Dale Lott, an entrepeneur who owns a Nashville-based company called Active Xtreme, and Atlanta-based Racing Radios, have developed a new racing helmet designed to reduce driver fatigue and lessen the damage to a driver’s hearing. The helmet looks like a standard racing helmet, but the foam interior contains a bladder that is pumped up with air to conform to the driver’s head. The earpiece for the two-way radio is inside the bladder, so there’s no need for separate earpieces. And when a driver goes through a turn or his head moves from side-to-side, the air pressure, which come from a small hand pump on the helmet, equalizes the pressure on the driver’s head. Much of the same technology is being made available for crew members on pit road. Their radios are being designed to reduce background noise and combine the channels a crew member needs to hear. Lott and Racing Radios have gotten the OK from NASCAR to test the helmet and drivers including Robby Gordon have shown interest in using one. The entire driver’s unit costs about $1,500 compared to $600 for a conventional system.( Atlanta Journal-Constitution )(8-29-2003)
