To speak to that – how about side impacts?
Hubbard: Where we’re [a HANS} really good is 45—60 degrees either direction [from straight on]. We don’t make any claims for sideways protection – we’ve had enough
measured hits to know it helps some – but we don’t make any claims on that. All race cars should have some head and side support – whether it is done with the seat, roll bar padding, or nets.
The most common way that race drivers have been killed over the years is the basal skull fracture, and those occur primarily with frontal impacts. They are not typically a side-impact problem. So, the one single action to take to make the biggest jump in racing safety is to wear a HANS device. The other safety items are very, very important as well, but it’s all part of an integrated system.
What exactly is a basal skull fracture?
Hubbard: The mechanism is that the torso is restrained, the head is unrestrained, and it swings forward. Because it is swinging there are tensions that develop from the head to the neck into the torso. It turns out that the weakest link is the base of the skull. It does not matter how strong your neck is – you can have strong neck muscles, and also the ligaments around your spinal column – that all attaches at the bottom of the skull. And what happens is that the bottom of the skull breaks. Now there can be other tissue damage and other ligament damage and spinal fractures, but the thing that really gets you is the basal skull fracture.
Is drag racing one of the last racing types to adopt the HANS device?
Downing: Yes it is. Sure is. They’ve really just started in Sprint cars; they were tough for a while. This is the last frontier for us.
Will there be any modifications necessary to the HANS to work here?
 Dr. Bob Hubbard inquiring about the placement of the shoulder seat belts fitting this driver’s HANS. Note the strong roll cage and thick bar padding. A head and neck restraint is part of the entire safety equipment package a racer should be using. |
Hubbard: No! Just put it on and go. I think there are some issues with drivers getting in and out of Top Fuel and Funny cars – they need to learn how to do it. But it’s really no more difficult than getting in and out of some of the NASCAR stock cars the way they are. The Funny car cockpits are like racing boat cockpits and they are being implemented in boat racing.
I haven’t seen anything in drag racing that we haven’t seen in other racing classes – so there aren’t any new problems here. It’s an issue of getting everybody to understand how to get it fit in the car, get the right device on, and getting used to wearing it.
 |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
