Finding Your Comfort Zone - Tech File

Hidden Danger
Brad Smith of RH2 Radios was driving a Modified in a 150-lap race a few years ago and felt himself sinking in the seat, unable to pull himself back up. He passed out near the end of the race and woke up to one of his crew members talking to him on pit lane. He had finished in the Top Five, but had no memory of how he finished. Later, a doctor told him that he suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Here is the really bad news: Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are often mistaken for overheating or the flu because they are so similar (headache, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, and fainting). The good news, however, is there are products available to filter out carbon monoxide.

One of those is relatively new and filters out 97 to 98 percent of carbon monoxide. It's called the NoMo Co filter and it's built by Cat-5 Racing Technologies. Its all-natural material takes out the carbon monoxide using a wet filter. When you take a step back and look at it, the NoMo Co resembles an inline oil filter or fuel filter. One of the nice features is it won't interfere with your cool-air box.

With all of the things we have to deal with while getting the car ready, being safe, comfortable and staying well hydrated take a backseat. However, by keeping the driver more comfortable inside the race car, he or she is better equipped to focus on the task at hand-racing.