Chassis and Traction Control and? Most of the talk centers around HANS devices and safety belts alleged to have been ripped apart. The one-word description of what likely killed Dale Earnhardt seems to have been lost in the shuffle. Rigidity. Specifically, rigidity in the front of the cars, and it has been officially cited as a cause of death in the past. One racing insider, Ken Barlow, was so incensed by Earnhardts death that he decided to go public with his suspicions. Barlow, a resident of northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., has owned cars that were entered in Busch Grand National races. According to Barlow, he has built traction-control systems that were illegally used by Winston Cup teams. In fact, the reason he has nothing to lose is that NASCAR officials caught him using traction control at a local short-track race. “They condoned it at the Cup level,” Barlow said, “but they didnt want traction control getting into the short-track level.” NASCAR officials will obviously contest Barlows credibility because he has been disciplined by the ruling body, but when two different mechanics with Winston Cup teams were queried on Saturday about his allegations, both agreed that what he had said could be true. Neither would say so, however, except on the condition of anonymity. One problem, Barlow said, is the increasingly widespread use of something called chrome moly box tubing. Chrome moly is a treated variety of steel that is considerably harder than normal steel. It will break before it bends. Barlow does not know whether the car that Earnhardt died in used chrome moly box tubing, but he said he believes it was built using something called “cross triangulation.” Barlow said the cars in which Earnhardt, Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin were killed all used triangulated motor mounts, another method used to increase rigidity. Barlow said that most manufacturers refuse to build chassis with chrome moly box tubing because they do not consider it safe. That is one reason why, Barlow believes, in recent years many of the leading Winston Cup teams have begun building their cars completely in-house. Some suspicion exists in the garage over NASCARs contention that Earnhardt died because a safety belt broke. For one thing, it was only one of five straps holding the driver in place. For another, the original description of Earnhardts condition at the time of his death made reference to the driver having “no external injuries,” yet when the broken seat-belt explanation was issued Friday, officials commented that Earnhardt, who wore an open-face helmet, had had his head thrown against the steering wheel. On Friday, Dr. Steve Bohannon, one of the attending physicians, referred to Earnhardt as having had an abrasion of the chin, presumably one that was not originally noticed. This is only part of the story, see the full story at the Gaston Gazette AND from the Winston Salem Journal, a comment by Ken Schrader – Schrader is one of the few drivers offering specific safety suggestions this weekend. He said one of NASCAR’s top priorities should be rules requiring cars with more “crushability.” “I think you’re seeing more drivers go in to talk to NASCAR about some of the car construction,” Schrader said. “The teams have been making these cars more and more rigid, by adding roll bars, to make the car handle better. But what we’ve done is take a tremendous amount of crush out of the framework of the car. And the force is being relayed to the first thing that can give…. the driver.”(2-25-2001)
