No one in NASCAR was wearing HANS devices in those days. And NO racing series was mandating that drivers wear them at the time of Earnhardt's death. Dale Sr. died because he had one of his straps on his seatbelt/shoulder harness system break. It broke because he (Earnhardt himself) had installed it where the portion of the belt with the label was in the tightening device. (The label is made of different material than the belt and is slick.) During the accident this caused the belt to "dump", which means the belt bunched in the tightening device and broke. Not a problem with the belt, the problem was with the installation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oli_M
I guess we can debate from here to eternity as to whether Earnhardt's fatal accident was caused by restrictor plates. I think it was. I put the cause of the accident in which Earnhardt died down to pack racing caused by restrictor plates. YMMV