NASCAR Crashes

Safety Precaution against NASCAR Crashes

With fast cars contending for space and position in a race, crashes will always be a possibility. Evident in actual NASCAR crashes, stiffer competition, over-aggressive driving and carelessness often contribute to such unfortunate events in car racing.

NASCAR racecars are specially designed with safety in mind. Those who survive NASCAR crashes often attribute their still being alive to luck, to the will of God, and to the advances of racecar safety technology.

The effects of NASCAR crashes would have been worse, if not for the safety innovations on these NASCAR racecars.

Let us begin to look at a NASCAR racecar frame, which is composed of the front clip, the middle section and the rear clip. The front clip and the rear clip are made out of thinner steel tubing and designed to crush with impact, to absorb most of the force of the crash. The middle section is designed to be much tougher to withstand the crash, making it much safer for the driver.

Next comes the seat of the racecar. Its main function is to keep the driver in place especially upon crashing so that contact with other parts of the car will be prevented. These seats will actually bend to soften the impact of the crash. Recent seat designs have wraps over the entire rib cage and that of the driver's shoulder.

The use of seat belts greatly enhances the overall safety level of the racecar. Racecars use a five-point harness. These are made from thick, padded nylon webbing, which is much stronger than those used in streetcars. This is even made safer with the head-and-neck restraint, which came about with the result of severe head and neck trauma from NASCAR crashes.

With the use of window nets, the driver is protected from debris that might hit him which would otherwise hit him if not for the net. At the same time, it makes sure that the driver's arms are not whirled out of the car during an unfortunate crash.

The use of innovative roof flaps ensures that the car will not go airborne when they tumble and spin over the racetracks. Two roof flaps are utilized, and are let go, to minimize the lift, and to keep the car on the ground in the event of NASCAR crashes.

The windshields of NASCAR racecars are made of polycarbonate material or Lexans. This has a soft characteristic which absorbs impact and prevents windshields from shattering. The type of material scratches easily though, that is why an adhesive film which is much harder than the Lexan material and as clear as glass is used before every race. This will just be peeled-off though afterwards.

NASCAR racecar fuel tanks are also designed with a steel outer layer, and a hard plastic inner layer. The inner layer is filled up with foam to absorb explosion if it should come to that. The fuel tank is held firmly by four braces, and it also has check valves that will cut off fuel supply if the engines should be separated from the car.

NASCAR crashes can't be totally prevented and eliminated, but with safety innovations on racing cars around, the drivers are a little bit safer.