AMEN TO THAT!
--- "Bernd D. Ratsch" <bernd@texas.net> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
>
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