Dirt Track Racing, And Safety - By: Luke Matheson

Posted Jody Shannon on November 27th, 2007 | Filed under Articles, Luke Matheson, The DRC

Safety is no laughing matter. It is no joke. It is your life, or even a crew members life on the line each and every night you go racing.

All race teams should have a step by step procedure to check all safety equipment before and after each race. Check your roll cage for cracks or fractures, check your fire suit for rips or tears, check your safety harness for rips or tears. If you find any rips, tears, fractures, or breaks, replace that item immediately. If it is your roll cage, there are times it can be repaired with some welding, but if it is beyond repair, dont risk it, and get you a new cage.

Also, check your fuel and brake lines. Make sure they are in good working order. The last thing you need is for your car to catch fire because of a faulty fuel line, or for you to hit the wall head on because a brake line broke and you had brake failure.

Check your fuel cap as well. The racing community lost a fine young man named Ryan Bard just a few weeks ago. He flipped his car, and the fuel cap somehow came off, the car exploded when the fuel ignited, and they were not able to get him out of the car in time.

Back to fire suits. There is a new product out to help suits stay fire retardant. The product is called Molecule. It comes with a treatment, a wash detergent for your home washer that helps Nomex stay safe, and also a spray to help keep the funk out. The whole kit is only like $100. To me it sounds like a worthwhile investment. For more info go to www.moleculelabs.com

Taking it a step further, I have seen too many occasions at the races where a parent or guardian failed to keep close watch on a child, and the child was running all over the place, and was nearly hit by a race car going through the pits. I’ve seen kids hit by ATV’s. That could be faulted on various parties. The kid for not looking, his parent or guardian for not watching them close enough, or the person driving the ATV, for not paying attention to their surroundings.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I wrote this article out of concern for my fellow racers and crew members. Too many times in racing, we have heard of someone taking a short cut, only to lose their life, or get seriously injured because they overlooked something, or thought they were immune to anything happening to them. We are not immortal. Our life is as fragile as an egg. Abuse it or handle it the wrong way, and it will be shattered in less than a second.

Please take time to make sure your team is aware of safety, and takes precautions to keep yourself and themselves protected to the best of your abilities from an incident which could have been stopped with a little extra time checking your equipment. Your family and friends may thank you for it later!

Luke Matheson
http://arkansasdirtracing.com