NASCAR Safety a Never-Ending Battle

April 12, 2008

By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

Before turning to writing, I made my living as an emergency room nurse.

I was always interested in the emergency medical field, taking Red Cross First Aid classes in junior high and CPR training in high school. I signed up for EMT training while pursuing an education degree and went on to become a certified emergency paramedic and ultimately an emergency room nurse. I got my first job as an EMT at age 20.

I worked in emergency medical services for 14 years, either on an ambulance or in the emergency room.

One of my nursing jobs was in a Level One trauma center. Another was in a large geriatric hospital. Both of those ERs had a particularly high level of acuity, meaning that a large percentage of the patients were seriously injured or ill - often near death.

Working in emergency medicine, particularly with such severely ill patients, creates a mindset that is hard to shake even after you leave the medical field. In that setting, nearly every action you take and every decision you make has life-or-death consequences.

After I left EMS, I worked briefly in a doctor's office. I often found myself doing routine tasks with the same sense of urgency that had become ingrained in me in the ER. When I was pulling patient's charts or taking vital signs for the doctor, I had to keep reminding myself that although this work was important, it usually wasn't life-or-death.

Before I got into EMS, I had other jobs as well. I worked as a server and cashier in a cafeteria and as a waitress in a pancake house. I enjoyed those positions and always took pride in my work, and I respect anyone who makes a living dealing with the public on a daily basis.

But if I made a mistake in any of those non-emergency jobs - let's say I served sausage instead of bacon at the pancake house, or totaled up the bill incorrectly at the cafeteria - my customers might have gotten annoyed or even angry, but they didn't drop dead because of my error.

By contrast, a tiny mistake in the ER could easily kill someone. Miss a sign of a serious illness in triage and a patient might die. Make a mistake on a drug calculation and you could deliver a lethal dose. Let your guard down for a split second, let your mental or physical skills slip, and your "customers" could, in fact, drop dead.

This level of intensity was even more pronounced when I worked as a paramedic. In the emergency room, there were always doctors, other nurses, and a whole team of ancillary personnel on hand to assist and serve as backup.

But as an ambulance paramedic, it was typically just me and an EMT partner. Back in the day, there were fire department paramedics who worked within the city limits, but we were one of just two medic-staffed ambulances that served a vast county area outside the city boundary.

In that setting, you had to be even more precise with your skills and assessments because there was no one to fall back on for help. If you couldn't start a line, it didn't get started. If you couldn't intubate someone, they didn't get tubed. If you didn't properly communicate the patient's condition to your base station physician, you didn't get the orders you needed, and the patients didn't get the care they needed.

All this is not to say that EMS workers are infallible. Far from it. We were, after all, human beings and as such, mistakes were made.

The difference between this and other jobs, however, are the consequences of such mistakes. Patients can - and do - die as a result of human error.

By now, I'm sure you are wondering what any of this has to do with NASCAR.

Everything.

Just like EMS workers, the decision makers in NASCAR hold lives in their hands every day - the lives of drivers who strap into NASCAR-designed racecars at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks and turn laps at wickedly fast speeds inches away from 42 other guys doing the very same thing.

Last week, when rookie driver Michael McDowell hit the wall during qualifying at Texas, many described it as the worst wreck they'd ever seen.

Pundits were quick to commend the safety advances that NASCAR and the tracks have made in recent years which allowed the young man to emerge unscathed from what was left of his racecar.

And rightfully so.

But murmurs among some drivers who were concerned about track conditions before McDowell qualified seemed to be just as quickly swept under the rug.

A few drivers, including Greg Biffle and Mark Martin, indicated that either the oil dropped by David Gilliland's blown engine, or the oil dry used to mop it up, were the likely cause of McDowell's horrific accident a short time later.

NASCAR subsequently admitted they are still working on effective methods to clean up synthetic oil spills.

This week, the hot safety topic in NASCAR is drug testing, thanks to Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike's shocking admission that he previously used heroin prior to some races.

NASCAR has repeatedly resisted calls for random drug testing, opting instead to test only when there is an index of suspicion of a substance abuse problem.

Kevin Harvick, one driver who has advocated random drug testing in the past, said this about NASCAR's response to him: "They were more mad that I spoke my opinion about it than they were about trying to listen to what I had to say. I've had several situations like that lately where they just kind of listen to what you want to say and that's the end of it. There's not a whole lot that they want to listen to for some reason."

And that's a serious problem.

NASCAR has made strides in the safety arena since Dale Earnhardt's death seven years ago. But just like when I worked in the emergency room, the NASCAR decision makers can never afford to drop their guard or become complacent.

Things like insuring the condition of the racing surface after a rain delay or an oil spill, determining that no one associated with the sport is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and providing a consistently safe, durable tire are battles that must constantly be waged, and can never be lost.

Regardless of the gains made to date, more needs to be done.

Other issues, particularly the need for a traveling safety and medical team that would accompany the series year round, have been discussed in this column before and will be again until the necessary changes are implemented.

Not just for the drivers, but the teams and officials on pit road as well.

When you hold lives in your hand, eternal vigilance is the price that must be paid, regardless of the cost or discomfort involved.

You can contact Rebecca at.. Insider Racing News



   You Can Read Other Articles By Rebecca

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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