|
|
 |
 |
  |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Probing probable cause Autoliv part of team investigating fatal Earnhardt crash
By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As the Winston Cup circuit revisits the scene where racing legend Dale Earnhardt lost his life, bits and pieces about the ongoing accident probe are coming into focus. NASCAR has steadfastly refused to divulge details or the names of those involved in the investigation, but from interviews with those close to the probe it appears an independent outside group has not been brought in to drive the process. The final report is due in August. "Any implication that this investigation is being conducted in less than an independent and scientific manner is absolutely false," said George Pyne, NASCAR senior vice president. "We take exception to that." NASCAR has also indicated in recent days that it'll further look into other recent fatal racing accidents involving Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper -- all of whom apparently died from skull fractures caused by the violent whipping motion of their heads.
The officials arranged for a re-enactment of the Earnhardt crash scene recently in North Carolina, involving, among others, two paramedics who tended to Earnhardt and driver Ken Schrader, the first to reach Earnhardt in his No. 3 Chevy Monte Carlo. NASCAR president Mike Helton was a close observer of the proceedings, sources said. CNNSI.com has also confirmed that Autoliv, a leader in auto safety and pioneer in seat belts, is among the specialists retained by NASCAR to assist in the investigation. Pat Jarboe, Autoliv's director of marketing, said the company answers directly to NASCAR. "We are acting as a service organization to NASCAR," said Jarboe, adding the company is bound by a confidentiality agreement. "In our role, we will report to NASCAR. We'll do what they ask us to do. In terms of our relationship with them, they would be running it as far as we're concerned. "But while NASCAR is coordinating the investigation, a number of organizations and individuals are involved. It's an overall team. We work as a consensus based on everyone having input, rather than a strict dictatorship." Industry sources said they would have been surprised if NASCAR, which plays things close to the vest, had actually hired outsiders to run the investigation. "Autoliv's role is to conduct tests at the direction of the leading independent experts from a variety of scientific disciplines we've assembled," Pyne clarified. "This is an unprecedented group of experts in automotive racing history. And we look forward to taking all question about the investigation when the time is right." Pyne said the group numbers at least 50, adding: "[The investigation] will be thorough and credible. The people doing it are credible and it will stand the test of time." Aside from any conflict the sanctioning body may have investigating the fatal crash, most agree that NASCAR is well enough staffed and has competent enough people to oversee the probe. It was speculated if Steve Peterson wasn't overseeing the investigation, then NASCAR's technical director is likely playing a key role. The role of Autoliv is particularly germane because of the conflicting speculation over what, if any, effect a separated safety belt may have played in Earnhardt's death. The most compelling argument to date is from Dr. Barry Myers, a court-appointed expert from Duke University, who determined that the lap belt, even if it broke during the crash, didn't cause the fatal injuries. "That is the big issue in question there -- the belts, no doubt about it," Jarboe said. "So that is part of this. [Our] whole investigation consists of that ... We design and develop restraint systems for vehicles. And we do a lot of validation testing of the systems, and we can do crash tests." Carmen Daecher, an official with the American Society of Safety Engineers, said he had not heard Autoliv or any other specialists linked to the NASCAR investigation, but he said the methodology is pretty standard stuff. "They're going to use test dummies, put them into a car that they will electronically control and crash into that wall at the same speed," said Daecher, whose consultant firm specializes in accident reconstruction. "They'll measure the forces on that dummy. And what they will attempt to do through that measurement is first of all understand the dynamic forces on the body. Then, they must somehow simulate a defective seat belt and again test all the forces acting on that anthropomorphic dummy to really determine what happened or what could have happened. "I'm sure they're going to be looking at, given the extent of injuries and the autopsy results and what they know in detail, trying to simulate how the body was dynamically moved given the exact angle of impact into that wall. And then decide if they can justify the seat belt breaking as sort of one of the issues or conditions relating to the whole sequence. I can't imagine what else they would be doing. Hell, if they just recreated to see if his skull is going to fracture it's pretty simple." ASSE officials have chafed at NASCAR's failure to accept its offer to assist in any probe, and Daecher believes NASCAR continues to make an issue of the seat belt so as only to deflect criticism it has received for not mandating that drivers wear a head and neck restraint device. "I think they're looking for the seat belt to be sort of their relief valve," Daecher said. "So they can say, 'Gee whiz, if the seat belt had been in one piece....'"
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
