NASCAR is testing a device designed to reduce or eliminate dangerous carbon monoxide fumes being inhaled by drivers. Gary Nelson, NASCAR’s managing director of competition, called it a “catalyst system,” and said Tuesday that it was used two weeks ago in Martinsville, Virginia, by Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart during practice and the race. Stewart was sickened by carbon monoxide fumes during a race last fall at Martinsville Speedway, and the Joe Gibbs Racing team volunteered to be the first to test the new system. “We have a system we have been developing in our laboratory and thought it was time to try it at the track,” Nelson said. Stewart was supposed to try the device only in practice, but chose to use it in the race as well. “I felt better than I probably had after any of the Martinsville races I remember,” Stewart said. “I still did have a headache after the race was over, which is typical of a Martinsville race, but not nearly as severe as it was in the past.” Stewart said he told Nelson he would like to try the device again in the fall race at Martinsville “to be certain it wasn’t just a good day. But I’m somewhat encouraged the filter did its job.” Nelson, who heads up NASCAR’s new research and development facility in Concord, North Carolina, said the device that Stewart described as a filter “is a catalyst that sits on the floor in the car next to the driver. The system sends (clean) air to the driver’s helmet.” Nelson said the new system runs on “the same theory” as catalytic converters used in street cars to diminish pollutants in the exhaust, “but this is a low-temperature catalyst.” NASCAR has been working since last fall on systems to filter the air a driver breathes during a race, a project that drew increased focus after Rick Mast announced in January he was retiring because years of exposure to toxic fumes had given him acute and chronic carbon monoxide poisoning.(more at Charlotte Observer )(4-23-2003)
