Waltrip Endorses the HANS: Darrell Waltrip said yesterday NASCAR should mandate its drivers use a specific safety device known as the HANS. Waltrip joined several hundred Dale Earnhardt fans at a tribute to the fallen driver at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. Earnhardt died Feb. 18 in a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500. He was the fourth NASCAR driver killed in 12 months. Many, including Waltrip, say the HANS – short for Head and Neck Support – could have prevented those deaths. “That thing gives you a 60 percent better chance of surviving a wreck like that,” said Waltrip, now a Fox television analyst. “If [NASCAR] won’t make it mandatory, they ought to at least send out a bulletin that says, ‘We highly recommend the HANS device.’ And they should highly recommend it to the point where if a driver doesn’t want to follow the recommendation, maybe his car has a little problem getting through inspection.”(AP/Philadelphia Daily News)(4-19-2001)
