Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408300038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Characterizing the change as ``a big step up,'' Dr.Walter Whitehouse of St.Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., said Irvan is in serious but stable condition. The 35-year-old driver remains on a ventilator in the intensive care unit and is ``conscious but drowsy,'' Whitehouse said.
This encouraging news came Saturday evening as the Winston Cup series was preparing for the Goody's 500 at Bristol International Raceway.
And as Irvan slowly recovers, many of the conversations in the garage this weekend and last have centered on what actually happened to Irvan and what, if anything, can be done to prevent it from happening again. On these matters, NASCAR officials simply are not very forthcoming.
Fans of auto racing always have been aware that race car drivers can be killed, but given the level of interest in NASCAR and the growing culture of superstardom for drivers, it isn't good business or good public relations to stop the flow of credible information after one of your stars has been killed or gravely injured.
As to questions of what happened, it is apparent - although NASCAR officials won't say - that Irvan's injuries were caused by the G-forces he received when his car decelerated suddenly after hitting the wall in turn 2.
Robert Yates, the owner of Irvan's car, confirmed Saturday that the driver's head didn't hit anything inside the car after the car hit the wall. The back of Irvan's skull apparently was fractured by his brain when his head rebounded backward after whipping forward on impact with the wall. Irvan's lungs apparently collapsed when other internal organs crushed them as his midsection lurched forward against his safety belts.
``I've looked at the car,'' Yates said. ``The car did its job. His head didn't hit anything inside the car.''
Yates also said there was nothing amiss with Irvan's seat or safety belts. ``It was just that sudden stop,'' he said.
``But we need to do more so that drivers will be able to walk away from one of these things without injury,'' Yates said. ``I don't want to say it was `just racing.'''
Yates, more than any other car owner, crew chief or driver, has called for reducing horsepower to slow speeds, even as he continues to develop some of the most powerful engines in the Winston Cup series.
``I hate restrictor plates, but if they gave us one when we signed in at Dover next month, I would be the happiest guy there,'' he said.
Ray Evernham, Jeff Gordon's crew chief, said more could be done to improve safety belts.
``With the millions of dollars we spend to go faster, some of the car companies could spend more on driver restraints,'' Evernham said. ``The guys have been wearing the same five-point harnesses since the 1950s. Why can't we come up with some sort of space-age jacket or flak jacket?
``We've got the safest cars in the world,'' Evernham said. ``We've proved that time and time again. But when a guy doesn't break anything on the outside and is still hurt on the inside, you've got to look at the restraints.''
From a public relations standpoint, NASCAR should be far more forthright about such issues.
But when you ask NASCAR's top administrators how they go about investigating crashes, or what they have found andwhat they haven't found, or what they might be doing to try to prevent them, you get little or no information.
``It's not that we can't. It's just that we prefer not to [provide information],'' said Mike Helton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. ``We've found out in the past that explanations are misinterpreted or things are taken beyond our explanations. I think our concern is for the guys in the garage to trust us.''
That still leaves the public out in the cold.
In this atmosphere, rumors run rampant.
For example, one of the more predominant stories this weekend is that Irvan's car hit a bird and that collision broke one of the rods holding the sheet metal to the car frame. The rod then punctured the right-front tire, causing Irvan's car to hit the wall.
Helton said that wasn't true, but his statement was limited to his interview with this reporter. He added that while NASCAR believes the right-front tire blew out, it still doesn't know what caused that to happen.
A more formal and complete explanation of what NASCAR has discovered and ruled out would go a long way towardhelping information-hungry fans separate fact from rumor.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB