Driver safety goes beyond...
Driver safety goes beyond what you wear. Note how everything Ron Fellows could hit in a crash is heavily padded with hard foam. Because seatbelts can stretch almost 20 percent in a crash, a driver can be harmed by things he can't even touch when the belts are their normal length. Photo by Jerry F. Boone
Some manufacturers are beginning to offer helmets already equipped to be attached to head-and-neck support systems, Becker says. Others require you to drill your own helmet for attachment points.
Snell hasn't begun certifying the HANS attachment points yet, but is looking at creating its own tests and standards for the systems.
"We are really enthused about what the restraint systems are able to do," he says.
The latest version of the Snell sticker is a 2005 certification. Becker says the difference between a Snell 2000 and 2005 is slight.
"If a driver's on a budget and can find a brand-new, 2000-certified helmet and get a good price on it, by all means he should buy it," Becker says. "They don't wear out sitting in the box."
There are a number of approaches to controlling the head and neck in a crash. They are all designed to do the same thing, each one in a different way.
Ultimately, the systems try to keep the neck from hyperextending in a frontal crash and prevent damaged or severed nerves in a basilar skull fracture.
To date, test results indicate the original HANS Device works the best. Designers of the HANS Device already had years of experience perfecting the system before the 2001 Daytona 500 and were geared up for production.
Since then, race engineers to backyard inventors have come up with their own versions, almost all of which cost less than the HANS Device. Both versions of the Hutchens Device connect the helmet to a system of belts around the torso. The D-Cell Harness is something of a melding of the Hutchens and HANS technology.
Ultimately, NASCAR looked at all of them and decided that only the original HANS met its criteria for use in the Nextel Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Truck series.
Racing with any of them is better than racing with none of them, but when considering safety, remember that it is your neck you are trying to save.
"Anything you can do to make racing safer is a good investment," says Spicer. "When you look at how much we invest in a car and what is at risk, the cost of good gear really isn't that much compared to what it will do if you really need it."
Jerry F. Boone can be reached at Jfboone@aol.com.
We looked around, made phone calls, and shopped the Internet in search of specials. This is how we would spend $2,500 (OK, it ended up just a bit more) to upgrade a car and driver to make racing as safe as possible without breaking the bank.
It can be done for less money, as we didn't always pick the lowest-priced piece. That's partly because we also have our personal preferences based on fit, experience, and style. You probably have your own.
You may be able to do better on the prices by dealing with a local vendor you know, looking for a Snell SA2000 helmet instead of a 2005, or talking to a supplier about getting a price break for buying an entire package of equipment. Hey, it can't hurt to ask.
Here are sample prices and our picks:
Crow Enterprises - $235
G-Force Euro Nomex - $449
Simpson Sportsman Elite -- $499
Nomex underwear - $100
G-Force Pro - $249
Impact Charger - $425
Simpson Voyager - $369
Jaz - $178.18
Fuel Safe 12-gallon - $533
Kirkey economy - $150
Butler Sportsman - $210
Kirkey full containment - $530
Hutchens Device - $300
D-Cell Harness - $425
Hutchens II Device - $725
HANS Device - $865