Safety

Safety in racing has come a long way since the first green flag dropped. Up until the last few years, NASCAR was heavily critizied for its lack of focus of safety. Many safety precautions were not mandatory, like they are in other racing series, but were only optional or recommended. NASCAR changed its stance on this after the sport's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt was killed in a racing accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Using new technology, NASCAR has tried to make racing as safe, and still as thrilling as ever to protect the drivers, fans, and keep racing exciting.

The seats that the drivers sit in have evolved over the past few years. Most of the seats found in the race cars wrap around the driver's rib cage which provides some support during a crash, spreading the load out over the entire rib cage instead of letting it concentrate in a smaller area. Some of the newer seats wrap around the driver's shoulders as well, which provides better support because the shoulders are more durable than the rib cage. You can see all of this safety in action at the Food City 500. Luckily for you we have Food City 500 Tickets for you.

The seat belts in stock cars are very important. They are built to be stronger than a normal seat belt. The seat belts used are the five-point harness, which is two straps coming down over the driver's shoulders, two straps wrap around the waist and one comes up between the legs. Since a string of accidents in 2000 and 2001 that killed Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper and Dale Earnhardt under similar circumstances, NASCAR has made it mandatory for the drivers to wear the HANS Device (Head And Neck Support) to restrict head movement and subsequent neck injury during a crash. Though NASCAR allowed another system (Hutchens) in the past, as of 2005, HANS is the only head and neck restraint device allowed for use. It is a semi-hard collar made of carbon fiber and Kevlar, and it is held onto the upper body by a harness worn by the driver. Two flexible tethers on the collar are attached to the helmet to prevent the head from snapping forward or to the side during a wreck.

In 1994, NASCAR introduced roof flaps to the car, which designed to keep cars from getting airborne and possibly rolling down the track. If the speed of the car is high enough, it will generate enough lift to pick up the car if it spins backwards. To prevent this, NASCAR officials developed a set of flaps that are recessed into pockets on the roof of the car. When a car is turned around, and is going fast enough, the flaps come up and disrupt the airflow over the roof, eliminating most of the lift. The roof flaps generally keep the cars on the ground as they spin, although it is not guaranteed.

Beginning in the early 2000s, NASCAR's tracks have installed softer walls and barriers along the track, called SAFER Barriers. Soft walls are typically built of aluminum and styrofoam; materials that can absorb the impact of a car at high speeds, as opposed to a concrete wall which absorbs little-to-none of the impact. There are four types of softer walls and barriers: Cellofoam - This is an encapsulated polystyrene barrier -- a block of plastic foam encased in polyethylene. Polyethylene Energy Dissipation System (PEDS) - which uses small polyethylene cylinders inserted inside larger ones. Designers of PEDS believe the system increases the wall's ability to withstand crashes of heavy race cars. Impact Protection System (IPS) - This inner piece of the wall is then wrapped in a rubber casing. Holes are drilled in the concrete wall and cables are used to tie the segments to it. Compression barriers - this idea is to place cushioning materials, such as tires, against the concrete wall, and then cover those cushions with a smooth surface that would give when impacted, and then pop back out to its previous shape once the impact is over.

Pit road safety has become the latest focus of NASCAR officials in recent years. At each track there are different speeds the cars are required to travel at (the speed depends on the size of the track and the size of pit road, generally 35 mph (60 km/h) on short tracks and road courses, 45 mph (70 km/h) on intermediate tracks and 55 mph (90 km/h) on superspeedways). NASCAR has placed a new electronic scoring system in use as of 2005 to monitor the speeds of cars on pit road by measuring the time it takes to get from checkpoint to checkpoint. As none of the cars are equipped with speedometers, the cars in prerace warm up laps are driven around the track at the pit road speed following the pace car so the drivers can mark on the tachometer the telemetry (term referring to the Revolutions Per Minute it takes to travel at the "speed limit") for the day. The tachometer then "guides" the speed of the car down pit road. Over the wall pit members are now required to wear helmets after a string of members were hit and in the open wheel series many members were ran over. In addition to the helmets, all members are required to wear full fire suits and gloves while the refueller must wear a fire apron as well as the suit. Tire changers must also wear safety glasses to prevent eye injures from lug nuts thrown off the car.