Newman and Gaughan to run a carbon monoxide removing device:
May 13, 2004 at 12:00 AM
#77-Brendan Gaughan tested a Carbon monoxide removal device unit May 5 at Richmond International Raceway during his team’s test there. Gaughan and teammate #12-Ryan Newman plan to use the unit in Saturday night’s Chevy 400 at the .75-mile Richmond track. Paul Rochotte and a group from Penske Racing and NASA – yes, the rocket science people – have been working on the device for more than a year now. The device weighs less than 3 pounds and looks like a large Thermos bottle. The black carbon-fiber housing contains two filters. The first that uses carbon to take out nasty things like sulfur dioxide from race car emissions. Carbon monoxide goes right through that, however, so the second filter contains a catalyst with a platinum base that was developed by NASA. That catalyst converts carbon monoxide, which is poisonous, into carbon dioxide, which is the natural by-product of breathing. Carbon monoxide poisoning became a major issue last year when driver Rick Mast announced that its effects had forced him to end his driving career. Other competitors have complained about having severe headaches and other symptoms after races. Some drivers still take oxygen immediately after races to help clean the dangerous gas out of their system. NASCAR has worked to develop a filtering system that would improve the quality of air being breathed by competitors. What the folks at Penske Racing have been doing is working on their own system in hopes of making something even better.(paraphrased from a full story at ThatsRacin.com)(5-13-2004)
