DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The proliferation of the "Steel And Foam Energy Reduction" system, known as the SAFER barrier, at tracks hosting NASCAR's national touring series is coming soon to Speedway Motorsports Incorporated's racetracks.

Executives from three SMI tracks made that promise over the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, an SMI facility that was the site of NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series races.

The question of "when" arose as a number of racetracks made announcements of the installation of the barrier systems, including Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, the site of this weekend's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 and Diamond Hill Plywood 200 doubleheader.

Darlington was the sixth track on the Nextel Cup Series to install the SAFER system, following Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, New Hampshire International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.

Among tracks that have either begun installation or will have the barriers in place by their next NASCAR weekend are Talladega Superspeedway, California Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and Kansas Speedway, which made its announcement Monday.

Everyone from NASCAR to SMI officials to Dr. Dean Sicking of the University of Nebraska/Lincoln, the director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, the originator of the SAFER barrier, said the current count of eight International Speedway Corporation tracks, two independents and zero SMI venues is purely a coincidence.

"I can't imagine that NASCAR would play any games when it comes to driver safety," Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage said. "You have to look at the schedule that NASCAR and the University of Nebraska is faced with.

"They've got to get to all these tracks, take the time to measure them and then go back and study the data and come up with recommendations. I don't think there's any grassy knoll theory to pursue here -- there's no issue there.

"We're ready whenever they're ready."

NASCAR and Dr. Sicking confirmed that this week.

"There was never a pecking order, simply because every track has to be measured," NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said. "It's like a form fitting for a custom-tailored suit. Every person has a different size, a different waist and different sleeve and pants lengths."



"We've been working very hard to get this up at all the tracks, and there's been some friction and a little bit of controversy among SMI and ISC and NASCAR," Dr. Sicking said. "I don't want that to distract the public from our basic goal, which was to get this thing -- the SAFER barrier system -- up as quickly as possible at as many tracks as possible, and that's what we've been working towards.

"We tried to identify the top four or five tracks and visit those in early January, and we did that. Then, we just decided to do the rest of them geographically, trying to visit those as quickly as we can."

While Dr. Sicking said the timeframe from the initial analysis of a facility to the completion of the SAFER system's installation is between 60 to 90 days -- which would have made it reasonable for the barrier to be in place for races at Atlanta and Texas, April 3-4, bureaucracy made that impossible.

"We realized that because of the racing schedule that the prioritization based on the highest risk tracks probably didn't make a lot of sense," Dr. Sicking said. "As it turns out some of the higher risk tracks were very early (in the season) and it wouldn't be possible to be treated for the first race there anyway, whereas later in the year we'd be able to easily get to those no matter what."

Sicking said he understood talk of back room dealings.

"There's nothing that I could say that would probably allay all of their fears," Dr. Sicking said. "But I want to make it perfectly clear -- if there's something back room going on, I've never seen it.

"We said we would go to all of the tracks as quickly as we could."

Some of the SMI facilities were visited, but in the end it was decided to wait until all of its venues had been measured to schedule SMI's final meeting with NASCAR and Dr. Sicking.

"They had to measure the tracks first and I think the fact that SMI said, 'let's get that information all together, before we strike out trying to do them piecemeal,' was a proper way to do it," Hunter said.

"We were reluctant to go to any company with half a story," Dr. Sicking said. "After we measured the Charlotte track (Lowe's Motor Speedway) in December there was talk about setting up a meeting in January.

"Then someone, and I don't remember if it was a NASCAR or SMI person, said 'why don't we get all of SMI's tracks done before we have that meeting?' That pushed it down the list.

"There's nothing sinister or in any way negative going on here -- the concept was that we were going to be able to tell the whole story before we met with them and cover all the tracks in one meeting.

"In order to do that we had to delay that meeting until we measured their last track, which was Las Vegas, about two weeks ago."

In fact, by making what they determined to be a sound business decision, SMI as a group has marginally delayed the onset of SAFER technology at its tracks. However, there is no question they will be in the fold well within the desired timeframe for the barriers' universal application.

"We initially hadn't planned to have them in until 2005," Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said. "Because No. 1, we wanted to see how they worked and how much problem they created during race times when they were hit, creating downtime.

"And second, you can't pave without taking them down or not having them up yet. We were going to repave (Lowe's) and I didn't want to put them up and have to take them down and put them back up, because that's a very expensive process.

"What's happened though is there's been enough races and there's been enough wall hits and there's only been one occasion on which they've had to patch the wall. That was at Indianapolis, and it didn't take long to do.

"At any rate, the company that's doing the installations is going to have some free time after they get done with the tracks that I guess are in line after Darlington, so I would anticipate we'd have it in place in Charlotte probably for the UAW/GM Quality 500 in October and I'm pretty sure we'll have it here (Atlanta, for its October dates).

"Then, we'll have it at all our tracks before the season opens in 2005."

Gossage said Texas was surveyed Jan. 29.

"They told us they would get back to us with the recommendations on what to do and to date, we're still waiting to hear some suggestions on what we need to do," Gossage said.

"We're standing by waiting for that and when we get the recommendations, then we'll proceed on, but it's (installation) obviously not going to happen by the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 weekend."

Dr. Sicking indicated that, even though the specifications for the barrier systems are set by his facility, the construction and installation is assigned by each track through a standard bidding process that would be in place for any other capital improvements.

"All of the tracks that have been done so far have been done by one company, Elrod Construction (of Indianapolis), which does a lot of racetrack work," Dr. Sicking said. "The reason they've gotten all the work is that when the barrier first went in at Indianapolis (in 2002) we had only like 50 days from the time the decision was made until the barriers had to be up.

"There were no contracts and no bidding. Tony George (Indianapolis Motor Speedway president) called up Elrod and said 'I need this done, right now, we'll pay you.'

"Elrod did the work and became the only company that had any experience in it (and) it has given them a leg up because they know exactly what it takes to weld these tubes and galvanize them and keep them straight."

Dr. Sicking stressed there was nothing proprietary about the design or installation that would prevent a qualified company from bidding on the work.

"NASCAR made it clear that the University of Nebraska would make the recommendations and they would be presented to us," Gossage said. "I would stand on our record (for improvements).

"We repaved the track twice trying to accommodate the drivers' needs and desires and I think we've accomplished that. Right now we're in the middle of putting up a brand new fence along the inside of the racetrack -- that's another half million bucks or so.

"We don't cut corners on safety and as soon as we get the recommendations from the University of Nebraska I'm sure we'll go to work."

As is the case with a number of other NASCAR initiatives, an across the board implementation of the SAFER barrier systems is definitely a work in progress.

SMI's experience with the process illustrates how involved it can be, but in the end the desired effect should be realized.

"I think, across the board we're going to meet our goal of having the SAFER barriers installed at all our tracks hosting national touring series events by some time in 2005," Hunter said. "The neat thing that this shows about our business is that, once everyone puts their mind to something and pulls together for a common goal, things happen and things get done."

Dr. Sicking confirmed that virtually all the racetrack surveys had been completed and he felt that, given the chain of events that is set in motion by the initial visit by representatives from NASCAR and the roadside safety facility, NASCAR president Mike Helton's stated goal of having the barriers installed by a track's first date in 2005 was reachable.

"I think the way that it's evolved is just a matter of coincidence," Hunter said. "Like at Darlington, (track president) Andrew Gurtis knew he was going to have to put them up so he jumped on it last winter.

"It's just been a question of supply and demand the time it takes to get it all done. Nobody has put up any barriers, to my knowledge, that would prevent these SAFER barriers from going in at a racetrack.

"People had a lot of questions, and that's healthy. Logistics played into it somewhat, in terms of who had late races on the schedule last year.

"And Dr. Sicking has a lot more knowledge now than he had even last November, and that was a factor. We've said all along that you don't want to rush when it comes to safety.

"There's no doubt in my mind that these SAFER barriers will be up everywhere, hopefully by the end of this year, but certainly some time next season."

Dr. Sicking said that of the 23 facilities that host Nextel Cup Series races, "all but a handful" had had their initial screenings and measurements.

"There's just a few left, and that's more than just the Nextel Cup (tracks)," Dr. Sicking said. "We're doing them all -- all of the high speed ovals on the top three series."

This season, 32 venues host NASCAR national touring series events, but that includes several "short track" ovals and a pair of road course, Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

Dr. Sicking said the road courses were definitely back-burner items at this point.

"My recommendation to NASCAR was that we had a big enough task going on to treat the (oval) tracks that we know need to be treated as quickly as possible -- all of the high speed ovals," Dr. Sicking said. "I recommended that we forget about the road courses until we had the high speed ovals in hand.

"I can't sit here right now and tell you that I can think of any place (on the road courses) where the SAFER barriers would be appropriate.

"We've knocked them off that radar screen because we have so many points on the radar screen (with ovals) that we can't address right now. We're focusing on what we know we need right now."

Wheeler, who is SMI chairman Bruton Smith's right hand man, said there was one proviso attached to SMI's plan for the SAFER technology.

"We're not too sure about Bristol at this point," Wheeler said of SMI's 36-degree banked half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. "Because the cars are running so much slower there, (we're wondering) do we need them? We have hardly any injuries at Bristol."

But in the end, Wheeler said any venue would do well to defer to Dr. Sicking's advice.

"Dr. Sicking knows more about this than everybody else combined," Wheeler said. "He can take a track and computerize a wreck and what everyone is trying to get away from is those 100-plus G hits.

"It's not the hit, it's how much gets back to the driver and we're trying to get away from the driver having to absorb 40 Gs or more, which is pretty lethal. I've got some accident data and it's easy to see how much (the SAFER barriers) have taken out of it and how little has gotten back to the driver.

"We're going to get in line and go ahead and do it. It's terribly expensive -- a much higher cost than any of us anticipated, but we're just going to swallow real hard and do it."

Wheeler said Lowe's would be paved "probably in the summer of 2005."

Dr. Sicking said the initial installation, however, was a bigger issue and if the wall was properly dismantled, re-installing it would not be much of an issue.

"The bulk of the cost of putting the system in is the fabrication of the components," Dr. Sicking said. "If you tear it down properly, none of those components are destroyed or damaged -- it's all bolt-in, bolt-out.

"There are many costly steps in the original erection you don't have to do if you take it down and put it back up correctly."

NASCAR.com

redriderbob

 

We have good ol' #3 to thank for this upgrade...

 

I still believe he took off his safety harness or at least part of it before he wrecked.

 

The wreck just didn't look THAT bad....[sm=smiley22.gif]