NASCAR Has an Injury Problem. There are Engineering Solutions.

NASCAR stock-car racing has evolved from cow pasture competitions between bootleg alcohol runners into a billion-dollar national sport in the U.S. Part of its popularity is built into the nature of the sport: closed-bodied cars that allow very close racing with occasional incidental contact. That contact does produce accidents, and over the years, the governing body has added regulations to improve driver safety. The new cars used today are a major departure from the shop-built chassis of the past. They are a spec car, purchased from a single manufacturer, and use significantly higher technology than any past generation of car in the sport’s history. Safety was a factor in the design from the beginning, but concussion remains a serious risk in the sport. The cars are safer, but closed head injuries are still damaging, even ending driver careers. Why? Jim Anderton comments.

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