ImPRESSions AARWBA newsletter[1].pdf · 2017-12-14 · American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. () “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports”
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(All judging was essentially “blind,” except in theBook, Television, and Podcast/Webcast categories.)
Did That Really Just Happen?Submitted by J. Michael Hemsley
I was a young Army officer stationedin Germany in April 1968. I talked mywife and several friends into driving toHockenheim for some races that nicespring Sunday. The highlight was theF2 race, to be run in two heats, andTeam Lotus was competing.
We watched the races from thestands in the amphitheater where wecould see much of the "infield" sec-tion of the track. After the first F2heat, we noticed a US Army ambu-lance drive slowly down the track and into the pits but thoughtlittle of it.
Some support races were run, then it was time for the start ofthe second F2 heat. The cars sped away from the standingstart and disappeared into the forest. It was then that wenoticed that the stands had become very quiet, and we heardthe announcer say "Jim Clark is lost."
Jim Clark was dead? How could that be? He was the best -my hero! It can't have happened, but it did. I think we stayedfor the rest of the race, but I can't remember it - don't want to.
We talked little on the way home, and no one had an answerfor how that could have happened.
- J. Michael Hemsley, Quadrifoglio Productions
Did you ever......have a time in your career covering
motorsports as a writer, broadcaster orphotographer when you had to stop and say,
“Did that really just happen?”
If you have ever experienced one of thosemoments when you were there in reality but what you
witnessed was somewhat unreal, we would like to hear aboutit. Send us a short version of what happened
and we will publish it in a future issue ofImPRESSions.
Hey, we have all had those momentsso come on and tell us about yours.
Bill Marvel, a key figure in the motorsports corporate andmedia industry for more than 50 years, Saturday washonored with the Bob Russo Founders Award for dedica-tion to auto racing.
The award was presented by previous Russo Award re-cipients Bill York and Michael Knight (in photo on left)during the annual American Auto Racing Writers andBroadcasters Association breakfast meeting at the India-napolis Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s 100th anniver-sary Indy 500. Marvel has attended every Indy 500 since1941.
Russo, the late racing journalist/publicist/historian, found-ed AARWBA in 1955. He died in 1999 at age 71. TheRusso Award is presented for “profound interest, tirelessefforts and undying dedication to auto racing as exempli-fied by Russo throughout his lifelong career.”
Marvel, a charter member of AARWBA, was unanimous-ly chosen by other members of the Russo Award com-mittee.
Marvel’s pioneering and successful accomplishmentsspan almost every non-competitor role in motorsports,including management, public relations, marketing,sales, promotions, writing, editing and announcing.
Some of his career highlights:* General manager at both Pocono International Race-way and Texas World Speedway and key positions atTrenton Speedway, the Houston Astrodome , WinchesterSpeedway, and Indiana State Fair
* News media liaison at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar team/sponsor PR representative, and consultant on themovie Winning, which starred Paul Newman
* Corporate affairs vice president and benevolent foundationexecutive director for the U.S. Auto Club
* Writer for National Speed Sport News, track public addressannouncer, TV and radio broadcaster
* Board or selection committeemember: National Midget AutoRacing Hall of Fame, Internation-al Motorsports Hall of Fame, IMSHall of Fame, National Sprint CarHall of Fame and Indianapolis500 Oldtimers.
Among his numerous honorsare: Tom Carnegie LegacyAward, AARWBA Angelo An-gelopolous Memorial Award, An-dy Granatelli Unsung HeroAward, National Association ofAuto Racing Fans Hall of Fame, Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Hallof Fame, USAC Ross Hadley Award, and 500 Oldtimers Indy500 Officials Award.
Beyond motorsports, Marvel has worked in publicity and/orsales for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, hockey’s Indianapolis Rac-ers, World Team Tennis’ Indiana Love and Butler Universitysports information director.
Previous Russo Award winners include:2005 – Michael Knight2006 – Wally Parks2007 – Chris Economaki2008 – Bob Jenkins2009 – Shav Glick2010 – Bill York.
A permanent plaque with allwinners’ names is on displayin the Speedway media cen-ter. The award is sponsoredby Collene and Gary Camp-bell, the sister and brother-in-law of the late MickeyThompson.
Two great racing legends meet up at the100th Anniversary of the Indy 500. Ed Justice, Jr.,A. J. Foyt, and John Force in Foyt's ABC garage,
in Gasoline Alley. Robert Hight andCourtney Force in the background.
Photo by Ed Justice
We were honored to have John Force, CourtneyForce and Robert Hight attend the AARWBA
breakfast. Yes, John entertained all!Photo By Dusty Brandel
AARWBA Western VP Anne Proffitt interviews driverLynn St. James
Dick Mittman holds the Angelo Angelopolus Sportman-ship Award which was presented later to Sarah Fisher,
and the "Jigger Award" which went to the Target GanassiTeam - Dario: "Missed the pole for lack of fuel"
Tell Us Your FavoriteRace Story!
As professional members of the motorsports media we allhave a few good stories to tell about the experience! Pleaseshare your anecdotes, memories, lies or other tales with your
If you ride a motorcycle, on the street or on the salt, youmay already be aware of the great worldwide debate rag-ing about helmet testing. If not, at least be aware that thenewly released Snell 2010 standard finally catchesup with Department of Transportation (DOT) and theUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)standards.
The M2010 Snell standard adopts graduated-weightheadforms that more closely match real world nogginsand drops its maximum allowable acceleration (G’s) from300 to 275. Why should you care?
For years there have been a steady stream of studiesand reports published examining how Snell, Departmentof ransportation (DOT) and the United Nations EconomicCommission for Europe (ECE) determine what makes amotorcycle helmet safe.
Because a great number of motorcycles have joined landspeed racing over the past few years, and that thosebikes also roll-up plenty of street miles, I felt obligedto alert readers/racers of this squabble in the safetyranks.
I was ignorant of the dispute until I read an article writtenby Dexter Ford in the New York Times, which led meback to his extensive article in Motorcyclist Magazine,conversations with leading scientific types and data re-view.
The argument centers around how the testing is conduct-ed, with emphasis on head sizes, weights and theamount of impact each one gets. Smaller heads needdifferent linings than bigger heads. I know, it seems obvi-ous, but for years at the Snell foundation it was a “one-size serves all” mentality.
It is critical to understand that this discussion is limited tomotorcycles helmets and there are different standardsfor other types of helmets, including those used in racing.Let’s be real, we all know someone who uses a motor-bike helmet for other purposes. Also debated is howmany Gs a head can supposedly withstand before sus-taining various degrees of trauma on the way to death’sdoor.
The engineering-medical community has a quick refer-ence guide January.2010 called the Abbreviated InjuryScale (AIS) to describe an injury level. AIS 1 meansyou’ll probably not have a hospital stay, while AIS 6means you’re next bed will be in the morgue.
James A. Newman PhD, P. Eng., is an expert on the de-sign and performance of helmets and their relationship tohead and neck injury mechanisms; he was recently
named a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers and hisresearch has led to the development of better protective head-gear in sports, military, bomb disposal, industrial and others, aswell as in motorcycling.
The guy has serious head “cred” in the biomechanical realm.Newman believes the “new” Snell 2010 G-load is still waaaaaytoo high. “The bottom line is that when it comes to Gs, the low-er the better,” Newman noted. Make your own assessment us-ing the AIS scale below, noting that each part of the body getsit own rating and the G loads were assigned by Newman:
AIS 1 = MinorAIS 2 = ModerateAIS 3 = SeriousAIS 4 = Severe (200G to 250G)AIS 5 = Critical (250 G to 300 G)AIS 6 = Unsurvivable (300G and above)
“This is exceedingly simplistic and reflects yet another inade-quacy of current standards - namely that head injury is causedby rotational movement of the head not by linear acceleration(i.e. Gs),” Newman added, “Given, however, that there is a ten-uous relation between the two, the above table is my bestguess.”
Newman has been trying since the 1980s to get people to un-derstand that Gs in excess of 200 are still too high for a helmetrating.
The European Union’s extensive helmet study known as COST327, where 253 motorcycle accidents were scrutinized conclud-ed, “Current designs are too stiff and too resilient, and energy isabsorbed efficiently only at values of HIC [Head Injury Criteria:a measure of G force over time] well above those which aresurvivable.”
Tom Evans, Chief Motorcycle Inspector for the Southern Cali-fornia Timing Association (SCTA) told me that only Snell ratedhelmets are acceptable to meet the group’s safety standards. “For the 2010 racing season we will only accept 2005 or laterhelmets,” said Evans, “We tend to not wear out our helmetsand would like to see our racers get 5 years use which trans-lates to about 30 minutes of riding time.”
Evans noted that some DOT and ECE rated helmets are, infact, better that Snell rated helmets, but because he has seenso many bogus DOT stickers on helmets, SCTA believes stay-ing with the Snell stickers that have serial numbers offers a tadmore reliability.
Newman agreed that there are some sleazy merchants, or stu-pid cheaters, but added that he has known in the past of manypeople who had taken the Snell sticker out of one helmet andput it into a non-Snell rated helmet.
This was a 2011 AARWBA contest winner written by ‘Land Speed’ Louise Noeth
American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org)“Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports”
“How fast you are going is not a big factor in helmet de-sign, but falling from a height to the ground is,” explainedDavid Thom, who has been testing helmets since 1981and is the Senior Consultant specializing in protectivehead gear, safety and research at Collision and InjuryDynamics, Inc., “However, at high speed, friction plays apart on where, and how long, the helmet surface is incontact with the ground.”
Thom believes salt flat riders have an increased safetyadvantage with the 2010 Snell over the 2005 and the2000 rated helmets.
“Snell 2005 is based on the on the silly assumption thatall heads weigh the same,” added Thom, “That meansthat helmets for smaller heads are heavier, stiffer thanthey need to be. When my kids were small I never letthem wear a Snell helmet.”
You don’t want a helmet to survive a crash; you want it tobe destroyed. Thom sums up the new rating this way:“Snell 2010 has finally acknowledged what the rest of theworld has known for 25 years, they have finally caughtup with ‘softer is better.’”
The American Motorcycle Association (AMA) has al-lowed use of DOT helmets since the mid-‘80s – inspired,in part, by the 1981 Hurt Study, a pivotal report that stillhas present-day significance because of its scope, ad-vice and conclusions.
“I’ve known for a long while that Snell linings were toohard for what our racers need them to do,” explained Ev-ans, who has made it a point to stay current with the hel-met safety discussion, “Those helmets are made formultiple, hard impacts and land speed racers don’t hitanything. Your head might hit the ground once, but I’venever seen a helmet get a hole in it, only get skinnedup.”
This is precisely what Newman has understood foryears, Snell and DOT require penetration resistance(from a sharp object) in their standard – despite the factthat this type of failure is extremely rare in motorcyclingand the requirement adds excessive weight into the hel-met design and prevents quite a bit of ventilation options.
Evans knows what it feels like to come off a bike atspeed at Bonneville and termed it “a pleasant awaken-ing” because it took away his fear of unknown conse-quences. “The salt doesn’t grab you like pavement,or dirt,” he observed, “It was like sand on the top ofbricks.”
Evans wholeheartedly agrees with the scientists aboutsofter being better, especially for racing helmets, andbelieves the linings ought to mimic crumple zones thatcars enjoy.
“If I were to give a friend some advice, it would be thenext time you see a bargain on the shelf, make sure be-fore you snatch it up that it has at least a Snell 2010sticker inside.”
Newman, who wears an ECE22 when he rides, added, “ECE22makes for a really good helmet, especially since it is tested fora really good, energy rich single hit in the same place as DOTand Snell use. When riders go down they seldom hit their headin the same place twice.”
Snell exists by the sale of its stickers and the certification ser-vices it provides, so if helmets are accepted without the Snellsticker it leads to revenue issues which parlays into politicalposturing.
“Snell has the ability to be the industry leader, they choose tocompromise,” said Newman pointedly, “Snell 2010 is much bet-ter than prior standards because it is now as good as - but notbetter than - the ECE regulation. Had they done away awaywith the outdated requirements for double hits and penetration,they could have left all existing standards in their dust.”
The Snell 2010 certification appears largely to be an attempt tochange the way they test and certify helmets to allow helmetsin Europe to meet both the Snell and European requirements.And to sell more stickers. As long as sanctioning bodiesrequire a Snell helmet, that’s great for them.”
The way I see the current situation is a bunch bright brains allpointing in basically the same direction, but each insistingtheir diverging path is the only way to address safety.
Factor in that Newman, Thom and others have berated Snellfor years about its standards and certification shortcomingsand you have to figure that egos and feelings obscured goodcommon sense at times.
Newman mentioned that in Canada each province has a regu-lation stating you must wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle,but leaves the choice to the rider.
As long as the helmet meets either Snell, DOT, or in many cas-es the ECE-22 standard it’s legal headgear.
I like the idea of giving the rider the option to decide which stan-dard to trust with their lives. It is my opinion that the unques-tioned faith many of us have put into a Snell rating these manyyears needs another look by various sanctioning bodiesto ensure rider/racer safety is at its best.
Will my article cause industry change? Fat chance. My intentwith the preceding information was to give readers insight tomake a better, more fully informed choice the next time you findyourself in need of safety headgear. In the end, your safety isultimately your responsibility.
Bran Bucket Beef Continued
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"Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage of Motor Sports"The AARWBA is the oldest and largest professional organization of its kind. Founded in 1955 in
Indianapolis, it has grown to more than 400 members throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.Each year the AARWBA members select a 14-driver All America Team from Open Wheel, Stock Car, SportsCar, Drag Racing, Short Track, Touring Series and At Large championship categories. An annual banquet is
held to honor these drivers each January. AARWBA also sponsors several contests for its members andestablished the “Legends in Racing” auto racing hall of fame.