New NASCAR mandates, Dale Earnhardt Monte Carlo, and the EA Sports 500 from Talladega, Alabama.
Restraint Systems Mandated…………
NASCAR finally made the move Wednesday, October 17th, to mandate the use of head and neck restraint systems in their top three series, Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Truck. It has been insinuated that by the beginning of the 2002 season, all nine of the racing series that are sanctioned by NASCAR will be required to incorporate the systems.
At this time, there are only two manufactured head and neck safety devices that are approved by NASCAR, the HANS device, and the Hutchins device. At the time of the mandate, the majority of the Cup drivers were wearing one of the safety devices, with the exception of Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Home Depot sponsored Pontiac.
Stewart claims that he does not feel comfortable wearing either one of the devices. When he drove Indy cars, he had to have the head and neck collar removed from the car because he is claustrophobic. He couldn’t stand anything resting on top of his shoulders. This is the main reason that he cannot use the HANS device. He tried the Hutchins device while testing at Talladega, but was not able to get it to fit comfortably. Now that he will be forced to wear the Hutchins device, it will be interesting to see how the temperamental young racer will cope with the situation in the future.
As the cars were lined up for the practice session at Talladega, Stewart got into a disagreement with Winston Cup Director, Gary Nelson, over the use of the head and neck restraint systems. Nelson inspected his car and found that there was no device present. He asked Stewart of he received the memo that covered the new rule requiring drivers to wear the devices. Stewart stated that he had not seen any directives that require drivers to wear helmets. After a brief stare down period, Nelson advised Stewart that he needed to wear the helmet because the head and neck safety restraints were to be attached to it. Stewart went to the team hauler, changed into his street clothes, and then went directly to his motor home. After a meeting between his crew chief and NASCAR officials, Stewart returned to his car, donned the Hutchins device, and took to the track in the few minutes that were left of the practice period.
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