NASCAR to meet with Indy about SAFER UPDATE: NASCAR is sending a delegation of officials Thursday to Indianapolis to meet with open wheel racing’s top reps for a SAFER barriers briefing. NASCAR president Mike Helton will lead the group on the fact-finding mission. “They’re going to talk to Tony George and Brian Barnhardt and those folks,” said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president of communications. George owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League. Barnhardt is the vice president of IRL operations. It was George and Barnhardt who decided to use the SAFER barriers, or soft walls, at IMS for the Indianapolis 500. The barriers took several hard licks during the month of May. No drivers were seriously injured at Indy this year. Dr. Dean Sicking from the University of Nebraska designed the SAFER barriers and has been analyzing crash data from IMS accidents.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(6-5-2002) UPDATE: Winston Cup competitors will likely get their first look at the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction [SAFER] barrier system when they compete in the Aug. 4 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dean Sicking, who researched and developed the barriers for the IRL, told NASCAR officials visiting Indianapolis on Thursday he needs to “go back to the drawing board and do testing to see what application will work” at other Winston Cup tracks. Mike Helton, NASCAR president, Gary Nelson, managing director of competition, and John Darby, Winston Cup director, spent the afternoon with Sicking and Kevin Forbes, the IMS director of engineering and construction. Sicking told the NASCAR delegation the SAFER barrier at Indy should work for Winston Cup cars even though it was designed for smaller, faster Indy cars. “Sicking told us ‘This wall will work OK for us at Indy for the Brickyard,’ ” said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president of communications. New Hampshire International Speedway, where two drivers died after crashes 2000, wants to use the SAFER technology as soon as possible. New Hampshire’s next Winston Cup date is July 21. But Hunter said Sicking needs time to tailor engineer the structure for each track. Sicking told NASCAR he needs more time to test different configurations. “Dr. Sicking does not recommend this particular wall be put up at New Hampshire,” said Hunter. “Him saying we can leave this wall up at Indy, in its current configuration, is based on what went on up there in May by the IRL.”(Daytona Beach News Journal)(6-7-2002)
