Drivers Order the HANS: On the day after Dale Earnhardt’s death, several NASCAR teams ordered a safety device designed to protect drivers from head and neck injuries. The Head And Neck Support (HANS) device was designed to lessen the pressure on the most vulnerable part of the body — the neck and base of the skull — in the type of crashes that killed Earnhardt and three other NASCAR drivers in the past year. On Monday morning, several NASCAR teams contacted the Hubbard/Downing Inc. in suburban Atlanta to place orders for the brace, said Ken Adams, a plant manager. There was a call from Roger Penske’s team, which has Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield as its drivers, and defending Busch series champion Jeff Green. Adams said the plant was producing only three devices a week just a few months ago. The output has been increased to four or five a day, and the company had 35 orders just hours after Earnhardt’s death.(AP/ESPN). What is the HANS Device? See my Safety/HANS page(2-19-2001)
