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NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt's death, article from 2000: Could Dale have been spared?
Posted on 9/15/16 at 9:47 pm
Posted on 9/15/16 at 9:47 pm
The season before Earnhardt died there were 2 other drivers that passed away, Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin. Both of them died in the same manner as Dale Sr., a basil fracture at the base of the skull. Basically the head snaps forward so quickly that it removes itself from the spine, A decapitation without the head being removed.
I found this article from Sept 2000 while surfing around. It is haunting to me. Basically after Petty and Irwin died NASCAR just clammed up and didn't share any information that could have saved Earnhardt. Their arrogant fat asses were content to let things roll along like always. Had they required the HANS device, or at least shared the results of the investigations Dale would probably still be with us today.
From Sept 2000, 5 months before Earnhardt died
I found this article from Sept 2000 while surfing around. It is haunting to me. Basically after Petty and Irwin died NASCAR just clammed up and didn't share any information that could have saved Earnhardt. Their arrogant fat asses were content to let things roll along like always. Had they required the HANS device, or at least shared the results of the investigations Dale would probably still be with us today.
quote:
The papers are tucked into folders with photographs, drawings and meticulous notes. They describe the gory details of death, each filed under the names of Kenneth Irwin and Adam Petty.
They are autopsy reports, and they spell out the medical reasons why NASCAR drivers Irwin and Petty died several months ago in separate accidents at the 1-mile New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, where NASCAR's Winston Cup series is running this weekend.
NASCAR officials have not looked at the autopsies. They have not requested copies. And the crashed cars are no longer available for forensic testing.
Loudon Police Chief Robert Fiske criticized NASCAR for removing evidence at the track before police arrived.
"They [NASCAR] took away the evidence, the whole thing," Fiske said. "It's a fatality. . . What happened? I don't know. Between law enforcement and NASCAR, I feel quite certain that we could have determined exactly what took place."
quote:
Mike Helton, NASCAR's chief operating officer, said the association has done all it could to research the crashes. He said the reason the sanctioning body, based in Daytona Beach, didn't request autopsy reports is, "We know what the cause of death was from the death certificates."
Helton said NASCAR has "other information from the emergency crew at the racetrack, as well as the doctors at the hospital. And we also have sources that tell us what the autopsy said with regard to broken bones and different things, so we never saw anything inconsistent with what we found in the cars to request more information.''
Autopsies hold crucial details
So, the autopsy reports -- and all the specific medical information of each death -- stay put. NASCAR's world moves on, as it often does in the face of injuries or fatalities. That has left everyone guessing about what really happened to Irwin and Petty. Hearsay. Gossip. Second-hand and third-hand information. What do the autopsies reveal? They reveal crucial details the medical examiner says could save lives. "It makes me so mad," three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip said. "We're so busy. They [NASCAR officials] don't have time to ponder anything.
"It's just like, `A guy got killed, but it's OK because he was doing what he likes to do.' I mean, give me a break! [It's like] a guy riding down the road and he gets shot in the head by some weirdo. [You don't say] `Well, he was driving down his favorite road.' There's no rationale."
From Sept 2000, 5 months before Earnhardt died
This post was edited on 9/15/16 at 9:50 pm
6
Posted on 9/15/16 at 9:48 pm to PatDyesPants
Mike Helton's fat arse:
Posted on 9/15/16 at 9:55 pm to PatDyesPants
Most people don't get the opportunity to get away with totally disturbing the scene of a fatality.
This post was edited on 9/15/16 at 9:56 pm
Posted on 9/15/16 at 10:34 pm to PatDyesPants
NASCAR had a history of ignoring such matters. I read about a fatal crash back in the early years that they blamed on the driver not wearing his belts. The drivers' brother insisted on seeing the autopsy photos, and they showed marks across his chest from the belts. It was likely basilar skull fracture that got that guy too.
That said, if NASCAR had pushed for HANS and the like early on, Big E would have been the leading opponent of it and sneered at the pussies who called for it. E was still wearing an open face helmet when he died. Almost everyone else was concerned about safety enough to wear a full face helmet.
That said, if NASCAR had pushed for HANS and the like early on, Big E would have been the leading opponent of it and sneered at the pussies who called for it. E was still wearing an open face helmet when he died. Almost everyone else was concerned about safety enough to wear a full face helmet.
Posted on 9/15/16 at 10:52 pm to PatDyesPants
The answer to the question is no. Earnhardt, and many other drivers from NASCAR, Indycar, and F1 would not voluntarily wear it, so short of mandating it, additional information that may have been withheld wasn't going to convince him to wear the HANS device. Earnhardt's death has saved lives, because that was the spark that was needed. NASCAR and Indycar mandated the HANS device in 2001, but F1 waited an additional two years before mandating it.
Right now, after Felipe Massa took a spring to the face a few years ago, and Justin Wilson taking a nose cone to the head, F1 and Indycar are talking about implementing a halo device or closed cockpit to protect drivers, but some drivers are resisting, because it doesn't look cool.
Some are saying you shouldn't take away all the danger from racing, because that's part of the excitement. They are resisting the pussification of racing.
Right now, after Felipe Massa took a spring to the face a few years ago, and Justin Wilson taking a nose cone to the head, F1 and Indycar are talking about implementing a halo device or closed cockpit to protect drivers, but some drivers are resisting, because it doesn't look cool.
Some are saying you shouldn't take away all the danger from racing, because that's part of the excitement. They are resisting the pussification of racing.
Posted on 9/16/16 at 5:13 am to Twenty 49
quote:pretty much end of the conversation here.
That said, if NASCAR had pushed for HANS and the like early on, Big E would have been the leading opponent of it and sneered at the pussies who called for it
Posted on 9/16/16 at 10:11 am to Bama and Beer
quote:
That said, if NASCAR had pushed for HANS and the like early on, Big E would have been the leading opponent of it and sneered at the pussies who called for it. E was still wearing an open face helmet when he died. Almost everyone else was concerned about safety enough to wear a full face helmet.
Dale Sr. believed that full faced helmets could actually cause the injuries that killed Petty and Irwin. Neil Bonnet who was one of his closest friends, died from the same injury in 1994 at Daytona in a practice crash.
At the time experts believed that Neils head went forward and the bottom chin area of his helmet hit his chested an acted like a fulcrum and that contributed in part to his death. Other drivers had died in cars in previous years and at the time, especially to old timer's like Dale, full faced helmets were thought to be one of the contributing factors in basilar skull fractures.
We now know that is not the case, however Sr was not against head and neck restraints. At the time of his death, one of RCR's engineers was working on the Hutchens device, a head an neck restraint that would work with open face helmets. The plan was for him to start using it after Rockingham from what I remember.
Unfortunately it didn't come into production until a few months after his death. NASCAR soon mandated that all drivers wear a Hutchens or a Hans following the results of the investigation into Dale's death. About a year later they then only approved HANS's devices as the approved neck and head restraint for all drivers as the Hutchens device didn't meet a standard they had developed.
The sad fact is other series had been using the HANS devices for a few years prior to Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty's deaths, and after both of them died racing organizations like CART,FIA, etc.. advised NASCAR that they should make them mandatory. However in typical NASCAR fashion outside advice is unwelcome and they stuck their heads in the sand. It only took the death of their biggest star to finally shake the stupid out of them.
This post was edited on 9/16/16 at 10:15 am
Posted on 9/16/16 at 10:42 am to BayouBengal51
Letting Dale get away with tactics that other would be penalized, may have contributed to his death.
He was running interference for Waltrip when he killed himself.
He was running interference for Waltrip when he killed himself.
Posted on 9/16/16 at 11:42 am to PatDyesPants
Dale's not dead, he's just a lap ahead
Posted on 9/16/16 at 1:15 pm to Rig
quote:
Dale's not dead, he's just a lap ahead
No. He's really dead.
Posted on 9/16/16 at 1:21 pm to BayouBengal51
quote:
The sad fact is other series had been using the HANS devices for a few years
Which ones? Not F1 or Indy according to a post above.
Posted on 9/16/16 at 1:47 pm to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
Which ones? Not F1 or Indy according to a post above.
The HANS device had been in development for years and used by some drivers, but I don't think it was mandated by any series or used widely until after Earnhardt's death. There was resistance from drivers everywhere.
Posted on 9/16/16 at 2:20 pm to FightinTigersDammit
Honestly, I don't think Earnhardt could race in today's NASCAR.
Safety or not, he was old school.
Safety or not, he was old school.
Posted on 9/16/16 at 4:48 pm to PatDyesPants
Could of died from heart attack the next day.
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