Despite Advances, NASCAR Still Has Room For Safety Improvements

There is no question NASCAR has made many strides in the area of safety over the past decade: The implementation of SAFER barriers, HANS devices and the new body design in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars have saved the lives of countless drivers since the tragic years of 2000 and 2001.

Although the sport is as safe as it has ever been, there is still room for improvement. A number of incidents in 2011 have raised concern and may have shed a bit of light on the next areas for safety improvement.

Take Jeff Gordon’s hard hit recently at Richmond International Raceway, for example.

Gordon hit driver-side first on the inside wall going into the third turn. There was no SAFER barrier along the stretch of wall that stuck out at an angle. Gordon, along with other drivers, called for the track to examine the area of impact.

The track responded in a statement, saying “NASCAR and the University of Nebraska are re-evaluating the track to determine if SAFER barriers are needed in any additional locations.”

Over the past few seasons, this is how safety improvements have come about. Something unforeseen takes place, and then NASCAR and/or a specific track quickly react to rectify the situation.

That occurred following the wreck at Talladega in 2008 in which Carl Edwards flew into the fencing, injuring fans. After that incident, fencing was improved at most of the tracks on the schedule. That again took place last season when two incidents at Pocono Raceway brought multiple safety issues to light. The track took the initiative and has made improvements.

Yet two incidents already this year have again brought safety into question.

Brian Vickers loses his window net at Darlington

The first came during the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway when David Ragan and Brian Vickers got together. Ragan’s car slid back up the track and ripped the driver-side door off Vickers’ No. 83 Toyota. The window net was also ripped clean from the car.

It was a surprising incident for many watching, and inside the car, Vickers was just as surprised as anyone.

“All of a sudden it was gone,” he said. “There was nothing there.”

NASCAR immediately examined the damaged car and would not allow the team to return to the track until all safety measures were replaced.

“In that case – that is kind of an unusual circumstance – when one car gets up into the window net of another (car), it tends to try and rip it out,” said Tom Gideon, NASCAR’s Director of Safety for Research and Development. “That’s what happened in that case. It obviously ripped the side off the car also. You also saw the car did not go back into competition until everything was put back on.”

Vickers’ crew chief, Ryan Pemberton, said the stripping of the window net was “probably like the perfect storm type thing where this had to happen, that had to happen.”

“We’ve since changed how we do everything,” Pemberton added. “It’s one of those things you’ve never seen it before, probably neglected it a bit, just assume that it’s always going to be good enough. Obviously what we did was not good enough. We made improvements to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Below: Brian Vickers loses his window net as the side of his car is ripped off in a wreck with David Ragan last month at Darlington (Getty Images).

Gideon pointed out the NASCAR rule book states the window net must be mounted to the top and bottom roll bars in the car. Yet when looking at the video of Vickers’ wreck, it appears to contradict that statement. Based on the replay of the incident and comments from Vickers and Pemberton, it appears the team had mounted the window net bracing to the door – not necessarily the roll cage.

“The driver cockpit area is always a cause for concern, but teams have already taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Vickers said. “The bottom of the window net should just be connected to the roll bar and not be mounted to the window sill/sheet metal area. That will prevent it from being ripped off if the side is ever peeled away again.”

Gideon said NASCAR’s focus on the window net has shifted over the years. Originally, he said, it was “designed to keep parts of the driver inside the car.

“As we look toward the future, what we want to do is look at that whole window net scenario and see if there can’t be some improvements in the area of keeping things out of the car,” he said.

The window net, Gideon said, was initially designed following the fatal accident of Joe Weatherly on the road course in Riverside, Calif. – as well as an end-over-end wreck at Darlington in which Richard Petty’s arm flew outside the window as the car rolled down the frontstretch. Over the years, the nets have evolved and developed into the current double-stitch model used today.

“If you look at the early nets versus the net today, the net today is pretty robust,” Gideon said. “It has a SFI specification on it. In that specification, they drop a weight on the net – a 175-pound weight from 26 inches.”

Wreck at finish of Dover Nationwide race sparks concerns

Luckily for Joey Logano, those tests were effective. One week after the Vickers incident, on the final lap of the Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway, Logano made contact with the outside wall and shot back across the track. Clint Bowyer’s car hit Logano’s left rear tire and launched into the air.

As Bowyer’s car rode up Logano’s driver side, the tire went directly over Logano’s window net, causing rips and tears.

“For me, I think everything did its job (at Dover),” Logano said. “If it wasn’t for the window net and the B-post right there, that car would have come in and hit my head.

“Looking at the car at the end, it had tire marks on the B-post that was sitting right here (pointing over his left shoulder), the window net was hit – you could see it was torn in a couple spots. Everything did its job keeping that car out of where I am at.”

Logano said he was well aware of the Vickers incident and said he realized there could have been a different outcome.

“I’ve never seen a door peel off that much, let alone the window net,” Logano said. “That was just really weird. A lot of it is just where guys are mounting their window nets, so maybe (NASCAR) should start looking at where people are mounting their window nets and how they’re doing it.”

Again, Logano’s comments seem to contradict NASCAR’s stance that where teams mount the window nets is mandated in the rule book.

While Logano and Bowyer were able to walk away from that incident at Dover, Kevin Harvick Inc. crew member Glen Wheeler was not so lucky.

Standing on pit wall watching his driver race to the checkered flag, Wheeler was struck just below the knee by a spring that flew out of Bowyer’s car when the car hit the inside retaining wall. Although the incident was painful and has kept Wheeler on crutches and out of action, the result may have been much worse had he been standing behind the wall – and thus two or three feet lower – instead of on top of it.

Following the Wheeler incident, various crew members in the garage made it was clear they would like to see some sort of tether in place on the springs. Tethers are currently used to hold the hood, rear deck lid and wheels onto the car.

“We’re very concerned when parts come off the cars,” Gideon said. “We’ve looked in the past at tethering things and we continue to look at that. We’re examining all of that stuff and we continue to try to improve on that particular factor.”

Below: Clint Bowyer (33) and Joey Logano make contact at the end of the Dover Nationwide Series race last month (Getty Images).

Richard Childress Racing crew chief Shane Wilson said the improvement would not take much work and would only make the car a little heavier. He explained as the pit boxes have evolved and gotten bigger, they have allowed for easy protection on pit road for the guys behind the wall.

Despite calling for one area of improvement, Wilson said it is as safe as it has ever been on pit road.

Roush Fenway Racing crew chief Greg Erwin echoed Wilson’s thoughts, calling Dover a “unique situation.” He indicated, though, that a rear spring tether “could potentially find its way into the sport.”

“We’re always talking about keeping the fans in the grandstands safe,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to turn the mirror on ourselves and look at keeping the pit crews safe.”

Tire changer: Pit crews should watch out for themselves

For Joe Gibbs Racing front tire changer Heath Cherry, each crew member on pit road is responsible for ensuring his own safety.

“The environment that you’re in, you always have to have your head on a swivel,” Cherry said. “I don’t think you’ll really be able to police everything. It’s really up to the crew guys to ensure they protect themselves and be aware of what’s going on.”

Cherry said places like Dover and Bristol, where pit road is right against the racetrack, are “notorious” for close calls.

“You know those crashes are going to be violent and they’re going to be close to you,” Cherry said of Dover. “I think really it’s up to the crew guys to police themselves from a safety standpoint.”

During Cherry’s first season, crew chief Mike Ford offered a piece of advice that has always stuck with him.

“He always told us to keep our eyes open,” Cherry said. “Never turn our backs to the racing action when sitting on pit wall. I always took that to heart. Even to this day 12 years later, if I’m sitting on pit wall, I try to keep my eyes on the action and what is going on just so I don’t get caught off-guard and injured.”

Despite these two specific areas of potential improvement, most drivers, crew chiefs and pit crew members interviewed all felt NASCAR was doing its part to ensure the sport was as safe as ever.

That said, there is always room for improvement. These incidents may have been unique in nature, but by not acting to ensure they do not happen again, NASCAR could be making a grave mistake.