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Monday, February 26
Critics: More needs to be done
By Jack Arute
Special to ESPN.com
When Fox broadcaster Mike Joy asked Darrell Waltrip why Winston Cup cars didn't have brake lights, an exasperated D.W. answered. "With all that has happened over the past seven days, anything that will help guys from running into one another should be considered."
Lets face it. NASCAR has been in the eye of a terrible storm. Everyone mourns the loss of Dale Earnhardt, but officials at NASCAR have been second-guessed regarding their approach to safety.
|  | | CART's Michael Andretti wearing the HANS device. |
While at Rockingham, NASCAR president Mike Helton fought back. "It is very unfair when someone from other forms of motorsports or the press chooses to challenge us without knowing all the facts," Helton said.
The issue of safety is something that NASCAR approaches with due diligence. They may be guilty of keeping under wraps the specifics of their pursuit, but that does not mean that NASCAR is negligent in that area.
There are six people on NASCAR's payroll devoted exclusively to safety issues. They operate a safety research and development facility in Charlotte, N.C. Like many other sanctioning bodies, NASCAR also funds considerable research at universities and institutions throughout the country.
"Look at a car from five or 10 years ago," points out the NASCAR president. "You can see the difference."
Helton says at least 52 rules related to safety have been implemented since 1993. Roof flaps, stronger suspension parts, throttle stops, kill switches, roll bar construction and cable restraints on parts likely to fly off in crashes are just a few of the NASCAR mandated improvements.
"Every time something happens, NASCAR goes over that car with a fine-toothed comb trying to figure out what did happen and (whether) there's anything they can do to insure that it doesn't happen again." says NBC racing analyst and former Winston Cup champ Benny Parsons. "I think they (NASCAR) are working just as hard as they can to try and come up with solutions."
Parsons believes that one reason why NASCAR simply does not mandate safety measures is because of a desire to get the majority of their competitors behind a safety measure before making it mandatory.
"For years I didn't use gloves," recalled Parsons. "I used the excuse that I could not feel the car." All that changed when Parsons saw fellow driver Bobby Wawak running from a fiery crash with his hands on fire.
"When I saw Bobby. I said I'd better start wearing these gloves because one of these days that's gonna be me," he said.
"So I started wearing the gloves and guess what? After a couple of races I could feel no difference using the gloves and bare hands."
Parsons says its ludicrous to think that NASCAR is not totally focused on safety. "Drivers, crew members, everyone is looking to Mike Helton right now and saying, 'Mike, what are you and NASCAR going to do to make sure that nothing like this (Earnhardt's death) happens ever again?' I don't know if there are answers for the questions that are being asked."
Be it soft walls, head and neck restraints or other safety issues, NASCAR is trying to address its run of four deaths -- Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper and now Dale Earnhardt -- in less than nine months.
An additional area of examination is the recent construction change that has seen Winston Cup cars stiffened, chassis-wise, to better respond to changes made by crews. The stiffer the construction, the less flex from the chassis itself and more energy is directed to the weakest part of the equation, the human sitting behind the wheel.
Darrell Waltrip summed up the issue with a simple observation. "Whether or not NASCAR makes a safety rule mandatory or not," said the three-time Winston Cup Champion. "There are wives, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers that can do more to get a driver to wear a specific piece of safety equipment than anyone else." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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