page_title: NASCAR
section_title: Driver safety
hierarchical_section_title: NASCAR / Driver safety
caption_attribution_description: Shot by The Daredevil at Daytona during Speedweeks 2008
context_page_description: The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock-car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 6, 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
context_section_description: Although NASCAR frequently publicizes the safety measures it mandates for drivers, these features have historically only been adopted long after they were initially developed, and only in response to an injury or fatality. The impact-absorbing "SAFER Barrier" that is now in use had been proposed by legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick during the 1970s, but his idea had been dismissed as too expensive and unnecessary. Only after the deaths of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper in 2000, and Dale Earnhardt in 2001 did NASCAR revisit the idea of decreasing the G-forces a driver sustained during a crash. Other examples of available safety features that were slow to be implemented include the mandating of a throttle "kill switch". The "kill switch" was mandated after the death of Adam Petty, along with the requirements of an anti-spill bladder in fuel cells. Fire-retardant driver suits were required only after the death of Fireball Roberts, who died from complications of burns suffered in a crash when flames engulfed his car during a Charlotte race. Dale Earnhardt was killed after he received massive head and neck trauma from a hard crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. Earnhardt's death prompted NASCAR to require all drivers to use the "HANS device" (Head And Neck Support Device), a device that keeps the driver's neck from going forward in a wreck. In the mid-2000s, NASCAR redesigned the racing vehicle with safety improvements, calling it the Car of Tomorrow. The car has a higher roof, wider cockpit, and the driver seat was located more toward the center of the vehicle.
  The death of Dale Earnhardt has been seen as a "wake-up" call for NASCAR, similar to how the death of Ayrton Senna was a "wake-up" call to Formula 1. NASCAR has been far more aggressive with safety changes since Earnhardt's death.
caption: 2008 Dodge Charger "Car of Tomorrow", driven by Kurt Busch
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