New Bumper tested

[Emfa]

The 'new' bumper designed by Paul Lew and sponsored by Humpy Wheeler was tested at Charlotte this week. It sounds like the test went well and that they are ready to take the results to Nascar. Randy LaJoie was there to witness the test and gave it his seal of approval.

These guys have really taken the initiative on this. Now the ball is going to shift to Nascar's court. I think it will be interesting to see how they handle this - it may show how serious they are about safety initiatives! I wonder if any of the manufacturers will get on board with this system?

And PLEASE, can they come up with a name other than "Humpy Bumper"?

[Joe Fan]

Emfa, did they say how many G forces this bumper was able to reduce? I think this is a great idea but it seems quite costly for it to be used in lower NASCAR divisions. I think they said it cost $5,000 from what I remember and that it was hypothesized to reduce up to 50 Gs.

I feel that the vast majority of the fatal basilar skull fractures are being caused from the drivers hitting their heads on roll bars and the steering wheel. Why? Because I have yet to see proof of the amount of "G forces/length of time exposed" that it takes to get basilar skull fractures from simple head whip alone.

I haven't seen the autopsy reports of Irwin, Petty and Roper but I do know that blunt force trauma to the head was the official cause of death to Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett. Their autopsy reports can be found online at websitecity (along with other morbid stuff that shouldn't be online). Bonnett's steering wheel was bent according to the autopsy report. Earnhardt hit the steering wheel so hard that it even pushed the steering column in and downward a bit. John Nemechek did not die from a basilar skull fracture, he died from contact with the b-pillar which caused his brain to be split almost in two.

All Winston Cup drivers except for Jimmy Spencer are wearing a HANS or Hutchens device. So, in my opinion, the most important safety step has been taken by the drivers themselves. The humpy bumper, chassis design, soft walls are all areas to look into but none of these will prevent a driver from making fatal contact with stuff inside the cockpit. However, HANS-like devices, Nemechek straps and improved seats and head supports will.

[Emfa]

The car that was used in the test was carrying a data logger but I imagine that the people involved are a bit wary about releasing too many details at this stage. They did say:

"The data from those tests showed that the bumper reduced the G forces felt by the driver a minimum of 50 percent and increased the duration of the crash by as much as four times -- which lengthens the deceleration time and creates less stress on the driver's body."

They are also suggesting that the cost will be around $6000!

There are so many things involved in crash dynamics that I don't even pretend to understand that make this a very complex issue. On the face of it, it does appear that the most important thing would be to protect the head and neck as much as possible (as you say) and that all the other devices will help in an associated way.

[Joe Fan]

Hmmm...I would be real leary about anything that lengthens deceleration time. You can withstand 40 Gs for a fraction of a second but if you experienced this over a couple of seconds, it would be fatal. So the amount one is exposed to a high level of Gs is as important as the amount of Gs. I guess more research needs to be conducted. It sounds like an issue of which is better to experience less Gs for a longer amount of time or higher Gs for a shorter duration.