Danaca Patrick crash....Safety

[Glen]

On bang shift.com the is inboard tape of her hitting the wall and how the belts and containment seat worked. She took her hands off the steering wheel to prevent wrist injurys as well, sharp driver. Good viewing and proper equipment. This is a must see.

[Peter Jack]

She also mentioned in an interview afterwards that her small size probably helped. Some of us can't take advantage of that! 

Pete

[hotrod]

It's hard to tell for sure but it almost looks like she presses her hands hard against the helmet (sort of an isometric) to help stabilize her head at the time of impact to assist the hans device.

Probably not a bad idea. Her hands also were positioned to take up some of the dead space between her helmet and the side pads on her containment seat.

Larry

[Dean Los Angeles]

I played the crash back several times and even with the safer barrier that car hit a TON.

There is no point in hanging on to the wheel. The belts take the impact and you run a real risk of snapping your wrists.

Very heads up move. Danica walked away like nothing had happened. I think the bruises today will tell a different story.

[thundersalt]

She also mentioned in an interview afterwards that her small size probably helped. Some of us can't take advantage of that! 

Pete

That is one of the reasons I decided to drop some LBS. I was concerned about belt stretch on a 310 lb guy (me) plus the difficulty of getting in and out of a car.

[Tman]

Nice to see her handle the crash AND the post crash interview with more professionalism than many of the good ol boys would have.    I did that same hit on I90 at 65mph 20 years ago (@ 135 pounds)and can tell you how hard 1/2 speed felt like!

[RayTheRat]

I played the crash back several times and even with the safer barrier that car hit a TON.

There is no point in hanging on to the wheel. The belts take the impact and you run a real risk of snapping your wrists.

Very heads up move. Danica walked away like nothing had happened. I think the bruises today will tell a different story.

Ya nailed it.  It WAS a ton.  I thought her hands went to the helmet to make sure the face shield was fully closed...but she definitely showed open-wheel experience by keeping her hands off the wheel. 

And finally, she DID handle the interviews very well.  There are a few drivers who might take a page from her copybook on that...but then the average NASCrash fan probably wouldn't enjoy the finger-pointing and name-calling if they DID handle things in the same way.