NASCAR driver Parker Kligerman on the injuries that professional drivers can sustain at the track

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NASCAR driver Parker Kligerman on the injuries that professional drivers can sustain at the track image

Crash specific injuries aside, what are the common physiological effects for a driver involved in a high-G auto racing incident? Originally answered Dec. 23, 2015

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Answer by Parker Kligerman, pro race car driver for 10+ years, on Quora:

This is a tough answer to generalize, as it is different for each racing series. The reason is that each series has a different way the driver sits in the car, the cars are made of different materials, and lastly they race at different types of tracks. With this said, I will break it down into three categories:

1. F1 and Sports Cars(Prototypes) - Racing on road courses: As a result of incredible advancements in safety technology within the cars, along with the driver's gear and lastly the tracks, injuries are very infrequent in either of these series, even though they are obtain incredible speeds. Even incredibly high-G impacts don't injure a driver past bruising. Most injuries now are due to freak incidents. For F1 this would be Felipe Massa in 2009 getting struck in the head (hit in the front of his helmet) by a bouncing spring at the Hungaroring. He would suffer major head injuries, but would soon return to racing.

This type of injury has been the most feared in F1 for some time, as the driver's head is still very exposed. In 2014, F1 had one of its most terrible freak accidents in many years, as well as its first death from an accident in 20 years. It was at the Japanese Grand Prix in absolutely torrential downpour conditions (many thought the conditions were too poor to be racing in). Jules Bianchi lost control of his car at a corner that a crane vehicle had come out from behind the barrier to pick up another car. Jules' car went under the crane vehicle, causing severe head injuries. Jules went into a coma, and months later, on July 17th, 2015, he succumbed to his injuries.

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2. Open Wheel cars on ovals (Indy cars): An Indy car is the fastest racing on a circuit (besides drag racing, but they just go in a straight line), as they do over 230MPH at certain oval tracks. With these speeds comes great danger, as drivers have had many injuries and even worse over the years. In the last 16 years, 5 drivers have lost their lives in Indy car/CARTs, including one this year - Justin Wilson.

Most were freak accidents where the head suffered a traumatic injury. This is in some respects a product of the open cockpit nature of an open wheel car. With the head exposed at these speeds, any contact can cause a massive blow to the drivers head that no helmet can absorb.

This is why many discussions have been had in how to close the cockpit of the cars in a safe manner.

In crashes where the head is not struck, we see a lot of back injuries because of the force it can take (50+gs) when a car strikes a wall backwards. Also injuries where a piece of suspension can puncture the safety cell of the driver and inflict a wound, such as what happened to James Hinchcliffe at the Indianapolis 500 practice this past may (2015).

3. NASCAR (Stock Cars): In NASCAR, safety improves each year as they continually work at the NASCAR R&D center to improve every little aspect of the cars, tracks, and the driver's safety cell. In recent years, injuries have been few and far between because of this. With that said, Kyle Busch had a high-G forward impact at Daytona and broke his right leg and his left foot. He had hit an area of the track that was not covered in what is called the "safer barrier" that now lines almost all NASCAR tracks. He hit solid concrete, so the pedals and floorboard of his car slammed into his feet, causing his injuries.

Aside from that accident, the injuries we may see in NASCAR because of the upright seating position can be back related. I hurt my back at Daytona in 2014 flipping over. Denny Hamlin hurt his back in 2013 at California.

Concussions are always a concern in NASCAR, as we obtain incredibly high speeds in the center of the corner at some tracks and when a RF tire fails it can produce hard impacts. This happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2012.

Lastly, one of the hardest impacts in NASCAR history occurred in the 2010 Pocono race. Elliot Sadler got into a wreck and slid through the grass into a wall that was at a 90-degree angle. He would only suffer bruises. There was also Michael McDowell's wreck in Texas qualifying in 2008, where he would walk away.

So as you can see, there is no one specific type of injury; it's a case-by-case basis as to what injuries might occur in auto racing.



 

 

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