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A NASCAR driver survived a horrifying crash. Here are the safety measures that may have helped – CNN

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5 years ago

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Videos that captured the moment of the crash saw Newman leading the pack before spinning toward the rail, flipping over, getting slammed by another car and eventually erupting into a fiery wreck.
In a statement after the accident, his team said he was in serious conditions but “doctors have indicated his injuries are not life threatening.”
“Safety has come a long way in this sport,” four-time NASCAR champion and Fox NASCAR announcer Jeff Gordon said Monday after Newman was taken to the hospital. “But sometimes we are reminded that it is a very dangerous sport. Our thoughts and prayers right now are with Ryan Newman and his family.”
NASCAR drivers are constantly hitting triple digits on the racetrack. Here’s a brief look at what the association has done over the years to keep them safe:

Focus is on driver

According to NASCAR, safety starts at the driver’s seat and builds outwards.
“The seat is that driver’s office,” John Patalak, the senior director of safety engineering said in a video posted on NASCAR’s website. “That’s where (the driver) has to be at peak performance for three, four, five hours.”
Keeping them safe, Patalak says, “is a never-ending process.”
Some additions come as proactive measures — like the laminated windshield which is easy for on-site crew members to tear off.
Other tweaks come after lessons from accidents.
For example, Patalak said their team added toe board foam, which absorbs energy on impact, to the toe board to protect drivers’ extremities.
“That reduced loads into the lower legs, ankles and knees of drivers during a frontal impact,” he said.

Their seat belts are next level

About 19 years ago, NASCAR began requiring the use of Hubbard’s Head and Neck Support — HANS — devices which continue to protect drivers today.
The revolutionary invention came from Dr. Robert Hubbard, a professor at Michigan State University, and his brother-in-law and former racer, Jim Downing. Hubbard died in February last year.
The device, according to NASCAR, plays a vital role in stopping the “whip-like head and neck movement” during a crash.
“The HANS reduces the compression forces on the spine present when a driver wearing a helmet is subjected to the (gravitational forces) of an accident,” according to the Facebook page of HANS Performance Products.
The device is one piece, stretching through two arms over each side of the driver’s torso, the page says, and held in place by the shoulder belts of a safety harness.
“The collar portion is attached to the driver’s helmet by tethers, which allow full movement of the helmeted head,” it says.
Hubbard was eventually contracted by NASA to develop a similar device for astronauts, the product’s page says.
According to the Sports Car Club of America, the device was “massive breakthrough in racing safety and accident survivability.”

They’ve got roof flaps and window nets

A small but powerful addition.
These flaps help prevent cars from going airborne, NASCAR’s website says.
The large flaps wrap around a race car’s roof and deploy during a crash by preventing too much air from rushing over the car and help blow it upward.
Think of them as “oversized dorsal fins,” NASCAR says, getting in the way of the air.
And as for the nets, also easily removable once a driver wants to escape a crash, they’re there to protect drivers from debris and to help keep their arms contained during a high-speed impact.

Racetrack walls are covered in steel and foam

NASCAR says the walls that surround each track are covered in Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barriers.
Those barriers, first introduced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002, help absorb energy upon impact, according to the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The barrier, according to racing sanctioning body INDYCAR, has been “one of the most effective safety measures taken in the racing industry in recent years.”
NASCAR began expanding these barriers across tracks in 2015, following Gordon’s crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway and another in Daytona International Speedway that left racer Kyle Busch with multiple injuries after he hit a concrete wall.
At the time, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said there was “no greater priority” than getting SAFER barriers everywhere.
“Obviously, we believe the car is as safe as it possibly can be,” he had said in March 2015. “There’s always new learnings that we can apply, but again, no greater priority for us and the tracks than to implement SAFER.”

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

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7 hours ago

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September 19, 2024

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DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

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8 hours ago

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September 19, 2024

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

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8 hours ago

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September 19, 2024

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PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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