Cal Wells has been a man on a mission. As a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team owner, he has spent a countless amount of time and money on the development of a new carbon-fiber composite seat.
The seat is the brainchild of Wells, who owns the No. 32 Tide Fords driven by Ricky Craven, after spending most of his career in the Indy Car ranks. The technology of the new composite seat—as well as its $9,000 price tag—comes largely from Wells’ experiences in open wheel racing.
Wells’ motivation is due in part from a terrible accident in a 1996 CART event in Canada. A Wells-owned car driven by Jeff Krosnoff made wheel-to-wheel contact with another car. Krosnoff’s car went airborne and sailed into a retaining fence, killing the driver and a track safety worker instantly.
According to Wells, the very next day, he started looking for ways to keep his and all other drivers as safe as possible.
“My experience with safety goes back to that tragedy in 1996. That really changed the way I look at things,” Wells says. “The drivers are the most precious commodities we have. I’ve been a pallbearer before and I don’t want to do it again. I’m also tired of reading about tragedy in this sport just as much as the fans are sick of reading about it. I’ve got a personal motivation to do this.”
Safety Features
Wells says that sled crash tests have shown his seat will not break at levels lower than 50 g’s. A crash that violent and severe is considered fatal. The composite seats are designed to prevent injuries to all areas of the body and are a little more bulky than traditional aluminum seats. But, for a driver, that firm fit is exactly what they want in case of a wreck.
In fact, the seats are custom-fitted for each driver. The driver sits down into bead foam to shape the padding insert. The composite seat is designed to work hand-and-hand with the HANS or Hutchens devices so drivers can use those safety features without a problem.
Drivers can add an optional integrated footbox to help prevent injuries to the lower limbs. In case the seat was to somehow be involved in a crash bad enough to crack it, drivers are protected by carbon cloth designed to prevent puncturing of the skin.
The seat is constructed so that it can’t be modified by a team or driver. The greatest benefit of using carbon fiber is it’s far less likely than aluminum to bend and crumple, Wells says.
Driver Reactions
In January NASCAR approved the composite seat for competition. Several top drivers tested the seat in preparation for this year’s Daytona 500, though the verdict is still out as to how many of the drivers will switch from aluminum seats.
Craven says the new composite seat will be in each of his cars this year, whether it’s at the high banks of Talladega or a short track like Martinsville.
“I’m very lucky to be with a team owner as safety conscious as Cal is,” Craven says. “When I came on board with this team last year, Cal told me he wanted me to adapt to the HANS device. That was something I struggled with and it wasn’t an easy sell to me, but I’m sure thankful he made me wear it. I wouldn’t race without it now. There’s no question this new seat, mechanically, is much safer than the seat I used last year. There is absolutely no arguing that point.”
Coming from an open wheel background, Robby Gordon knows a thing or two about the benefits of using carbon-fiber seats. “I had one of the seats in my car to start the year at Daytona,” says Gordon, the driver of the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet. “I know about the carbon fibers because I’ve had experience with it before and I know how strong the stuff is. I’ve been upside down in seats that were made of carbon fiber in the past, and I know those seats will protect us as drivers. Some guys aren’t used to driving in that type of seat, but I would advise them to watch the demonstration videos. That way they can see how the composite seat compares to the others.
“A driver only has one life. With a good seat, it shouldn’t matter how much it costs. If you’re worried about the cost of something when it comes to safety, think about it in terms of how much money you’re going to make if you aren’t around anymore. I’m out on the edge and I will do whatever it takes to make my cars as safe as possible. Sticking the seat in my car isn’t going to be the easiest thing to do, but I only live once.”
Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac, tried to use the new seat during his first day of January testing at Daytona, but had comfort-related problems. He calls the PPI composite seat a work in progress.
“The way I had to sit in the car was not like what I was used to,” Labonte says. “It was different for me, and whether we make some modifications to it or try to adapt it a little differently, I’m not sure what the next step is. I need the seat to be a little different, so we have to look at it more and see about modifying it somehow.”
Free Test
Though not by his choice or asking, Wells became concerned about safety so he did something about it. Wells spent money out of his own pocket to develop the new composite seat, but he won’t say how much other than: “several hundred thousand dollars, but it’s not about the money.”
As a testament to his commitment to driver safety, before the 2002 season started, Wells wasn’t selling his seats to other teams and drivers. He was giving them away to those who wanted to try them. Wells says as production is stepped up, he hopes the price of the seats can be lowered so local short-track racers can afford them.
“This seat was not built to be a revenue generator for PPI; it’s all about driver safety,” Wells says. “This new seat is something I’m very proud of, but my pursuit of safety in racing will never stop.”