Jun 30, 2008

If You Can't Stand the Heat

It’s not the heat; it’s the carbon monoxide. Or maybe it’s both. But over the last few weeks, as the weather has warmed up, some Sprint Cup drivers have complained of excessive heat in the cockpits of their current cars -- you know, the cars that were once known as the “cars of tomorrow”. Others complained of fatigue and malaise, and their blood was checked for carbon monoxide levels. Meanwhile, NASCAR is doing what NASCAR usually does: It is monitoring the situation.

According to ESPN, NASCAR started looking into the issue after the Michigan race, when drivers complained that the new cars were hotter than the old ones. They found a wide discrepancy in the interior temperatures of the cars with one as hot as 130 degrees Fahrenheit and another just 105 degrees. What is unknown is what effects these temperatures are having on the drivers’ health and judgment, both of which of course, are crucial to safety.

Excessive heat -- and most physiologists would tell you that a 130-degree working environment is a place of excessive heat -- can be injurious in and of itself. The fact that drivers have to make split-second decisions concerning their safety and the safety of others in those kinds of conditions is troubling.

Even more troubling is the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is an especially insidious gas, because it is odorless, colorless and has a tendency to linger in areas of low pressure -- areas that might exist within an aerodynamically good but poorly ventilated race car. Because it is odorless, it cannot be detected by a sniff test, although many erroneously believe it can. Among the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are drowsiness, poor decision-making, and ultimately and oftentimes rapidly, death.

Certainly NASCAR cannot afford to have any of its drivers suffering the effects of fatigue and brain fade caused by heat or carbon monoxide. The potential results are obviously disastrous. As we always say when we write about these racing safety issues, we can only hope that NASCAR acts in a firm, positive way to alleviate the potential problems -- before a tragedy happens.   Next Racing Rap>>