Originally Posted by coxie bowman:
shirley, you gest!! Not trying to be sarcastic either. A man who invents the hans device and has a hatered for koala bears???? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh, the dreaded and terrible koala bears, doesn't make sense to me. 'eccentricity' is the word if this is really on the mark. I'm not calling you any names, but it just doesn't jive.
Years ago when i was racing on thursday night thunder and working at msu when not at irp, a professor who was a large part of developing the hans device, got in touch with me and asked me to try it. Being the mucho man that i thought i was, i declined, a few years later i saw bruce field wearing one somewhere at a race. It sure has come to be a life saving divice.
Anyway, 'thanks' for the story on the hans, the picture is also pretty neat.
oh boy please read this artical a little closer pay attention to the last name
---------- Post added at 07:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------
Originally Posted by LEADERS EDGE:
I'm glad you posted that photo. Most people don't realize this, but this is one of the earliest photos of an important break through in driver safety.
The guy sitting on top is Johan "Hans" Sphincterburg.
You guessed it: The inventor of the "Hans" device that is used today.
I remember Johan as always being concerned about driver safety. So concerned that one day he said: "I would ride on top of the car and hold the drivers head when it appears as if he is going to crash".
After a few races he realized he could not ride on all of the cars and protect all of the drivers, plus his dentist bills for removing foreign objects stuck in his teeth were breaking him financially.
He never gave up on his dream to protect all racers and he finally designed the basis for the HANS as we know it today.
Sadly; Johan didn't lived long enough to see his product be used to protect race drivers throughout the world. He was killed while pursuing his other great love in life: Hunting Koala Bears using dynamite. For all of the love and compassion he had for the racers; he hated the Koala and all that he felt they stood for.
I for one say: Thank you Johan "Hans" Sphinterburg; for your never ending concern for the safety of the racers you cared about deeply enough to risk you're own safety.
As a side note: Two things about the photo.
One: You notice the shorts? Well those too were worn for the drivers safety. The dark slacks he wore impared the drivers vision, but the shorts allowed the drivers to literally look through his white legs.
Two: In a ironic twist for this man whom drivers safety so consumed. Since Cart did not allow riding mechanics and Hans was not an actual driver; they did not allow him to wear any safety gear himself.
HUMMM Sphincterburg you sure he didnt invent the Sphincter scratcher.