Hans Device Article - "Survive This? Wear This!" - Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums

weldonjc · #1 06-15-2006

Here's an article from this morning's Detroit Free Press about the creators of the HANS device...fyi....go get one!

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...TS16/606150375

(editor: added the full article below - these links have a habit of dissappearing..)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detroit Free Press

Survive this? Wear this!

BY SHANNON SHELTON
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

June 15, 2006

His brakes were gone, leaving Jeff Gordon powerless as his No. 24 Chevrolet careened off the track into the infield grass, only to hurtle upward at full speed into the wall at Turn 1 last Sunday at Pocono International Raceway.

A few tense moments passed before Gordon climbed out of the wreckage under his own power after the driver's side of his vehicle hit the barrier. He ended up with little more than a bad headache and frazzled nerves, despite calling the crash one of the "hardest hits" of his career.

"Between the soft wall and the seat and the safety device, I never got knocked out and I was surprised that I feel pretty good," Gordon said at the time.

Watching the replays of Gordon's accident, retired Michigan State professor Robert Hubbard couldn't help but feel a sense of gratification. Each life saved continues to prove that the decades he devoted to the development and marketing of the Head and-Neck Support, or HANS, device, was time well spent.

"Thinking that this thing could really work made me a believer and a fanatic about it," Hubbard said. "It's a dream come true. Sure it's a successful business for us, but the most important part is that we're helping people out."

As an acronym, HANS has become part of racing vernacular, particularly in NASCAR, which required the use of one of two restraints (HANS and Hutchens) after a deadly period in the early 2000s, one that culminated with the loss of racing legend Dale Earnhardt at the end of the Daytona 500 in 2001.

All of the drivers in the Nextel Cup 3M Performance 400 and the Craftsman Truck Series Con-Way Freight 200 this weekend at Michigan International Speedway will be using a HANS device. In 2005, NASCAR ruled it was the only device that met performance standards.

Five years after Earnhardt's death, the HANS device and other NASCAR safety measures have earned a new measure of recognition. Since his crash, no NASCAR drivers have been killed on the track.

"The idea that this could work kept us going in the mid-'90s, but it was pretty discouraging at times," Hubbard said. "It was very frustrating to see drivers killed and there was a growing awareness in racing that something could be done."

Born out of tragedy

The HANS device is shaped like a collar, fitting around the driver's neck with a yoke sitting on the shoulders. It's a light piece of equipment, weighing about two pounds, made mostly of carbon fiber. In a racecar, a shoulder harness fits over the yoke to keep the device pressed against the driver, and tethers secure the device to the driver's helmet.

From the beginning, the creation and development of the HANS device has largely been a Michigan-based effort. Hubbard, a professor of biomechanical engineering at MSU, took the knowledge he gained from designing heads for crash-test dummies for General Motors in the 1970s and combined it with a family member's interest in auto racing to develop a prototype.

Jim Downing, Hubbard's brother-in-law, was a competitive racer and came to Hubbard after the death of a friend, Patrick Jacquemart, after a crash at Mid-Ohio Raceway in Mansfield in 1981. As a racer, Downing identified the connection between the jarring motion of an unrestrained head and a restrained torso during such accidents and thought a head restraint could decrease the number of deaths.

He turned to Hubbard, who completed doctoral work on the mechanics of the skull, for help with a solution. The two would later work with John Melvin of General Motors, who helped lay the scientific foundation behind the device that would later become HANS.

Melvin, an Ann Arbor resident who serves as an adjunct professor at Wayne State's College of Engineering, had extensive experience with crash injuries. He worked at the Transportation Research Institute at Michigan and as a research engineer with General Motors' racing programs. His team at GM was the first to use in-car crash recorders to study racing injuries.

Hubbard tinkered with the device in his spare time, even constructing an early prototype in his home with his daughter using duct tape and cardboard. By 1989, Hubbard and Downing had a working device, which Wayne State professor Paul Begeman tested that year using dummies at the school's crash-testing program.

Even with the scientific evidence, marketing the HANS device proved frustrating. In 1991, Hubbard and Downing created their own operation to sell the device when established companies turned them down, starting Hubbard Downing in Atlanta, where Downing resides.

Some of the older NASCAR drivers resisted the HANS device, calling it restrictive.

"Racecar drivers, particularly at the top levels, got there through hard work and their knowledge of their car," Melvin said. "Particularly in a stock car, they can sense things through feel. If you're presented with a different package, you're reluctant to try it."

It could happen to anybody

It took the deaths of notable figures for racing circuits and drivers to consider the device more seriously.

Formula One representatives met with Hubbard, Downing and Melvin in Detroit in 1998 to discuss the HANS device four years after the death of star Ayrton Senna. Today, in addition to NASCAR, Formula One, Champ Car and Grand Am, among others, all require the use of the device.

By 2000, more NASCAR drivers willingly chose to wear a HANS, particularly after the crashes of up-and-coming drivers Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper and Adam Petty that year. Medical examiners determined that basilar skull fracture, an injury associated with violent movement of the head, caused their deaths.

Earnhardt's death followed the next season, also from basilar skull fracture. In fall 2001, NASCAR began mandating the driver restraints.

"It made them realize that this could happen to anybody," Hubbard said. "Now it's safe to say that NASCAR leads the industry in racing safety."

Since 2001, NASCAR has facilitated the installation of SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers at tracks to lessen the impact of direct hits. Improvements in seat-belt technology and car seat structure -- Melvin has been a leader in the development of the latter technology -- have also contributed to a decreased number of injuries.

Hubbard credits all of those innovations, not just his device, for the fact that NASCAR has remained death-free since 2001, and that Gordon, who might have been killed or severely injured at Pocono years ago, walked away unhurt in 2006.

"You can really affect people's lives with the products you create and the dreams you pursue," Hubbard said.

Contact SHANNON SHELTON at 313-223-3215 or slshelton@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.

(editor: Sidebar on same article]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detroit Free Press

School of hard knocks

What NASCAR drivers say about the HANS device:

Jimmie Johnson, after a 2005 crash at Indianapolis: "That's by far, I think, the hardest hit I've taken. Just blew a right front tire and away I went, headfirst, so thank God for the soft walls and the HANS device. I'll be OK."

Grand Rapids native Johnny Benson, after a 2001 crash at Talladega: "At first, I criticized everybody saying when they'd get in a wreck, 'Oh man, that thing saved my life.' But I'll tell you what, I'm going to go right behind them now and say it was a damn good thing I had that thing on because I hit the wall awful hard."

How not to use a HANS device

Kyle Busch threw his HANS at the car of fellow driver Casey Mears, upset that Mears crashed into his car during the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., on May 28. NASCAR fined Busch $50,000 for playing HANS Frisbee.

OLDMAN · #2 06-15-2006

If Mr Hubbard is so concerned about everone's safety why doesn't he sell his device for a more reasonable price?

OLDMAN

weldonjc · #3 06-15-2006

I've seen you drive...It's a deal at this price...kidding you old man.

sydude · #4 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLDMAN

If Mr Hubbard is so concerned about everone's safety why doesn't he sell his device for a more reasonable price?

OLDMAN

Bob, you're a wonderful guy, but you're also the cheapest bastard I've ever met. Stop kvetching about money and buy a fucking HANS device already.

And if you think you really can't afford an extra $300 or so for a HANS device, then just drive your 3 mpg Cobra 257 miles less this year, and you'll still be on budget.

OLDMAN · #5 06-15-2006

The last time I looked the HANS was right around $1,500. To a working class slob like me that is a fair amount of money. Remember I'm the guy that flags for you guys more than I race with you. Here's how it works - I get up at 5:30AM. Shower, hop in my car and drive for 90 minutes to Lime Rock. I then get assigned to stand at station X until 5 or 6 O'clock. For this I get $85 big ones credit. That $85 gets me a little over 4 minutes on a practice day! I have to do this 14 times to get a practice day!!!

So, I'm not cheap, I'm just managing my funds as best I can. Oh, by the way did I mention my job got outsourced? So here I am 60 years old, undergrad degrees in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and an MS in Computer Science and nobody needs me. I have no health insurance and I need surgery this summer. If this isn't enough to keep me thinking my kid thinks I should be paying for his college education. Yeah, I'm cheap.

OLDMAN

sydude · #6 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLDMAN

The last time I looked the HANS was right around $1,500.

WRONG. Regular retail on the hans website is $1,135.00. And you don't even have to pay retail, we've got a friend at a local shop that will give you another 10% off. I just saved you $500, you cheap bastard.

Maybe we should change your username to Cheap Bastard? And then the day you buy your HANS device we'll let you change it back to OLDMAN. Do the members agree? Should I start a poll?

WatertownNewbie · #7 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by sydude

Maybe we should change your username to Cheap Bastard? And then the day you buy your HANS device we'll let you change it back to OLDMAN. Do the members agree? Should I start a poll?

I have another idea. Bob seems to have some smarts (Sy, could you do the math problems he posted?). He has some analytical skills. He seems to be out of a job (I am making an inference from the "outsourcing" comment.) Maybe rather than driving 90 minutes to LRP for $85 (less gas), he could drive 90 minutes to NYC and do something productive for you.

badgersid · #8 06-15-2006

cheap bastard thats my2 cent

send your kids to college and they want you to pay where did they get that idea?

sydude · #9 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

I have another idea. Bob seems to have some smarts (Sy, could you do the math problems he posted?). He has some analytical skills. He seems to be out of a job (I am making an inference from the "outsourcing" comment.) Maybe rather than driving 90 minutes to LRP for $85 (less gas), he could drive 90 minutes to NYC and do something productive for you.

HIRED! And heck, he doesn't even have to drive all the way to the city - he can save 45 miles and 45 minutes and just come to my house.

MJAmok · #10 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by sydude

HIRED! And heck, he doesn't even have to drive all the way to the city - he can save 45 miles and 45 minutes and just come to my house.

Wouldn't you rather pay him more to go somewhere else? Hell, I'd pay him $85 NOT to come to my house.

Cheap Bastard.

See, now this is a Juicy thread! Not like that uphill snore-a-thon.

cdh · #11 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Wouldn't you rather pay him more to go somewhere else? Hell, I'd pay him $85 NOT to come to my house.

Cheap Bastard.

sydude · #12 06-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Wouldn't you rather pay him more to go somewhere else? Hell, I'd pay him $85 NOT to come to my house.

Cheap Bastard.

You're on to something. Butt, I've got a BETTER IDEA! I'll pay him EVEN MORE to go to YOUR HOUSE!

Bob, $86 a day?

Cheap Bastard

dalyduo · #13 06-15-2006

Bob's right Sy... cut him some slack. He's not cheap... He's frugal, fiscally responsible, an auto racing value shopper with a kid in college and a Cobra. Someone you, Sid and all of us should understand and aspire to...

Bob is the crankiest auto racing value shopping bastard on all of TJR because he is our version of Greek mythologies "Cassandra". For those who've forgotten, the burden of Cassandra's "gift" was that she truthfully predicted the outcome of many disastrous events but the people she warned discounted her as crazy and didn't heed her warnings.

Most of us live in denial of the obscene sums we spend on racing but Bob doesn't. He watches every greenback floating out of his wallet into the black hole of the sport we love. We need his voice screaming "The Sky is Falling!" so we don't fly too close to the racing sun and melt our financial wings.

Let us raise our glasses to Bob, thank him for the valuable service he provides us and remind him to buy that HANS device before Mr. Hubbard doubles the price!

How about changing your Juicy name from "OLDMAN" to "CASSANDRA"

We love ya' Bob