After close call, Sawyer praises HANS

By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com
March 10, 2001
5:32 PM EST (2232 GMT)

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Sitting back in his race-team hauler, Elton Sawyer didn't need to be told he was fortunate.

Sawyer survived a nasty crash in the Busch Series Aaron's 312, one he felt would have brought serious injury if heíd not worn a head and neck restraint device. He walked away with just soreness in the chest area.

"Just being able to sit here and talk tells it all," Sawyer said.

"It did its job, as far as the HANS device. I'm going to stand up and tell all the drivers, 'You need to get you a HANS device.' I'm not going to make any more money saying this -- it worked."

It is widely thought that a device immobilizing the head could possibly have prevented the sport's recent fatalities. Some drivers, however, have been resistant to a head-and-neck device because of either discomfort or a lack of mobility behind the wheel.

Sawyer began the season using the HANS device Ford racing officials paid for their drivers to use the device, and they were rewarded after Sawyer plowed into Tim Sauter's car coming off turn 2 on the 104th lap.

The front of Sawyer's car was pushed violently toward the driver's compartment. Sawyer felt bad about the condition of the Starter-sponsored car -- but he was able to walk away.

What might have happened if he hadn't worn the device?

"It wouldn't have been pretty," Sawyer said calmly. "That ís the hardest I have ever hit in 24 years of racing."

The new poster boy for the safety device could only shake his head, wondering what took some long to be converted.

"I wasn't real comfortable with it like a lot of the drivers," Sawyer said. "We made some modifications. I just don't know why it's taken me 20-some years racing to wear it. I guess we're not real smart."