A day after Sam Hornish Jr. was involved in a horrific-looking crash at Watkins Glen International he was moving furniture at his North Carolina home. And when a new No. 77 Dodge was unloaded a couple days later at Michigan, he got behind the wheel without any second-guessing.
Race drivers are known for ignoring danger, but the safety improvements in NASCAR in the past seven years have helped them walk away from bad crashes without any trepidation.
When it comes to safety, the new Car of Tomorrow has been everything NASCAR promised.
The seat was moved more toward the middle of the cockpit and the doors are lined with energy-absorbing foam. Drivers also have worked harder on their seats to keep their arms and legs from flailing during an accident, racetracks have added energy-reducing barriers and the Head and Neck support collar has kept anyone from suffering any neck injuries since they've been mandated shortly after Dale Earnhardt was killed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
While nobody admits to being bulletproof, most said the cars are so comfortable it's easier for them to take bigger risks without the fear of getting hurt.
"It does make it nice to know that you have an ace in your sleeve, knowing that safety is on your side," Kurt Busch said.
Hornish's car slammed into the outside tire barrier, sending it into a wild spin. He was struck by Jeff Gordon's car, sending Hornish's car into another violent spin. Cars for both Hornish and Gordon were destroyed; both walked away with bruises.
"That was probably pretty close to it, as far as the worse hit I've taken in a stock car, but some of the smaller IndyCar stuff hurt a lot more the next day than what that did," Hornish said. "The IndyCars were going about 50 mph faster, and you were just pulling so many more Gs. But that definitely was a lot bigger hit than I want to take again any time soon."
Gordon said the improvements in safety have created a higher level of comfort and confidence inside the car.
Points leader Tony Stewart, who said last year he's willing to win the Daytona 500 on his roof and on fire, isn't convinced enhanced safety is making drivers more daring.
He said the fact the new car is so evenly-balanced from team to team forces drivers to take more chances to gain an advantage on the racetrack.
NASCAR overhauled its attitude on safety after Earnhardt's death. Some of the changes came quickly, others, like the Car of Tomorrow, took years -- and millions of dollars -- to complete. The improvements have worked since no driver in the Camping World Truck, Nationwide or Sprint Cup series have been killed since 2001.
Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.
The Car of Tomorrow might be safer, but it has added to the boredom of the race. I think the popularity of NASCAR is definitely on a downhill slide.
Go to the dirt track races at Modoc and have a blast. Just don't sit on the lower levels or you will be coated with mud.
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