People...it's enough that Dale is dead...there's no need/sense in arguing
about how he died...that can't be reversed anyway. (And that's hard enough
on a lot of us...even if we weren't his biggest fan...we respect him for
what he gave to the sport!)
- Bernd
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@BUFFNET.NET
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@BUFFNET.NET]On Behalf Of Steven T. Ekstrand
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 5:49 PM
To: dakota-truck@BUFFNET.NET
Subject: Re: DML: Re: Earnhardt Tragedy-Accident Didn't Look That Bad?
| And you made this determination after doing all the same investigation
| of this particular accident as NASCAR, doctors, and other experts who
| were actually on scene and in the hospital, right? Saw the evidence
| firsthand and everything?
Obviously not, so don't be a f*ing smartass because I'm not really in the
mood. I will debate anybody in the world on this particular issue,
Physician, racer, NASCAR official, or mailing list member.
| CNN is reporting the cause of death as "blunt trauma to his
| head" - not neccessarily his head moving in such a way as would be
| prevented by the HANS device.
Gonzalo Rodriguez's list of death was Blunt Force Trauma to the head.
That's what it is called to the ignorant medical examiners who perform
autopsies on race car drivers like that were in a traffic accident. They
are wrong. Gary Bohannon admitted as much at the press conference today.
But, he is the NASCAR mouthpiece, so he walked the corporate line on the
HANS device. Dr. Bohannon said that it was indeed a Basal Skull Fracture.
He added that he personally felt that there was enough damage to the base
of the brain that the trauma to the brain tissues would have resulted in
death regardless of the use of the HANS device. I would strongly disagree.
What the NASCAR Dr. was basically doing is conceding that the HANS might
have prevented the skull fracture and resulting bled out, but the brain
trauma was fatal. That is inconsistent statement based on what we only
recently know about such injuries. It is the brain stem that causes the
fracture. If the HANS device can support the head and neck, helping absorb
the effects of acceleration/deceleration enough to prevent the fracture, it
will also lessen the trauma to the brain tissue itself. Hence, my comment
that concession/conclusion were contradictory.
There are no absolutes in life. There is no way make racing safe and
that's okay. Racers know the risk and gladly accept it to do what they do.
The only argument I can see against making the HANS device mandatory is a
very good one. It is one that I would usually support without question.
That is that is should be the drivers choice, like helmets on motorcycle
riders and seatbelts in car, etc.
| It's all about inertia. Even if his head had been secure, his brain
| would have hit the inside of it at a very, very high speed.
Makes since certainly from a first thought, but what happens is that the
head snaps forward and tilts down to its farthest extension until it
suddenly stops and recoils. The brain is offered no resistance as it moves
forward as well until the heads stops and slams the top of the skull. If
the head where restrained with the HANS device the G's could be better
asorbed because although the head still moves it meets resistence
immediately. The brain hits the skull sooner, but the skull is moving in
the same direction only slower than the brain.
I trust NASCAR and NASCAR's doctors about as far as I would trust PT
Barnum. The sad thing is you can take a majority of the none motorsports
connected expert neurologists in the country and poll them about the crash,
they back up everything NASCAR will claim about the accident regarding
there was nothing anybody or any device could have done. The medical
profession outside of a very few familiar with motorsports head injuries
doesn't have a clue.
-Steve Ekstrand
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:59:21 EDT