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There is a NASCAR
crash in almost every race. It will happen when you
have so many drivers in a one mile track traveling 200
mph. Imagine what would happen if they changed the speed
limit on your local 4 lane highway to 200 mph. Yeah, it
would be fun for awhile. Body shops and hospitals would
be in big demand and car insurance would go through the
roof.
Stock car races
like NASCAR and Nextel have the furthest thing from
“stock” cars. They are heavily modified for safety.
You won’t find any of those drivers racing without a
seatbelt, five point safety harness and head and neck
restraint. Roll bars and fire extinguishers are
mandatory. A NASCAR driver would not be caught dead
without a helmet and fireproof clothing. Air bags are
now standard equipment. The seats are attached to the
roll cage in several places. Roof flaps keep the car
from leaving the ground because of high speed impacts.
Lexan windshields which is the same stuff on fighter plane
canopies and bullet proof glass. Fuel tanks have been
transformed into fuel cells. A fuel cell is much
stronger and can contain an explosion.
Most of the
deaths in NASCAR are from the concrete restraining
walls. While the walls are there to keep a car from
spiraling out of control, possibly ending up in the
spectator bleachers, they do not absorb any of the
impact. This can be deadly to the driver. Softer
restraining walls are being proposed to help absorb the
kinetic energy of a collision. Some of the solutions in
use and in development include Cellofoam, a block of
foam encased in polyethelene. Polyethylene Energy
Dissipation System, which uses small polyethylene
cylinders inserted inside larger ones. Impact Protection
System, layered PVC material placed on a honeycomb
structure. Compression barriers, cushioning materials,
such as tires, against the concrete wall, and then
covering those cushions with a smooth surface that would
give when impacted.
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