NASCAR has driver safety update meetings scheduled for July 4th for competitors in the Cup and Busch Series at Daytona. The series has been holding such meetings a couple of times a year or so since Dale Earnhardt ‘s fatal crash at Daytona in 2001.( Roanoke Times )(6-23-2003) UPDATE: NASCAR has a safety seminar scheduled for Winston Cup drivers this morning, to bring them up to speed on projects like the roof escape hatch and third roof spoiler. The seminar is expected to be closed to the media.( Winston Salem Journal ) AND NASCAR’s Gary Nelson said NASCAR is moving ahead with other safety devices. A rooftop escape hatch is now a top priority, and its worthiness will be tested at the University of Nebraska’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility. ‘We’re hoping to induce a rollover and see how it performs,’ Nelson said. ‘It’s directly above the driver.’ The hatch could be extremely important if there is a fire. Neither Ken Schrader nor Dale Jarrett was injured after their cars burst into flames after crashes last month at Pocono Raceway, but both drivers had to squeeze through narrow side windows and barely escaped being burned. Nelson said hatches will be an immediate option for teams this season and probably mandatory next year if the Nebraska test goes well. Jimmy Spencer said he was impressed when he saw the hatch.( Winston Salem Journal/AP ) AND more on the hatch: NASCAR’s stock cars may soon have escape hatches. ”You mean alternative exits,” said Gary Nelson, NASCAR’s managing director of competition who is now headquartered in NASCAR’s new research and development center at Concord. Several drivers tried out the car equipped with the roof exit. It’s almost like a T-top. NASCAR plans to take a car donated by Michael Waltrip’s team and fit it with the new exit to take to its testing facility in Nebraska next week. If it passes the safety tests, Nelson said it will become an option for drivers. The cost is minimal. ”It’s for some of the bigger guys,” Nelson said. “Small guys maybe don’t need it. I saw Matt Kenseth a year ago jump out of his car in a blink of an eye. Maybe he wouldn’t see the need for it, but it would maybe be good for the bigger guy who has to shoehorn himself in and out.” Winston Cup drivers Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton and Ken Schrader and Busch Series driver Coy Gibbs have all tried it, and Nelson said they liked it.( Miami Herald )(7-4-2003)
