Rate the Nextel Safety Crew

[Andrew Longman]

Nice to see that the crew got to Waltrip car as quickly as they did. Not having to wait for the cars to race to the line is a no brainer.

But what was the deal with getting him out of the car? 10 minutes of goofing around and then they decide that if he is complaining so much his back must not be hurt, so we'll just slam this car over and let him climb out?

I wasn't there so this may not be fair, but it seems that in ten minutes, heck three minutes, they should have been able to snip open the side of the car, check him out, and let him crawl out if able. Otherwise tape him to a board and get him xrayed.

Good thing he wasn't bleeding and it is remarkable that he wasn't actually hurt.

What possible reason, in 2004, can Nascar have for not having permanent/professional safety crews?

Wonder what fine Michael will pay for his post wreck comments?

[RTKar]

You would think there would be an SOP in place for incidents such as his with a Dr on site to assess the best method of extraction according to the injuries involved. Fortunately the car wasn't on fire and they weren't racing back to the yellow. Seems to me they need a little practice.

[Hard Driver]

I didn't watch the race, so I am not commenting on the incident. But I did read that NASCAR was going to have ONE permanant safety crew Doctor that went to every race. So although the crews would still be hired locally, there would be that one consistant guy. Seems kinda like a half hearted effort to appease the people, including drivers, calling for a permanant safety team.

[CART T. Katz]

the only reason i can think of is that they are still in the mode of thinking that it is cheaper to hire medics for the tracks than to have a full-time staff. i have had discussions with an emt who is hired to work the kentucky speedway nascar events and he cannot see that having one constant person who knows the drivers' histories is better than having a group of locals work the track.

quite sad really.

[Andrew Longman]

Yes, a car landing upside down with an injured/trapped driver seems like a VERY likely scenario. Its something that you would plan and train for.

My local volunteer fire department has to practice annually how to extract people from a street accident. Cutting open a roll cage of a wrecked race car is relatively unique and special task I suspect. That's not something your local rescue workers are going to have a lot of experience with.

Given how similar the Cup cars and cages are, I would think someone could study the very best way to unzip them quickly when need be. It shouldn't be something they have to figure out at the time.

As for NASCAR sticking with one doctor, with all respect to the CART Drs, they are probably not the most critical part of the rescue protocol. The fact that the CART safety team are paramedics trained and experienced in the likey specifics of a champcar rescue is critical to the "First Response". There is not much a Dr can do it the patient never gets to him. Yes of course if the patient gets to the doctor and he is not familiar with the patient or likely race injuries that no good either.

[fourrunner]

The costs of Running a Full Time Traveling Safety Crew far exceeds the value of any one driver! Or so it appears!

Oh Well .... It's just Business!

[Chitowncartfreak]

Pretty bush-league in my opinion. I imagine that the CART Simple Green Safety team has a clear procedure for an inverted car that starts with determining whether or not the driver has injuries that could be magnified by turning the car back over. If the driver is ok, they immediately (and carefully) lift the car over and set it back on its wheels. Even if the driver claims to be uninjured, they use great care in flipping the car back over just in case the driver is unaware of a back or neck injury. It was obvious that the team at Daytona yesterday couldn't come to a consensus on what to do. They started cutting up the car, despite the fact that they didn't exactly know how they were going to get MW out and desite MW's constant requests to have the team roll the car back over. And when they did decide to roll the car back over, they dropped it on the ground like a sack of potatoes - they should have used a wrecker to gently lower the car back on the ground. Had MW had an undiagnosed back or neck injury, he could have been seriously injured by that impact with the ground when they dropped the car. IMHO, this incident clearly states the advantages of having a safety team that specializes in racing accidents.

[TedN]

My understanding on the lack of a full-time dedicated safety team in NASCAR is that it is NOT an issue of money, but potential liability. Pitiful situation.

Look on the bright side ... at least the medical centre was open yesterday, unlike one day last week when the cars were practising.

Ted

:thumdown:

[RacinM3]

:thumdown: :mad:

[Steve99]

As for NASCAR sticking with one doctor, with all respect to the CART Drs, they are probably not the most critical part of the rescue protocol. The fact that the CART safety team are paramedics trained and experienced in the likey specifics of a champcar rescue is critical to the "First Response". There is not much a Dr can do it the patient never gets to him. Yes of course if the patient gets to the doctor and he is not familiar with the patient or likely race injuries that no good either.

I believe the Simple Green Safety Team has a doctor in one of the safety trucks, so he can get to the scene quickly. I'm particularly thinking of Zanardi's crash, where the doctor saved his life by being there.

[Andrew Longman]

I believe the Simple Green Safety Team has a doctor in one of the safety trucks, so he can get to the scene quickly. I'm particularly thinking of Zanardi's crash, where the doctor saved his life by being there.
I think you are correct. Part of the advantage of a single doctor is that he knows each driver's medical history including the baselines they set on brain activity (no, not an IQ test) so they can gauge concussion trauma and such.

For example, the driver in Cleveland last year, I forget which one, who was tested after a shunt in practice and kept out of the race. He didn't even know he was hurt but comparison to the baseline tests showed a concussion.

That's pretty smart. And easily done once you think of it and if you are more committed to safety than anything else.

[devilmaster]

I believe the Simple Green Safety Team has a doctor in one of the safety trucks, so he can get to the scene quickly. I'm particularly thinking of Zanardi's crash, where the doctor saved his life by being there.

Terry Trammell was in the truck that first arrived at Zanardi's accident. And in a couple of TV interviews about the incident, Terry relates a story about how he got out of the truck while it was still moving, but slowing down at Zanardi's car.

He slipped getting out of the truck and fell to his knees. He first thought he slipped in oil, then realized that was he really slipped in was Alex's blood.

Steve

[RichK]

I can't believe you babies crying and getting your panties in a bunch over this. Damn, if anyone gets hurt, they just need to make the cars stronger so they don't bend as much! You don't need doctors with cars as strong as tanks, so quitcher whining.

The last thing we need is a bunch of college-boy doctors prancing around when a biggun hits, damn it's bad enough that I see wine for sale at the SaveMart 300 in Sonoma!