USAC Racing Forum

General Chat => Point .25 => Topic started by: Teampanther on April 04, 2012, 05:26:21 AM



Title: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 04, 2012, 05:26:21 AM
Why does it seem that window nets are allowed to be used to limit the movement to the right side of the car instead of using an actual headrest? In my opinion that would be a big safety issue due the fact that some of the window nets have a gap big enough for the driver's helmet to fit through and cause serious injury to the driver's neck. Maybe someone can shine some light on the subject.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: CPG Racing on April 04, 2012, 08:03:03 AM
It is a handler option. I think you see this more with the younger kids. With the weight of the helmet on their necks they get fatigued and can not hold their head up. I think people use window nets because they are easy to intsall. We use headrests, their is alot more time involved into fitting and welding them together. I would think that if USAC were to mandate a headrest it would put them in a liabilty issue should a child get injured because of one. Then you would get into what shape would it need to be, how thick would the material need to be, what type of material, how should it be mounted then would it need to have a SFI rating.
Just my opinion.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 04, 2012, 06:58:22 PM
I know at our track, the window net has went away and the typical aluminium headrest made by Kirkey has been used on several cars of young drivers and older drivers. Many people are using Tanner tach mounts to bolt the headrest to the rollcage. I just personally think a normal headrest would be better to custom mount for the driver's safety. Thank you for your input CPG.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Walker23 on April 05, 2012, 07:56:57 AM
Head rests are a great idea. Unfortunatly I feel the current off the shelf head rests are ineffective. Here's why. The current off the shelf head rests I have come across only get bolted to only one bar (except for the Lajoie) and can rotate around that single bar once a large amount of force get applied. The second reason they are ineffective is due to the fact from every one of those I have seen mounted, the kids head is no where near it. This is due to leaning out of the car. That is another topic for another which has been discussed and brought up several times.

If you can fab one up that gets mounted to 2 donw tubes then by all means I would recomend it. We used a Lajoie headrest which had both left and right side support but the left side caused an issue with entering and exiting the car. The Lajoie head rest also mounted to 2 bars as well.



Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 05, 2012, 01:01:18 PM
I agree the fact of it only mounting on one tube and it being able to move if hit hard enough. The headrests that have been running at our track are mounted rather close the drivers helmet and many teams have started to lean less outside the car(thank goodness).I just feel that the off the shelf headrest is alot better option than an off the shelf window net to use as a way to help with driver head lean.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Kendall42 on April 05, 2012, 10:38:02 PM
I took our nets out of our cars.  They don't do enough and they are best suited to keep hands inside the car, but with wrist restraints, the net is not needed.  The hard head rest is a goo thing and really needed for smaller kids that have a hard time holding thier head up.  USAC allows them, but they cannot be positioned where they hold the drivers head outside the confines of the rollcage.  The kids are going to lean out...but you cannot use a device to hold thier head out.



Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 05, 2012, 11:59:42 PM
We are allowed to use them but I seen several pictures from a USAC event recently that had several cars using a window net as a way to "help" with helmet lean. The headrest might move if hit hard enough but that is kinda good thing,with some give if hit hard enough.If it didn't move at all we might be looking at neck injuries since its not a full containment type setup.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Toeknee on April 06, 2012, 09:08:23 AM
Nets are for Fishing, Head rest are for Sleepin', Leanin' is for restin'....... Just sit up and drive!

Just kiddin' with the little kids. Bubba used a head rest for his first 2 years(5-6 yrs old) when he was in a Kirkey seat and the head rest was mounted to the seat. He was sooooo small he had lots of problems keeping his head up especially in the corners. SO first thing we did was make him wear his helmet at home when he played video games to try and build some neck strength. Now, after 9 years of racing he is finally in the heavy class, no seat, no lean, no head rest and he is safe and competative.

BTW I have a few window nets for sale as they never really did anything but get in the way.




Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 08, 2012, 03:06:44 AM
I have ran window nets on my cars but never as a headrest. We used them for what they were ment to do,help protect the driver. I would love to figure out a way to mount a net on the left side of the car but its kinda pointless because the driver opening is so big to start with.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Toeknee on April 09, 2012, 10:14:36 AM
Hey Panther, funny you say that about the left side because the worst injury I've seen in 10 years of QM's was a left broken arm(multiple breaks) because a car bumper got into that left side opening and hit the driver in the left arm. The driver returned the following year to race again but the arm needed lots of work to repair.

With that being said, what are your nerf bars like on the left side....Jersey bar, mommy bar? I have seen some ad even additional bars making the opening smaller. Works good for smaller kids but can be any issue for bigger kids getting in and out of the car. What ever it takes to make a handler feel comfortable able their driver's safety, I say!


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 09, 2012, 10:08:05 PM
We have an additional bar bolted on but my son still ended up with a car inside his car with him. The right rear was right by his head.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Toeknee on April 10, 2012, 09:25:55 AM
Youth Racing is dangerous, but football, hockey, baseball etc are all showing much higher major injury rates than QM's. SO you keep doing a great job protecting your kid, because if he plays team sports his safety is out of your hands. Studies are starting to show that the continued impact of youth football can/will cause brian issues in the future. Why do you think I am the way I am.....13 years of football! LOL


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Teampanther on April 10, 2012, 02:06:03 PM
Same here with football, went from playing football to racing. My wife said I needed to have my head checked when I said I wanted to start racing....lol. My racing ended and my kids took over with my daughter then my son followed his sister. Racing has actually brought them together more since there is 5 years difference between them. He was her "crew chief" on her go kart and her first yer of qm then he wanted behind the wheel. They now will sit and talk about what is happening on the track. Now when we get home thats another thing....lol.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Toeknee on April 10, 2012, 03:11:35 PM
Nothing can bring families together better than racing. Same here as we were blesssed to travel the country over the past 8 years with both my son and his older sister racing and spending time together. Try that in a team stick and ball sport.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: RBurns17 on April 28, 2012, 11:54:33 AM
This is pretty far down in the long line of seemingly illogical things you'll see people do.

I had a lady freak out on me one time because my driver didn't want his tires in the shade or a popsicle under a red flag. I didn't see what the big deal was, but she brought it up in several meetings and on an internet forum. I suppose in her mind it was as crazy as some of us see using a window net.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Toeknee on April 29, 2012, 12:56:48 PM
Popsicle I understand, but you can not touch your car under medical red and can not work on your car while on the track under red. So teach your driver to park his/her car in the sun when red flag comes out and popsicle only if you want too....LOL Enjoy your time together racing cause it will be over before you're ready!


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: outlawqmracer on May 09, 2012, 07:36:58 AM
Head Nets are Cool for any age drivers.  If you have ever seen a .25 midget flip and the drivers helmet flop onto the pavement at the end of the crash, you would realize the importance of the headnet.  Another great safety tip to keep your driver safe is a third rail on your left side nerf bar and the Jersey bar that mounts high on the rollcage.  Most Sprint Cars  have these now to prevent cars from getting into the cockpit since this happened to Kevin Gobrecht some years ago.  A safe driver is a happy and confident one! 


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: ccr on May 09, 2012, 09:25:06 AM
Just had a right front get into my daughters arm last weekend. Luckly she was just sore for a couple days. I have the tall bar on my NC, may look to add an extra bar of my own until my small drivers are too big for it.


Title: Re: I have a safety question...
Post by: Walker23 on May 24, 2012, 08:18:16 AM
On the topic of safety and items entering the cockpit. At Mini-Indy last weekend we actually had a nerfbar come into the cockpit and hook my sons helmet. We run the 3-bar nerf bar and yet this tiny nerf bar entered the cockpit. Never did I think that would happen. A tire I can see but rare. A nerfbar however? I was certain that a nerfbar must meet a minimum size. I was wrong. There is no minimum size for these. There is no dimension specified as to where in front of the rear wheel it may be mounted to. You can interpret it to what ever you want. Three inches? Ten inches?

710 Nerf Bars
A. All cars must be equipped with nerf bars (Side bumpers) starting at the rear, just
forward of the rear tire. The nerf bars must extend outward to at least the center
of the rear tires. The nerf bars cannot extend beyond the outside of the rear tires.
B. Nerf bars must be constructed from steel and with a minimum wall thickness
limited to a minimum of .049 inch. A maximum of four horizontal and/or four
vertical tubes are allowed in the construction of nerf bars. No ballast is allowed in
the nerf bar tubing. Titanium and composite materials are not allowed. Panels on
the nerf bar will not be allowed.
C. Nerf bars must be mounted with a minimum 6-32 to maximum 10-32 grade 5 or
better bolts. Minimum of two bolts per nerf bar.