Traveling Safety Team....Attack the Problem

H

HardScrabble

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I don't know how the numbers would shake out , but let's assume for the moment that the majority of fans and teams support the establishment of a well trained and equipped team which follow the NASCAR series from track to track. Granted that, how best to approach a solution?

Take a page from the NASCAR folks themselves. Find a sponsor!

Exposure for some time at every race for intents and purposes. A likely postitive PR move for the sponsoring company and at a cost which likely would prove less than sponsoring a team. Not to mention, that odds are some of the cost could be recouped by charging the tracks a fee in line with the monies they now pay for the services anyway.

So wo would be some likely candidates?

You have the drug companies. Already one company (Pfizer) is on a team for pretty good bucks. So ya still got a few more folating around like Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pharmicia

Maybe insurance companies? Allstate, State Farm, Prudential, maybe Sozo's pals at AFLAC....

Gotta be other sectors of business who could tie the whole deal in with their products.

Choose one or two or three.......organize a letter writing campaign.....generate some movement......get some journalists on your side......get some teams and drivers on the roster......

Better expenditure of time perhaps than simply carping at the powers that be...........and it just might work
 
That is a good idea that you have HS. Sometimes looking at something in a different light can bring a fresh idea. I would think that many companies could find a tie to sponsoring a medical team. Would think that the cost for the team against their exposure would be favorable. I have always looked at it like Nascar wants to have everybody else foot the bill. The R&D center is a start, but to be honest it does seem like they are taking their time making any real developments.
 
That does sound logicaly. But NASCAR would probably try to spin it some way so they made money off them.
 
Might sound a little weird but NASCAR would probably want to look into private organizations. Might be a good idea, might be a bad one., if any that deal with safety and hazards and all that stuff. By looking into a private organization they can contract instead of just hiring people off of the street; they can probably use that team to travel all around the country like many of the drivers have suggested.
 
Geez, you mean something like the "Simple Green CART Safety Team." Your Idea has already been done...just not by NASCAR. I also agree with Dee Dee...The France family has to spin this so they can line their own pockets first. How about for every accident they respond to, Bill gets a thousand dollars to cover the TV exposure the sponsor would get by having the guys show up on the tube. The first thousand only covers the first 2 minutes of air time...everything after that is billed by the minute...kinda in the same way the new Title sponsor (Nextel) bills their customers for air time.
 
Perhaps I was not clear enough......

Why wait for NASCAR to do it. You do it. You start writing letters to potential sponsors, or contact a sports promotion company and let them pitch sponsors....either way. Take the bull by the horns.

Write to some jounalists who cover the sport.....maybe Dutton or Woody or Spencer.

Be proactive.

Not at all the same as Simple Green coming in to sponsor an existing team.

Ya got time to sit at a keyboard and write posts about it.....write to agents or companies and get enough support and take a done deal to NASCAR.
 
Problem with that is no possible sponsor is going to talk to you. Let me explain before I get jumped on. NASCAR has repeatedly said they are not interested in a safety team. NASCAR hasn't formed a committee or assigned anyone the duties of finding out what it would take, cost, what equipment, experience level of members, vehicles, etc.. and report back to them the findings. Now with NASCARS position basically being that..why would a multi million or billion corporation talk to joe fan who calls up to discuss a safety team and sponsorship of such a team. What questions could joe fan answer for the corporation as to how much, what is it exactly covering, how does the sponsor benefit, are they going to be forced to by commercial spots during the broadcast. If they don't would the broadcaster refuse to refer to them by the "whatever safety team" or just the safety team. Basically, unless NASCAR announces they are looking to form such a team, and unless you work for NASCAR on such a task..no sponsor is going to give you the time of day. It's just too complicated of an issue for joe fan to be proactive on.. Joe fan can also not go out trying to represent NASCAR on their own...legal issues here. Pretty much all we are able to do is keep voiceing our opinions to NASCAR and on forums like this that it's time for a safety team..NASCAR also needs some pressure from the drivers, and I'd assume that that is the pressure which will bring the decision to finally have a safety team.
 
A good post and open to debate.Myself,I am still not certain a 'travelling safety team' is even needed.Yes,I realize a hundred points can be made for the case to have one...but it is just slightly possible it is being overplayed in a year when the title fight is a non-issue.A non-issue is also what the notion of a TST was...until a disgruntled Ryan Newman brought it into focus remember.

Check the post on most forum boards and see how many were devoted to this topic before Ryan's little expression of displeasure.True,it may have been a pre-existing issue but still one that was below the threshold for most of us.Only HS or Whizzer were likely to have been following it with any real attention...the majority of us weren't.

JMO
 
I hear ya 97forever..but safety doesn't take holidays. Usually safety decisions are based on accidents or incidents that have happened. Think back even 15 - 20 yrs ago. Pit crews didn't use fire suits and neither did drivers. There were no such thing as pit crew helmets, head and neck restraint, roof flaps, wheel tethers, pit road speed limits, proper catch fences. NASCAR has made tremendous gains in safety in recent years, but they have usually been decisions after accidents. IE..head and neck after The man in black. God, I remember at the Indy 500, cars used to head down pit lane at full speed.(yes it's open wheel, I know but) why can't NASCAR make the decision before another incident that finally convinces them it is the right thing to do. The idea of the chase car that responds to accidents now..is a joke. From another site. "The NASCAR official who mans the chase vehicle drives to the scene of the accident as soon as possible, but stays away from the immediate area to let the safety crew work. If the driver chooses not to ride in the ambulance, the chase vehicle takes the driver to the infield care center. It is a NASCAR official, a person that the drivers will be familiar with, a face that the drivers will be familiar with." If you have sustained serious injuries do you really give a rats a$$ that this guy is there or not. " What is the purpose of this guy..if he isn't helping, he is in the way. Wasn't the rules of pit crews working on the right of the car first then the left made because of pit road accidents with crew members getting hit. Like every other decision with safety, it was made after an accident happened.
 
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