Written by DON "ELI" WHITNEY
APBA SAFETY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
The APBA Safety Committee met twice in Reno to discuss category actions and safety trends in the motorsports industry. Good attendance at both meetings shows that safety interest is across all APBA categories. Overall Motorsport trends show a general increase in safety, through not only safety equipment innovation, but also through engineering design analysis and problem solving techniques. Boat racing needs to catch up in the design analysis end of the business, with beginning efforts already showing promise for catching up.
New safety gear was displayed and talked about. Lifeline (Kent Fauntleroy) displayed and spoke of a new helmet / air system with user friendly adjustments to customize fit to the individual user. He also showed new carbon fiber shin, knee and elbow pads and the newest version of the NexGen head / neck restrain system. SRP (Pat Gleason and Scott LaPointe) presented information on their new Kevlar / leather driving boots (with drain holes for those who hate wet feet), a special treat for kneeldown racers. SRP has resumed manufacturing cut suits, with either Kevlar / steel material or a new, lightweight and tougher ‘Teflonite’. Driving suits are being offered now in Nomex, both single layer (SFI 3.1) and double layer (SFI 3.5), along with a full line of head /neck restraints, lifejackets, and helmets, including the SFI 24.1 youth helmet. Stand 21 (a well established French company active in motorsports safety chiefly in Europe) – Bob Wartinger showed a prototype emergency helmet removal system that relies simply on two extension “straps” as part of a balaclava (hood sock) that allow helmet removal by medical or rescue personnel without twisting the wearer’s neck or spine; while the straps resemble beagle dog ears hanging down low (us old guys remember LBJ showing off his pet beagle by his ears!), has potential to be in production late 2014. Bill Holman (Region 11) showed off a new Region 11 Rescue Boat, with open rear and plenty of gear, looking good, he also showed a refined rescue backboard, looks interesting!
Capsule training discussions reveal that training sessions are following the basic techniques outlined in the safety rules. Remember, these sessions are training, fine tuning a restrained driver’s escape plan if he or she is unfortunately upside-down in the water. The sessions also refine the training and techniques used by rescue personnel, so it is equally important for both kinds of participants to take part and practice. It is urges, too, for those using air systems to try them out in the training session, to get used to any peculiar characteristics, to reassure yourself that these will work properly if needed. Thinking on it, it’s a good time to check your boat to make sure the air bottle and hose routings are safe and secure, loose stuff bouncing around inside the hull or cockpit is not good.
Education and training – whole departments are often seen in corporations to constantly update their workers; school systems educate people in a similar manner; motorsports publications often feature articles detailing new safety gear, practices, and people, read some of them, you’ll pick up some knowledge. What extra can we do? Perhaps club meetings and region meetings are possible venues for seminars or presentations, manufacturer’s reps or contacts can provide visual aids, perhaps even demo hardware, think on it, club and region leaders. It’s all about preparation for those emergencies. Plus, it’s not just drivers. Inspectors need to know so they know what they are checking, boat owners need to know so they know they installed it correctly, loved ones need to know for their own peace of mind. We have resources in the rule books and website directory which detail construction techniques, materials, and installation instructions; use them, they are already in place and accessible.
Rules – what’s a national meeting without rule changes. Only one was reviewed by the APBA Safety Committee and passed on to the APBA BOD with a recommendation to adopt: Stock Outboard – added to safety rule 3.6 to “highly suggest” drivers to wear cut resistant gloves and helmets while racing (exact wording is communicated by Stock Outboard). The reason for this addition is to encourage non-restrained drivers to wear this gear to reduce the number of finger/hand/foot and toe injuries. One question that has to be said: why not all the other non-restrained categories and classes? Maybe that is coming soon? When good rules are common, understanding and meeting the rule becomes common, can that be bad?
Bob Wartinger summarized an extensive report to the committee with these thoughts: keep up onging efforts to strengthen driver structures, communicate and educate racing membership on safety equipment and practices; risk management – examine rules, look to communize, to help improve universal understanding; reducing incidents results in the potential for reduced insurance costs.