On lap 176 of Sunday’s race, there was a seven-car wreck that started when Mike Skinner initiated contact with Rusty Wallace. Fox reported that Wallace hit the wall extremely hard. So hard, in fact, that it cracked his helmet. They didn’t have a chance to tell the rest of the story on the NASCAR on FOX broadcast so Jeff Hammond wanted to clear up something for fans who thought a broken helmet was a bad thing. If you hit hard, believe it or not, it’s actually a good thing. These helmets are designed to absorb all the energy of a hard impact and crack. The helmets, head and neck restraints and other safety devices work together so the helmet takes the shock, not the skull or the brain. NASCAR’s approved manufacturers, including Simpson Safety Products and Bell Helmets, do an outstanding job of engineering, testing and research to protect the drivers. On Sunday, everything worked as it should to prevent serious injury to Wallace.( Fox Sports )(3-4-2003)
