HANS device unlikely to have saved Earnhardt.

Following Dale Earnhardt's fatal Daytona crash there has been speculation that the HANS (Head and Neck Support) safety device could have saved his life.

"I think it's still a matter of speculation," said Dr. Steve Bohannon, Director of emergency medical services at Daytona, at yesterday's NASCAR press conference.

"Even if you restrain the head and neck in this type of an injury, with the forces that we're talking about - you know, hitting a concrete barricade at 150, 170mph, whatever - there's still one more element that you have to address, and that is that the body has internal organs that are free-floating."

"Even if you restrain the body - the head, the neck, the chest - all those organs internally still move at the time of impact. (In an impact) small blood vessels are torn, the brain is injured, bruised, torn, and with an impact of Dale's nature, even if he'd had the device on, hitting the wall that fast may have resulted in the same injuries."

Sunday's race winner, Michael Waltrip, gave his views on the device: "There are mixed reviews about it. People like the way it stabilizes your head in an incident, but... it's cumbersome and hard to get in and out of the car, which would be a concern during an accident as well."

"The HANS device is an option, it's just something that I haven't elected to use yet" added Waltrip. "I don't personally think that is something that should be made a requirement, a rule; I just think that it's something the drivers need to investigate and find out if it's right for them."

"I plan on testing the HANS, and have planned on it, at Atlanta next week, not this week. I'm not planning on running it at Rockingham this weekend, but I've been preparing to test it at Atlanta and see if I feel like I can get in and out of the car like I want to," explained Waltrip.

NASCAR President Mike Helton made their stance clear: "In specific regard to the HANS device, it's more than just an option: NASCAR recommends drivers try it, and to work with the developers of it to perfect it for stock car racing."

One of the contributing factors in Earnhardt's accident was not just the speed with which he hit the outside retaining wall, but the angle with which it occurred.
Although Oval racing drivers often talk about hitting walls at 180+ mph and walking away, such instances occur when the impact with the wall is made at a relatively shallow angle. This can result in a much lower impact speed with the wall of around 65-70mph - even if the car itself is travelling much faster.

Earnhardt's accident was almost the worse case scenario in that he hit the wall almost square on (90 degrees) meaning that his impact speed was probably not much slower than the speed that he had been travelling. This was also evident in the relatively short distance the car travelled after hitting the outside wall.