By: Bill Catania, RaceFan, Inc.
Auto racing in this country has changed very little in the past twenty years. Sprint cars and midgets are virtually the same now as they were in the 1960’s. The body panels on late models have changed, but, beneath that sheet metal, you find essentially the same car that was raced in the 1970’s. While CART has struggled to build a series around state-of-the-art technology, the IRL series has prospered using more conventional, naturally aspirated engines. Top fuel dragsters go faster every year, but the engines and chassis clearly have their roots in the 1970’s. Many of the world’s top touring divisions rely on old technology for engine design and suspension systems Internationally, Formula 1 racing and the British Touring Car Series are far more advanced in the technology of the vehicles than anything raced in the United States. For the “good of racing”, in order to create an entertaining “show” or to keep racing more affordable for the teams – for whatever the reason, sanctioning organizations have been slow to change and to incorporate the latest technology in their racing programs, but should this reluctance to embrace change prevent these top sanctioning organizations from utilizing every advanced, proven system in order to make racing as safe as it can be?
It’s time for NASCAR, ARCA, IRL, WoO – time for every top racing series – to embrace the technology of safety. The drivers will benefit, the teams will benefit, the fans will benefit and the sport will benefit from every effort to make the sport safer. Speeds have steadily increased in all forms of racing. As the speed goes up, the reaction time available for a driver to avoid or minimize and accident has decreased. Technology can increase this margin.
The racing community was shocked earlier this month over the tragic accident that occurred during ARCA practice at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The tragedy was made worse by the fact that one of the drivers appeared to survive the initial impact with the wall only to be killed when his stationary car was struck by another car that was still traveling at race speeds more than eight seconds after the first car had come to rest. There is no interest here in pointing blame at anyone for what happened in that accident. It would be absurd, however, for the racing community to overlook the current deficiencies in the management of races and practice sessions that have been underscored by this event.
Technology is available today that could have, perhaps, prevented and certainly could have minimized, the car-to-car impact that occurred. There are devices that are currently in use in some second tier racing series that, by signaling a driver immediately whenever an “incident” occurs anywhere on the track, can greatly improve driver safety.
At least two types of systems have been announced that provide this on-track driver notification. One system, used by NAMARS, incorporates an audible signal. Another system, used by ASA, incorporates a series of dashboard-mounted lights in place of the audible tones. Both systems simultaneously notify every driver of every incident.
Invader Technology, a small company in Colorado, has had an answer for preventing secondary accidents for ten years. Company founder, and racing competitor, David Skeen has developed a system, called Audible Alert this system is a non-intrusive device that can be triggered by the race starter or even by an actuator that is similar to a passenger car airbag actuator. A transmitter sends signal to a receiver in every car that produces an audible tone to all competitors on the track, alerting them of yellow, red, and green flag conditions. Tested at Colorado National Speedway for two racing seasons, NAMARS Formula Lightening series, and by Cal Wells’ PPI Motorsports Winston Cup team, the Audible Alert system has passed with flying colors. Additionally, Hickory Motor Speedway has embraced Audible Alert during the 2002 season, and serves as a test facility for any race team, track, or series, that wishes to evaluate the Audible Alert system.
According to Audible Alert’s Skeen, “Would you use a radar detector in your personal vehicle that only had a small blinking light?, of course not. The prospect of having a radar detector with no audible tone is ineffective, just imagine if it cost $5,000 each time you received a speeding ticket, how much extra value you would place on hearing that tone. That is what is costs to repair a late model, or sprint car, after a serious accident.”
Though Audible Alert has not gained the rapid, widespread, acceptance that Skeen originally sought, he indicates that he is pleased that top racing series have recently begun to listen to his case. Skeen reports that Audible Alert is currently testing another unit that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, and is designed specifically for isolated caution conditions, common to road racing circuits.
Paul Garrison, track owner at NASCAR Weekly Racing Series’ Colorado National Speedway, admits that the Audible Alert system has improved the racing program, by cleaning up the accidents. “Audible Alert has added to our program, we only used it in the super stock division, but it cleaned up the racing, the wrecks, because it comes on as soon as caution light comes on. We did it for the racers, and since we got the bugs worked out, its worked flawlessly”, stated Garrison. Trent Philips, a competitor in Colorado National’s Super Stock division, applauded Garrison’s decision stating “I Love it, we all think it saved me a couple times, I'll be going down the back stretch, and you don’t have to race back to the yellow, most guys don’t see the flagman, and this helps that.”
Though the systems which use the dashboard mounted lights have strong proponents, critics say that while such systems are a step in the right direction, and are better than not having any type of driver notification system, the visual field that drivers are exposed to during a race can be flooded, making it difficult to detect lights, especially during daytime races. Some skeptics with regard to the audible tone warning have suggested that this system could interfere with in-car communications or could make the team conversations susceptible to eavesdropping by other crews. The Audible Alert system, which uses the same type of ear piece as the in-car radios, is actually fully compatible with crew radios, taking away an “either, or” scenario, making it possible to enjoy a double layer of safety, between the two electronic devices.
With literally hundreds of secondary racing accidents on any given weekend across the United States, it is hard to argue the overall value provided by a system that can prevent unnecessary damage to race cars, and injuries to drivers. Skeen believes that the Audible Alert system will pay for itself in one season, given the damage that is saved by eliminating secondary accidents.
NASCAR Southwest Tour competitor, and 2000 NASCAR Weekly Series Great Western Region champion, Jerry Robertson, couldn’t be happier with the Audible Alert system. “I felt much safer, because I knew that I would know instantly that the yellow flag was out, I didn’t have to depend just on my spotter. “Usually, my spotter will come on, a full straight after the yellow flag drops, alerting me of the yellow.” When asked what prevents most drivers from embracing race safety, Robertson explained “we typically don’t place a priority on safety in our minds, we put a priority on how to go faster, and that is where we concentrate our efforts, we don’t think about getting hurt, we have too much faith in division officials, and series, to keep us safe.”
Just as in-car radios began replacing pit boards in the 1960’s, and caution lights improved the delivery of needed information by caution flags in the late 1950’s, the time has come for racing management to raise the bar once again, by incorporating available, current technology to improve safety in racing. The unique quality of racing communications is that it is the only true area of safety that series and track management can directly control, and it is time that they do a better job of just that. It is time to put the information in the car with the driver.
With a proven technology on the market today, the issue is more than just raising the bar, it is a matter of initiative and responsibility being assumed by the sanctioning organizations. The ball is in their court.
For more information about the use of on-board driver notification systems in NAMARS and ASA racing or about the Audible Alert systems, contact Invader Technologies at (303) 972-2480, or Bill Catania at RaceFan, Inc., at (814) 897-0656 or email bill@racefan.com.
Auto racing in this country has changed very little in the past twenty years. Sprint cars and midgets are virtually the same now as they were in the 1960’s. The body panels on late models have changed, but, beneath that sheet metal, you find essentially the same car that was raced in the 1970’s. While CART has struggled to build a series around state-of-the-art technology, the IRL series has prospered using more conventional, naturally aspirated engines. Top fuel dragsters go faster every year, but the engines and chassis clearly have their roots in the 1970’s. Many of the world’s top touring divisions rely on old technology for engine design and suspension systems Internationally, Formula 1 racing and the British Touring Car Series are far more advanced in the technology of the vehicles than anything raced in the United States. For the “good of racing”, in order to create an entertaining “show” or to keep racing more affordable for the teams – for whatever the reason, sanctioning organizations have been slow to change and to incorporate the latest technology in their racing programs, but should this reluctance to embrace change prevent these top sanctioning organizations from utilizing every advanced, proven system in order to make racing as safe as it can be?
It’s time for NASCAR, ARCA, IRL, WoO – time for every top racing series – to embrace the technology of safety. The drivers will benefit, the teams will benefit, the fans will benefit and the sport will benefit from every effort to make the sport safer. Speeds have steadily increased in all forms of racing. As the speed goes up, the reaction time available for a driver to avoid or minimize and accident has decreased. Technology can increase this margin.
The racing community was shocked earlier this month over the tragic accident that occurred during ARCA practice at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The tragedy was made worse by the fact that one of the drivers appeared to survive the initial impact with the wall only to be killed when his stationary car was struck by another car that was still traveling at race speeds more than eight seconds after the first car had come to rest. There is no interest here in pointing blame at anyone for what happened in that accident. It would be absurd, however, for the racing community to overlook the current deficiencies in the management of races and practice sessions that have been underscored by this event.
Technology is available today that could have, perhaps, prevented and certainly could have minimized, the car-to-car impact that occurred. There are devices that are currently in use in some second tier racing series that, by signaling a driver immediately whenever an “incident” occurs anywhere on the track, can greatly improve driver safety.
At least two types of systems have been announced that provide this on-track driver notification. One system, used by NAMARS, incorporates an audible signal. Another system, used by ASA, incorporates a series of dashboard-mounted lights in place of the audible tones. Both systems simultaneously notify every driver of every incident.
Invader Technology, a small company in Colorado, has had an answer for preventing secondary accidents for ten years. Company founder, and racing competitor, David Skeen has developed a system, called Audible Alert this system is a non-intrusive device that can be triggered by the race starter or even by an actuator that is similar to a passenger car airbag actuator. A transmitter sends signal to a receiver in every car that produces an audible tone to all competitors on the track, alerting them of yellow, red, and green flag conditions. Tested at Colorado National Speedway for two racing seasons, NAMARS Formula Lightening series, and by Cal Wells’ PPI Motorsports Winston Cup team, the Audible Alert system has passed with flying colors. Additionally, Hickory Motor Speedway has embraced Audible Alert during the 2002 season, and serves as a test facility for any race team, track, or series, that wishes to evaluate the Audible Alert system.
According to Audible Alert’s Skeen, “Would you use a radar detector in your personal vehicle that only had a small blinking light?, of course not. The prospect of having a radar detector with no audible tone is ineffective, just imagine if it cost $5,000 each time you received a speeding ticket, how much extra value you would place on hearing that tone. That is what is costs to repair a late model, or sprint car, after a serious accident.”
Though Audible Alert has not gained the rapid, widespread, acceptance that Skeen originally sought, he indicates that he is pleased that top racing series have recently begun to listen to his case. Skeen reports that Audible Alert is currently testing another unit that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, and is designed specifically for isolated caution conditions, common to road racing circuits.
Paul Garrison, track owner at NASCAR Weekly Racing Series’ Colorado National Speedway, admits that the Audible Alert system has improved the racing program, by cleaning up the accidents. “Audible Alert has added to our program, we only used it in the super stock division, but it cleaned up the racing, the wrecks, because it comes on as soon as caution light comes on. We did it for the racers, and since we got the bugs worked out, its worked flawlessly”, stated Garrison. Trent Philips, a competitor in Colorado National’s Super Stock division, applauded Garrison’s decision stating “I Love it, we all think it saved me a couple times, I'll be going down the back stretch, and you don’t have to race back to the yellow, most guys don’t see the flagman, and this helps that.”
Though the systems which use the dashboard mounted lights have strong proponents, critics say that while such systems are a step in the right direction, and are better than not having any type of driver notification system, the visual field that drivers are exposed to during a race can be flooded, making it difficult to detect lights, especially during daytime races. Some skeptics with regard to the audible tone warning have suggested that this system could interfere with in-car communications or could make the team conversations susceptible to eavesdropping by other crews. The Audible Alert system, which uses the same type of ear piece as the in-car radios, is actually fully compatible with crew radios, taking away an “either, or” scenario, making it possible to enjoy a double layer of safety, between the two electronic devices.
With literally hundreds of secondary racing accidents on any given weekend across the United States, it is hard to argue the overall value provided by a system that can prevent unnecessary damage to race cars, and injuries to drivers. Skeen believes that the Audible Alert system will pay for itself in one season, given the damage that is saved by eliminating secondary accidents.
NASCAR Southwest Tour competitor, and 2000 NASCAR Weekly Series Great Western Region champion, Jerry Robertson, couldn’t be happier with the Audible Alert system. “I felt much safer, because I knew that I would know instantly that the yellow flag was out, I didn’t have to depend just on my spotter. “Usually, my spotter will come on, a full straight after the yellow flag drops, alerting me of the yellow.” When asked what prevents most drivers from embracing race safety, Robertson explained “we typically don’t place a priority on safety in our minds, we put a priority on how to go faster, and that is where we concentrate our efforts, we don’t think about getting hurt, we have too much faith in division officials, and series, to keep us safe.”
Just as in-car radios began replacing pit boards in the 1960’s, and caution lights improved the delivery of needed information by caution flags in the late 1950’s, the time has come for racing management to raise the bar once again, by incorporating available, current technology to improve safety in racing. The unique quality of racing communications is that it is the only true area of safety that series and track management can directly control, and it is time that they do a better job of just that. It is time to put the information in the car with the driver.
With a proven technology on the market today, the issue is more than just raising the bar, it is a matter of initiative and responsibility being assumed by the sanctioning organizations. The ball is in their court.
For more information about the use of on-board driver notification systems in NAMARS and ASA racing or about the Audible Alert systems, contact Invader Technologies at (303) 972-2480, or Bill Catania at RaceFan, Inc., at (814) 897-0656 or email bill@racefan.com.
