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Old 02-23-2001, 03:31 PM   #2
tw
Read? I only know how to write.
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,933
Re: 2/23: Inside of Earnhardt car

As long as passenger compartments remain intact, then passengers should not be killed. This was demonstrated before WWII (a famous airplane crash in TX involving Jennys began that discovery). It is not car damage that determines death rates. It is what the human hits inside a car; if the human remains inside the car.

This is the joke about SUVs - designed to 'look' safe - they are some of the most dangerous vehicles on the road and some of the last vehicles you want to be inside during inclement weather.

NASCAR is a slow racer by racing standards. Energy increases exponentially as speed increases. Whereas NASCAR at 180 MPH might have 324 energy units per pound, Indy racers will have 576 energy units per pound. Therefore Indy cars should have substantially higher injury and death rates. But Indy is racing by innovators. NASCAR is racing by the 'fast profit in cigarette and booze' philosphy. CART, Formula 1, etc don't have the injury and death rates of NASCAR because innovation and safety are important to those other circuits. NASCAR shares the concepts of Winston tobacco pushers - ie. the Winston Cup.
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