HANS Secures Court Order Against Impact: HANS Performance Products has been granted a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and expedited discovery in a suit against Impact Racing Products. The SFI Foundation's motion to become
a party in HANS' action against Impact has also been granted. The orders relate to counterfeit HANS Post Anchors that have been discovered at the track in recent weeks. The Federal Court orders require Impact to advise its customers that Post Anchors they have received from them may be counterfeit. Impact is also required to preserve all related products and business records to help identify the source of the counterfeit parts. Post Anchors are a vital part of a racer's head and neck restraint safety system. Genuine HANS Post Anchors provide a robust and reliable latching method to connect racers' HANS Devices to their helmets.(HANS PR/Reuters)(9-8-2009)
HANS Finds Counterfit parts - offers free replacements: UPDATE: HANS Performance Products has found counterfeit Post Anchor parts on a helmet purchased from Impact Racing Products. Preliminary investigations suggest that counterfeit parts may have been supplied with other helmets provided by Impact. "We are seeking the source of the counterfeit anchors and to establish how widely they may have been distributed," said HANS CEO Mark Stiles. He continued, "It is extremely possible that counterfeits may have been installed on other helmets, either factory-fitted by a helmet manufacturer or by racers installing replacement parts during equipment changes." For more info see hansdevice.com.(8-25-2009)
UPDATE: HANS Performance Products has been trackside the past few days investigating the counterfeit HANS Post Anchor problem reported earlier. COO Gary Milgrom has been focused on circle track racing. “I must have seen about 150 helmets and exchanged over 50 sets of counterfeit anchors,” said Milgrom. He continued, “On the whole, I’ve not had to touch any Simpson, Bell, Arai or Stand21 helmets – they’ve already been fitted with genuine HANS Post Anchors.” Simpson, Bell, Arai and Stand21 have had substantial long-standing relationships with HANS Performance Products. They are among the 200 authorized dealers throughout North America that receive direct factory support.(HANS)(8-26-2009)
Consortium Forming to address Tire Safety, Wear and Energy Efficiency Issues: UPDATE On Thursday, August 27th, a press conference is scheduled at the NASCAR Plaza Lobby in Charlotte, NC announcing the formation of a private consortium of automotive and motorsports companies to address tire safety, wear and energy efficiency issues. The consortium plans to build a world class tire testing facility in the Charlotte region. Humpy Wheeler will start off the press conference and introduce Jim Cuttino, Ph.D., a veteran automotive and motorsports engineer and director of the North Carolina Motorsports and Automotive Research Center at UNC Charlotte, followed by Ronnie Bryant, president of Charlotte Regional Partnership.(Branstorm PR)(8-27-2009)
UPDATE: Camber Ridge, LLC announced that it is forming a consortium of automotive and motorsports companies to create a first-of-its-kind tire testing facility in the Charlotte Region. Veteran automotive and motorsports engineer, James Cuttino, Ph.D., director of the North Carolina Motorsports and Automotive Research Center at UNC Charlotte and president of Camber Ridge, is taking a leave of absence from the University to lead the corporately-funded effort. Camber Ridge has invited representatives from all the major auto and tire manufacturing companies to participate in this groundbreaking initiative. The effort was created in response to a federal mandate that says all cars produced beginning in 2011 must have Electronic Stability Control (ESC) devices, which automatically apply brakes to one side of the car to prevent loss of control or rollover. The exact location of the facility, which will also conduct research in collaboration with local universities, has yet to be decided as the Consortium continues talks with area economic developers. However, the timeline calls for it to be up and running by early 2012.(Branstorm PR)(8-27-2009)
HANS Finds Counterfit parts - offers free replacements: UPDATE: HANS Performance Products has found counterfeit Post Anchor parts on a helmet purchased from Impact Racing Products. Preliminary investigations suggest that counterfeit parts may have been supplied with other helmets provided by Impact. "We are seeking the source of the counterfeit anchors and to establish how widely they may have been distributed," said HANS CEO Mark Stiles. He continued, "It is extremely possible that counterfeits may have been installed on other helmets, either factory-fitted by a helmet manufacturer or by racers installing replacement parts during equipment changes." For more info see hansdevice.com.(8-25-2009)
UPDATE: HANS Performance Products has been trackside the past few days investigating the counterfeit HANS Post Anchor problem reported earlier. COO Gary Milgrom has been focused on circle track racing. “I must have seen about 150 helmets and exchanged over 50 sets of counterfeit anchors,” said Milgrom. He continued, “On the whole, I’ve not had to touch any Simpson, Bell, Arai or Stand21 helmets – they’ve already been fitted with genuine HANS Post Anchors.” Simpson, Bell, Arai and Stand21 have had substantial long-standing relationships with HANS Performance Products. They are among the 200 authorized dealers throughout North America that receive direct factory support.(HANS)(8-26-2009)
Cautions on par with the 2008 season: This season, ServiceMaster Clean became the first-ever official sponsor of caution periods at the 19 International Speedway Corporation (SC) and Speedway Motorsports Incorporated (SMI) tracks as well as Dover International Speedway. When there was a problem on the track, the ServiceMaster Clean yellow flag was displayed and the company’s familiar yellow vehicles were dispatched to clean the track.
The July 4th race at Daytona International Speedway marked the halfway point of the 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. At 17 (Pocono is not a part of the program) of the 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, there was little change in the number of cautions compared to the previous year. There were only three more cautions, 157-154, in those 17 events compared to 2008. For all 18 events, there have been 162 cautions in 2009 compared to 164 in 2008.
In 17 races this year, 760 laps have been run under caution (780 in the 18 events). Last year, there were 666 caution laps in the 17 events (705 in 18). In 2009, three races (Atlanta, Bristol and Infineon) have been extended beyond the scheduled distance for a green-white-checkered finish and three (Daytona, Lowe’s and New Hampshire) have been stopped short of the scheduled distance due to inclement weather.
ServiceMaster ‘By The Numbers’
(*Pocono is not a participant in the ServiceMaster program)
Topic, 2008 stats, 2009 stats
Cautions (18 races), 164, 162
Cautions (17 races*), 154, 157
Caution Laps (18 races), 705, 780
Cautions Laps (17 races*), 666, 760
Laps Run (18 races), 5425, 5194
Miles Run (18 races), 7397.452, 7015.405
Most Caution (18 races), 18 (Martinsville), 17 (Darlington)
Fewest Cautions (18 races), 5 (Dover), 3 (Michigan)
Most Miles Under Caution (18 races), 97.5 (Pocono), 99.72 (Darlington)
Race Length Extended Due to Caution, 6, 3
Race Length Shortened Due to Weather, 1, 3
In 2008, only New Hampshire was shortened due to inclement weather while late-race cautions extended the scheduled distance for a green-white-checkered finish at six tracks (Bristol, Texas, Richmond, Michigan, Infineon and Daytona).
In racing, a yellow flag means it’s time to clean up the track. Debris removal and track drying must be done quickly and professionally in order to get back to racing. In homes and businesses across North America, a yellow ServiceMaster Clean van means cleaning and restoration is being done quickly and professionally by America’s number one cleaning team.(ServiceMaster)(7-21-2009)
- LaJoie participates in NASCAR seat testing: In an ongoing effort to improve race driver safety, NASCAR, General Motors and a select group of safety equipment
manufacturers recently met to further evaluate ways to improve racecar seat standards for NASCAR racing at all levels. Randy LaJoie, owner of "The Joie of Seating", was one of just a few manufacturers invited to participate in a discussion and seat testing conducted at a Delphi facility. Other companies represented included: Hendrick Motorsports, ISP, Richardson, and HANS Performance Products. According to LaJoie, the purpose was to further research ways to establish seat standards for the racing community and further reduce driver injuries
contributable to poor seat design, materials and installation. LaJoie's willingness to participate in this effort further reflects his passion to improve racer safety. LaJoie has been an activist in much of the safety R&D that NASCAR has conducted over recent years and has been working to see these innovations transcend beyond the top 3 NASCAR series. In his own effort to do just that LaJoie began touring around the country in 2007 with an interactive unit to help bring safety education and innovations to all levels of racing. Still seeking a Title Sponsor for "Randy LaJoie's Safer Racer Tour", LaJoie plans to continue this tour in 2008, and for years to come, in hope of getting racers to use safer equipment and practices. The North Carolina Motorsports Association presented Randy LaJoie with their 2007 Industry Safety Innovation award for his work in helping to improve auto racing safety with the racecar seats designed and manufactured by The Joie of Seating.(PR)(1-11-2008)
- Safety Meeting News: Seats and helmets were hot topics at NASCAR's annual safety meeting for drivers and crew chiefs Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway.
Attendance is mandatory for the gatherings, which continue this month with a second Sprint Cup test and sessions for the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series. Tom Gideon, safety director for GM Racing, said drivers were particularly interested in new seat specifications in the wake of Ricky Rudd's Sept. 2 crash at California Speedway. Rudd, who made a NASCAR-record 788 consecutive starts, suffered a severely separated left shoulder and missed five races, the first time he had been sidelined by an injury. "They have rigid seats now with shoulder and head support, and they want to make sure there's nothing in the seat to hurt the shoulder," Gideon said. "There can be edges of the seat that can get into the shoulder, and that might have happened in Ricky's case."(USA Today)(1-9-2008)
- So..what happened to the Roof Hatch? Michael Waltrip's excitement was literally "through the roof" after winning at Talladega Speedway in September 2003. Celebrating in the infield, Waltrip emerged from his car via what NASCAR terms an "alternate exit," a roof hatch. Since then, however, the optional roof hatch is a virtual no-show at the racetrack. What happened? According to one source who wanted to remain anonymous, "If it's optional and it doesn't make the car go faster, we don't use it." But it's not quite as simple as that.
Steve Peterson, NASCAR's technical director since 1995, helped develop the hatch at NASCAR's Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. "It goes back a ways, to the early 2000 era, when it looked like roof hatches really would be a good idea," Peterson said. "It was at the time that we started developing it, which took about a year and a half." Engineers worked to build a roof hatch that would maintain the stability of the roof while not affecting the performance of the car. "During that time, manufacturers were also building larger and larger head surrounds," Peterson said. "In the early days, you could stand straight up in your seat if you had the roof hatch open. Today you have to kind of twist sideways and turn and come straight up. The larger head surrounds made it more difficult for a driver to stand straight up in his seat. So to take the roof hatch off and to go out through the roof hatch became more difficult. But guess what? The larger head surrounds were negating the need to be able to pull a driver out through the roof if he had difficulties because we were getting better results from the impacts. The head surrounds are bigger for a reason. They're protecting the driver in side and frontal impacts."(ESPN.com Icon)(8-25-2007)
- Study: Will NASCAR’s Increased Safety Efforts Increase Accidents? When NASCAR debuts the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 25 [yesterday], Todd Nesbit, an avid NASCAR fan and assistant professor of economics at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will be busy counting the number of accidents—and how many of those drivers walk away without a scratch. In 2006, Nesbit and Russell Sobel, professor of economics at West Virginia University, produced a study that explored how drivers react to having cars so safe that they can generally walk away with no injuries after crashing into a concrete wall or another car at a very high rate of speed. “Based on results of our study, we would project that drivers will drive more recklessly and take more risks while driving the Car of Tomorrow,” Nesbit said. “Initially, there will be a learning curve for everyone, which will likely increase the number of accidents as drivers and crews get used to the vehicles. Once the learning curve has passed, we predict that the new normal rate of crashes will be higher than it is currently because of the response to additional safety features on the Car of Tomorrow.” The study, “Automobile safety regulation and the incentive to drive recklessly: Evidence from NASCAR,” shows that NASCAR drivers, in fact, do drive more recklessly in response to the increased safety of their vehicles. However, even with an increase in accidents, there is a reduction in total injuries—because the increase in riskier driving is not enough to offset the benefits from an increase in safety features. See the full article/study at (Penn State University)(3-26-2007)
- Taking Safety to the Short Tracks..LaJoie: Randy LaJoie announced the launch of his Safer Racer Tour Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Tour will visit short tracks all over the country to educate racers on the importance of safety. Only an estimated 30% of short-track race cars are up to safety standards. According to LaJoie, getting the safety features in the cars is an uphill battle. Cost issues as well as negative attitudes are a huge obstacle. Lajoie hopes to work with drivers, track promoters and even chassis builders to get the word out. "I want to educate these guys," LaJoie said. "The rest of the industry doesn't know what the top three divisions know. Some people just don't know what could happen to them." LaJoie is a two-time Busch Series Champion. His company, the Joie of Seating, has revolutionized the driver's seat and is rapidly becoming the leading seat provider for drivers of all ages.(source: AMS Pit Notes)(3-17-2007)
- NASCAR looking at FlexAll for entrance to pit road: During a race on Virgina's Richmond International Raceway in 2003, Nascar driver Robby Gordon lost control of his car as he roared into the pit at 55mph. He smashed sideways into the concrete slab that separates the crew from the pit road and wrecked his car. Luckily, he didn't do the same to his body. Had he hit the divider head-on, the collision could have transferred a 100G-force jolt to his body, more than enough to kill him.
In an effort to reduce such a nasty risk, Nascar has turned to scientists at Battelle, an R&D company in Columbus, Ohio. Their solution: a new hyper-elastic material called FlexAll that deforms to absorb an incoming force and then bounces back to its original shape within minutes. After molding the FlexAll into honeycomb-like columns, the researchers repeatedly slammed racecars into it at speeds up to 100 mph. The plastic behaved identically crash after crash, absorbing 92% of an impact's energy each time. In road tests, the cushion reduced maximum G load on the driver by an impressive 60%.
Not just racers but everyday motorists stand to benefit too—Battelle has developed a highway version that can catch vehicles as big as a Hummer, traveling at speeds up to 60 mph. Both barrier systems await final approval from Nascar and the Federal Highway Administration and could be on a road or racetrack near you as soon as this summer.(Popular Science)(2-6-2007)
- Not NASCAR but a Safety Thing so: ASA Late Model Officials announced that starting in 2005, the series and its competitors' will utilize the RaceSafe System. The RaceSafe System is a dash mounted light that will alert the driver instantaneously when the yellow flag is displayed. The signal is controlled by the series race director, which means that as soon as the decision to put out the yellow is given each and every driver will immediately know. For information regarding the RaceSafe System please visit their website site www.race-safe.com or call 1-800-910-8089. RaceSafe System is owned by Racing Electronics - www.racingelectronics.com, long time sponsor of the Jayski site and presenting sponsor of my Scanner Links page. Racing Electronics also signed with the ASA Late Model Series to a three-year deal to become the Official radio supplier to the series. As part of the deal ASA Late Model teams and fans will have the opportunity to visit the R.E. trailer at most of the ASA Late Model races.(RE PR)(1-6-2005)
- IMPROVING SAFETY STEP-BY-STEP NASCAR officials provided the following list of 52 safety-related rule changes the organization has implemented since 1994:
1. Researched, developed and mandated roof flaps.
2. Increased thickness of the fuel cell.
3. Mandated that fuel cell be of one-piece construction.
4. Mandated thicker construction of upper and lower A-frame control arms.
5. Mandated center windshield bar from "halo" bar to back of dash.
6. Mandated vertical door bars between horizontal bars.
7. Mandated side rails on Craftsman Trucks.
8. Changed installation procedure of oil system
.
9. Mandated location of oil system.
10. Mandated maximum size of oil system.
11. Eliminated quick-disconnect fittings for oil system.
12. Eliminated quick-disconnect fittings for fuel lines.
13. Eliminated quick-disconnect fittings for brake lines.
14. Mandated auxiliary on/off switches on steering wheel.
15. Mandated throttle stops on carburetors.
16. Mandated wire suspension system for carburetor boosters.
17. Increased size of drive shaft.
18. Mandated minimum thickness of read axle housing.
19. Mandated minimum lug nut thickness.
20. Mandated date of manufacture be stamped in frames.
21. Standardized location of shock absorbers.
22. Mandated cable restraints on hoods.
23. Mandated cable restraints on deck lids.
24. Mandated cable restraints on spindles.
25. Eliminated floating calipers in brakes.
26. Mandated four-rail, steel-ball fuel check valve.
27. Standardized construction of frames.
28. Standardized and increased size of wheel hubs.
29. Instituted random testing of wheels.
30. Mandated minimum wheel weight.
31. Mandated polycarbon windshields.
32. Doubled retention standard of windshields.
33. Mandated spoiler angles are selected tracks.
34. Relocated centerline roof bar.
35. Standardized and increased distances for certain roll bars.
36. Added leg extension padding in seats.
37. Mandated location of main on/off switch to middle of dash.
38. Mandated 1/2-gallon radiator overflow.
39. Talladega and Daytona shock and spring rules.
40. Mandated 3/4-inch U-bolt on rear-end housing.
41. Increased size and thickness of truck trailing arms.
42. Mandated thickness of hood-pin posts.
43. Mandated solid steel hood-pin posts.
44. Changed and standardized where and how weight can be added to cars.
45. Eliminated rear window tint.
46. Mandated bracing inside rear window.
47. Increased size of rear bumper support.
48. Increased distance between frame and back of fuel cell.
49. Raised height and standardized location of "halo" bar from frame.
50. Increased the thickness in fuel cell carriage.
51. Mandated fire-resistant shifter boots.
52. Mandated quick-release latch on window net.
(Atlanta Journal Constitution)(3-10-2001)
