86
NASCAR test. “Only one driver refused to talk to me,”
Downing says: the ultra-traditionalist Earnhardt. But his
death changed everything. Later in the 2001 season, after
a bad crash at Charlotte, Jeff Gordon praised “God and my
HANS device” for saving his life.
INTRUSION:
This past May marked the 25th anniversary of the death
of one of the greatest racers ever: Ayrton Senna, killed at
the 1994 F1 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy when
he hit a concrete barrier, which caused the right front
wheel and suspension parts to come in contact with his
head. Since then, there have been multiple fatalities and
some serious injuries, most of them happening in open-
wheel racing, due to intrusion.
In July 2009, Formula 2 racer Henry Surtees, 18—son of
1964 F1 champ John Surtees—was killed when he was hit in
the head by a wheel from another car that broke its tether
after a crash. Six days later, F1’s Felipe Massa was knocked
unconscious when a spring from Rubens Baricello’s car
struck him in the head. In August 2006, Cristiano da Matta,
the 2002 Champ Car champion, was in a coma for 29 days
after he struck a deer while testing at Road America. In
August 2015, da Matta’s former teammate, Justin Wilson,
was killed in an IndyCar race at Pocono when the nose cone
from another crashed car hit Wilson in the head.
when he crashed at Las Vegas in 2011, and it’s what ended
the career of IndyCar’s Dario Franchitti after he crashed
on the temporary street course in Houston.
“That one’s tough,” Olvey says. “There are ideas out
there but no consensus on which one is the best.” Among
them, Olvey says, is something similar to the clear screen
that surrounds a hockey rink, “but even if that’s possible,
the cost would certainly be prohibitive.”
The latest crash of that sort, at Pocono in August 2018,
left IndyCar driver Robert Wickens paralyzed from the
waist down, though he continues to make progress in
rehabilitation. Olvey says the fact that Wickens lived is
a testament to enhanced safety in the IndyCar platform:
“No way would he have survived that five years ago.”
Formula 1’s
incorporation
of the halo
(far left)
has been
successful.
IndyCar is
following suit:
This year
it uses the
Advanced
Frontal
Protection
device (above
left) to deflect
objects; next
year the
Aeroscreen
(right) arrives.
In a gradual response, F1 adopted the halo in 2018, a loop
around the top of the cockpit with a bar that leads vertically
down from the loop to the body in front of the driver. Mean-
while, IndyCar is partnering with Red Bull Advanced Tech-
nologies to develop the Aeroscreen, a wraparound wind-
shield anchored by a titanium, halo-like framework. It will
be ready for 2020. “I think it’s a great idea,” says IndyCar
and F1 veteran Juan Pablo Montoya, who currently races for
Penske and Acura in an IMSA prototype. “The more protec-
tion, the better. I think they’ll get used to it quickly, just like
Formula 1 drivers did. Every driver I talk to says they don’t
even realize the halo is there.”
At least as important, though, is addressing the intrusion
that occurs when a car goes into fencing that is supported by
stout poles; that’s what killed IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon
