Pup, you're way out of line. I don't know how old you are, and I'm younger then some here, but I remember going to a lot of funerals in the late 80's and early 90's.
That shouldn't be a part of the game.

what i meant by the crap thing was the car of tomorrow and things like that slows the cars down. nascar makes all of these rules and regulations about safety so no one gets hurt and that is fine but when you start taking the race out of racing that is when problems arise. climbing into an 850-900 horsepower openwheel car that weighs around 1200 lbs cant ask for a whole lot. you have your helmet, and fire suits, along with a roll cage, hans device, arm restraints. i dont know what else you can do without taking away from the sport like nascar does. the driver knows what he or she is climbing into when they strap themselves into the car.
i will end on that.

Well, it didn't take long for D.O.'s "Safety Thread" to go awry !

My comments are from the perspective of a driving career begun in 1971 to present and from the experience of more than 700 feature starts.

NASCAR has made great strides in safety since 2001 and they are to be commended in that effort. Safety was largely a responsibility of the teams prior to that time. Yes, it took the death of a high profile racer and hero to many , Dale Earnhardt , for NASCAR to get serious. That's just how it happened , no blame passed. It is what it is.

Drivers are aware that many in the stands come in hopes of seeing a good wreck.
How many are looking for injury or death has never been determined as no one has been willing to own up. I personally think it's a very small statistic. The typical fan and casual fan seeks value in entertainment. The racing purist understands the mechanics of the game ... driver skill , mechanical preparation , and track conditions / configurations. Everyone may seek something different and take from it what they may.

As a young driver you think about getting killed. The older driver worries about getting injured. Either way it is a calculated risk. And you accept it.
As your career continues and without injury you have seen bad things happen to others. Drivers believe in themselves and in private thoughts depend on the hope that if something goes wrong it won't be them. We've all seen bad things happen to many others.

Drivers who are competing with inferior safety equipment know it. They see what others have. They are not stupid when it comes to equipment of any nature whether it be a helmet or a cylinder head , drivers know the difference. Some bought the new helmet this year , others bought the new cylinder head. Some can't afford both and the racer instinct is to consider what you're taking off the trailer rather than what you're putting on your head. After all , that helmet still looks pretty good , it hasn't failed you and besides , you wore it all last season without problem many will reason.

After you've mandated all new personal safety equipment every two years and verified adhearance to the rule book in car construction , there really isn't alot remaining to truly make this activity "safer" .... until you really want to take issue with the tracks ( as there are problems aplenty ); and then address the rigidity of the frames .... and the upright seating position .... cage halos 4 inches above the head .... and so forth.

Real improvements in safety come at a high cost through research and continued development. Who's going to run and pay for that program in Sprints and Midgets ?

I've rambled and I apologize. Since late Saturday evening all I've thought of is a beautiful young lady who is in a fight for her young life ... and parents in distress with unspeakable grief who can only watch and wait. This is the very ugly side of auto racing. At times like this I don't even like the sport.

Arin may not race again. My prayer is that God may give her the opportunity to make that choice on a day real soon ! May God bless this family.

Folks. Everyone on here should remember why sprint car racing is so great. Fast, Action Packed, and Very Dangerious. They used to write-off a driver once a week when my Dad started in sprint and midgets. And that didnt stop the great drivers. They understood that any given night they could die in a crash. THIS IS STILL SPRINT CAR RACING AND PEOPLE WILL GET HURT OR KILLED NO MATTER WHAT. If these same crashes that have happened in the last few months would have happened 5 years ago. They may not be here at all. So count your blessing and pray for the ones that have been unfortunate. Sprint cars will never be injury or crash proof. That is why some people watch they sit there and wait for the next crash. It is sad to say but that is reality. And the other thing people need to wake up and see that Sprint cars are not a direct line to Nascar. They help, but just because you raced sprints and midget doesnt mean Jack Roush or Joe Gibbs is going to be calling Monday morning if you win a saturday local show. Just like High School, College, and Pro Football. Only 2% of High School players get to go and play College. Only 2% of College players go Pro. And that is just they way with .25 midgets, Midgets/Sprints, Nascar. I am done venting and will wait to get beat up by responders

Brock and Prather are right about safety tech. There isn't any to my knowledge at the local scene. The problem the tracks face on that point is that once they start inspecting the cars and then when there is a problem, then they have opened themselves up to speculation and possibly have to take the responsabilty since they approved the car and driver. That is a big risk today.

In a sport when you still see guys running without fire proof undies(tees or nothing at all), it is hard to convince them to do things like mount the seat properly and wear the proper safety gear. With all of the false bravado and devil may care attitude that is prevaliant amongst some drivers, how far do you really want to go to try and protect someone from themselves without all of the responsability being transferred to you?

I agree that many of the problems come from just general lack of knowledge, but also a general feeling of:"It can't happen to me".

In reality, even though there is some adjustability built into the cars as far as the cockpit goes, all drivers require some differences and in many ways the cars need to be custom built or adjusted for each one.

So many guys complain about the Hans and the like, but often it's the cost of the product that makes them sqawk and not the actual product itself. I do know that some guys in the past did have a problem with it hurting their shoulders, but I believe that has been taken care of with the different sizes. There is also the question or rear impact, but I believe that with a seat where the head area is relieved for the unit, you run into less of a problem with that.

There is only so much you can do to protect the driver, but one of the first hurdles is getting a driver to want to protect themselves.

Drivers need to inspect the cockpit and identify anything that could hurt them. They need to make the seats and pedals where they are comfortable and won't phsically wear them out. Drivers need to keep themselves in the proper physical and mental shape when competing so they don't wear out. A "death grip" on the wheel will cause the driver to wear out the same as a driver who isn't physically strong enough to compete over a long distance.

Head Nets,Containment seats, properly placed seat and shoulder bars,Hans, Fender washers, 3/8 Bolts, fire proof undies etc... are all items that should be used.

No matter what though; as long as sprint car and midget racing is around, so will injuried drivers. No matter how safe the cars are made to be.

Billy Putterbaugh is exactly RIGHT!

You guys are going off the deep end with this %$#@&!

I have been to every track here in Indiana and some in Illinois and haven't seen any of these problems. Nor have I seen cars that aren't "safe".

Like I said in another post, Sprint and Midget racing is the most dangerous circle track racing there is. If you don't recognize this or believe it YOU DON'T NEED TO BE IN ONE!!!

Like Billy said, we all assume these risks when we strap in one. I also don't think these "kids" need to be in a sprint car just because Jeff Gordon drove one. No disrespect to their talent but I don't want to be the one that has to live with hurting someone else expecially a teenager if it was to happen.

Just my $.02 worth. The padding above the cage is a great idea. I think that is were the wing idea started back in the 70's when they started to run them. I could be wrong. Lets face it. Non wing sprint cars and the drivers are like bulls and cowboys. People go to watch because they know someone is going to get "bucked" and both the drivers and the riders know that this could happen. The wing idea does not work all the time either. Kenny Jacobs was in a wing car this summer and got hurt and had to call it quits. I hate to see anyone get hurt and I see a lot of wild rides at Kokomo every Sunday. When I step out there to help clean up the wrecks I count my blessings when the driver pops out and is o.k. I think the cage nets, full containment seats, hans, better material that they use to make helmets with now like Kevlar, Hi-Poly fiberglass is a great thing. These guys and gals that strap into these cars know it is going to happen. The idea I have for top impacts on the cages is maybe a foam block pad that straps to the cage. My dad use to use something similar back in the 80's that strapped around the steering box to protect his knees from smacking the gear box if he went upside down. I am not saying it is the perfect answer. However, like someone said in the earlier post. If it can take the first impact and absorb some energy like the softer walls that NASCAR use. Maybe it will give these drivers a chance. The other thing is, and not to piss off chassis builders. I have seen the tops of cages get bent even on what I would call minimal impacts. I remember this year at Kokomo looking at a right side of the roll cage that really did not take a hard impact from another vehicle and it was bent down to the helmet level of the driver. I say maybe we need to start having the cages of the cars built out of thicker tubing that can take a hard impact. It may make the cars stiffer, but then you also get the cars to slow down when they can not bite as hard into the track. Just my ideas. Thanks

We all know sprint car racing is dangerous. Everytime you strap in it could be your last. But shame on us if we do not try to learn from each accident on how to make this sport safer. If we had the attitude that I have seen from some of the posts we still would have no roll cages, short sleeve shirts, and leather caps. Just the advances from when I started are amazing like from low back seats to high back seats to full containment seats. Look how many arms have been saved since arm restaints. So if we can make this sport safer we have got to look at it. Motormasher you must not look very close at cars if you have not seen guys running cars that are not safe. Old belts, belts mounted improperly, head out of the cage or to close the list goes on and on. I see no problem with tracks or organizations checking all cars for safety. I am thankfull for every saftey improvement that we have seen over the years and hope to see more. I would hate to think of some of the crashes I have taken over the last few years with my original low back seat with the belts the way the were mounted at that time. You guys have got to realize the speeds get quicker each year so saftey has to evolve with the speed. In 1986 we were turning 12 second laps with a wing at Bloomington. Now everyone is consistantly in the low 11 second bracket without wings. So thanks to all that have came up with all the safety advancements that I have seen over the years and look for more in years to come.

Does anyone have any pics of Charlie Fishers cars that he built in the 90's? They had a funny car-style cage inside of the roll cage that sort of wrapped around your head and/or upper body, behind the seat. Seems like that would be a good thing to look into again. There is also a Canadian racer that I have heard builds his own cars in a very similar fashion, but I can't remember his name and can't seem to find any info by searching on Hoseheads.

Thats just what amazes me. Some of the fixes or damage control like roll bar padding are cheap fixes in danger of breaking nobody and it isn't done. I took pics of all cars at the first two twin cities shows and a full 2/3rds had no roll bar padding. 1/3rd had no nets almost half didn't have containment seats, some little more than a aluminum bench that didn't even come the full length of the back. and about 1/2 didn't use shields.

I thought USAC mandated bar padding and shields back in the 80s-90s I could be totally wrong and the pics I have aren't a usac show or neither was the midget week show I seen a full three months later at Gas City where it was about the same in basic safety equiptment.

Is it worth 10 bucks for a net or 5 dollars for some padding and tape to save your life?

Your risk, I know. I climbed into a bomber with a stock seat and over the shoulder belt with no fireproof uniform. The chance to race is kinda undenyable but most of the teams have hours every nite and time before a race to check the little things as well as the majors, Maybe a Checklist before stagging?

In some cases those missing items were on the same teams with different drivers.

Chuck, again only wishing everybody ends the night in one piece.