Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens up about concussions and offers a unique tip for drivers to protect themselves
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Images via IMAGO)
The safety of Next-Gen cars safety has been a hot topic in the NASCAR community recently. Cup drivers Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman are yet to make a comeback to racing after being ruled out due to concussion. Busch has been out since the Pocono qualifiers while Bowman suffered an injury in Texas.
Veteran drivers such as Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick have been vocal about the safety of the car and made many suggestions to make the car safer. Even a driver like Chase Elliott, who isn’t known for speaking out on issues, voiced his concerns over the way NASCAR is addressing safety.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the retired NASCAR drivers who have first-hand experience with concussions due to crashes. The Hall of Famer suffered a concussing mid-way in the 2016 season and had to sit out for the reaming races. He decided to retire from the sport after racing the full season the next year.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., in a recent episode of his podcast Dale Jr. Download has come out addressing the safety of Next-Gen cars. The semi-retired driver has revealed a unique take on how drivers can avoid such head injuries.
Also read: AJ Allmendinger returns to full-time cup duty with Kaulig Racing in 2023
Find out what Dale Earnhardt Jr. said
Dale Earnhardt Jr. points out that most of the drivers in NASCAR currently use helmets that have a lot of room between them and the headrest. He asked the drivers who might be listening to his show to check how much the helmet can bounce by placing it on the headrest.
“When I watch these guys race on Sunday, I see a lot of guys with a lot of helmets that got a lot of room between them and the headrest. And I don’t want to really call any drivers out but I’m telling you, if you’re a race car driver and you’re listening to this show, get that helmet out, put it in that headrest surround, and look at the room between there and how much your helmet can bounce around in there,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. pointed out that drivers have suffered severe injuries and death in drag racing from head injuries. He suggested it is important for drivers to have head-gears that minimize the chance of the head bobbing while on the track.
“We’ve had injuries and even deaths in drag racing from the tire shake and the head kind of being banged around. As uncomfortable as it is to talk about these things, apply that same sort of understanding to the head surround that we have in our Cup cars and try to get your head where it’s not able to be bounced around on the inside of that space,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.
The Hall of Famer pointed out that this change can be applied critically to a lot of cars in NASCAR. He said, “That’s one of the things that I think we could apply more critically to a lot of the cars that come across the tech shed. I think that we could be a little more stringent in terms of we’re going to have some specifications here. We’re going to have some expectations here of how your helmet fits in this headrest,”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. demands NASCAR come up with new parameters to control what drivers are doing in terms of designing their helmets. He said, “If they’re going to redesign the back of these headrests or try to apply a new way of thinking and improve what the driver experiences, I think we could really bring in tighter parameters in terms of what these drivers are doing, how much freedom they have to have their own creativity in the way that their helmet and headrest work together,”.
What are your thoughts on Dale Jr’s words?
Also read: ‘The next on the line is Hamlin,’ NASCAR Twitter reacts to Kevin Harvick’s severe penalty
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Justin P Joy
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