Dale's head did hit the steering wheel and if a driver's head hitting the steering wheel while tightly restrained is normal, then some safety emphasis needs to be placed on producing better seat belts. Seat belts have to have some give to them or else it will result in broken bones. Likewise a HANS device must also have some give to it or else it will snap your neck.

Overall, I think this whole safety ordeal is a multi-faceted issue that will require improvements in several areas: seat belts, head restraints, chassis design, use of carbon-fibre components like the recently introduced "Humpy Bumnper", soft walls, track design, etc. Even then, improvements more than likely will not ensure that drivers survive all crashes, but if it reduces deaths over a decade, then it will all be worth it.