Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Time to make it mandatory to protect driver at the top of the cage on all sprint cars and midgets.

I tell it like I see it.

What changes do you have in mind that don't: 1. Impact driver egress, for example during a fire. 2. Fundamentally change what a midget/sprint car is?

Sorry, your number two is a total non-factor.

Sadly, not getting in the car is the only way to insure you will not get hurt or killed racing. If somehow it was possible to remove all the risk from racing, who would even want to watch it anymore.  The reason we hold these drivers in such high regard is because we apreciate them taking the ultimate risk for our enjoyment. No risk no reward, if there was no risk, fat old guys like me would race, but I'm way to scared of the possible outcomes to take the risk.

A couple thoughts:

  There was a time when a lot of tracks had a rule that the cage had to be 4 inches above the driver's head.  I've seen lots and lots of cars that don't come close to that.

  The wimpy, little front "bumpers" on sprint cars are something of a joke.  I presume there is a rule requiring them, but a horizontal 12" long, hollow bar of thin aluminum doesn't do anything.  Why not a 12" tall, rectangular-ish front bumper the width of the frame, made out of something like steel?

    Same for the rear "bumpers". At the local track Saturday a sprinter whacked the outside wall going backwards and broke the fuel cell open.  I've seen push trucks smash in the wimpy rear bumpers pushing a car over a hump.  Why can't those be something more substantial?

   The top of the cage- I can envision a bar left to right over the driver's head.  It would be hinged on the right hand side.  A spring of some sort would keep it tight down on the left side. Exiting the car would involve standing up just like now, but the driver's head would be pushing up against the force of the spring.  Realistically, the same type bar could be incorporated on the sides.

Great ideas, not sure any of those would have made a difference. That car was coming into his cockpit no matter how many bars or inches were above his head. A heavy steal front bumper would have made it worse. Guys and gals, we can second guess this type of thing for a year but the fact remains, racing for a living can be hazardous to your health. Heck driving to the track is Hazardous, but that's the world we live in. Bryan knew, like every fan and every driver knows that death is a possible outcome of racing. No oazne is to blame here folks, it was a tragic accident and history has shown it won't be the last. 

agreed, unfortantly I dont feel any safety measure would have prevented the outcome, it was just a wrong place at the wrong time type of deal, which really sucks.

The best head protection in racing is found in Funny Car, Top Fuel and other dragsters. Problem would be desinging something similar that is less confining for the arms and steering, and wouldn't restrict exiting to an unsafe level. I believe a design incorporating that style of protection is possible. Even then, as posted earlier, injuries and death are going to occur. But, it's the rare tragedy like this one that leads to new designs.

     No, in this case they probably wouldn't have made a difference.  That doesn't mean that safety shouldn't evolve with the sport.  I've witnessed one fatal crash, and seen an accident that paralized a guy and another where the driver got burnt really bad.  I know it's a dangerous sport, but smart people keeps refining the safety measures to make it less dangerous. Let's hope there is always the idea that we can do better in the safety area.

     Someone up above mentioned halos.  One of our local traks required halos on the non-wing class. "Halos" were simply another set of top rol bars set about 6" above the existing ones. It seemed like it would have been just as easy to just make the cage 6" taller.  Is that the kind of halos we're talking about?

     I remember a story in Open Wheel Magazine that featured a car driven by Stevie Smith(?) where the back half of the cage looked like they had taken it off a dragster. The article explained why this cage would provide more protection because it sort of wrapped around the driver, but also explained that the cage was narrower, to save weight. That was probably pre-weight limit, so quite a few years back.

Open wheel racing has come a long way in the last 50 years.  We need to keep evolving the sport.  I personally think a halo is a great idea. 

R.I.P B.C.