NASCAR driver Michael Annett tours MwRSF

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06/06/2018 Added

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June 5, 2018: NASCAR driver Michael Annett tours the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) and Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed.

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[00:00:00.000]Hi, I'm Michael Annett, driver of the number 5
[00:00:02.020]Pilot Flying J Chevrolet for Junior Motor Sports.
[00:00:04.610]Yeah, we're here at the University of Nebraska
[00:00:07.320]where they've done all the research
[00:00:08.820]for the SAFER barrier for IndyCar and NASCAR.
[00:00:11.810]It's something I obviously deal with week in and week out.
[00:00:15.140]Motor sports is very popular here in the United States.
[00:00:17.390]Most of that is oval track racing,
[00:00:19.460]and on those tracks a lot of the vehicle containment
[00:00:21.670]has always been done with concrete outer walls.
[00:00:24.450]Those aren't very forgiving structures,
[00:00:26.200]and at this time they came to us and said
[00:00:29.240]look, you guys are barrier design guys,
[00:00:31.080]can you help us come up with a barrier
[00:00:32.711]that is much more functional than what we have.
[00:00:35.620]My name's Dr. Ron Faller.
[00:00:37.310]I'm a research professor at the
[00:00:38.520]Midwest Roadside Safety Facility.
[00:00:40.440]I do research in motor sports safety,
[00:00:42.094]highway safety, and Department of Defense safety.
[00:00:44.570]What we did today was really highlight
[00:00:46.300]the background and development of the SAFER barrier.
[00:00:48.460]The SAFER barrier stands for the
[00:00:49.820]Steel and Foam Energy Reduction barrier.
[00:00:51.930]We want it to absorb energy and extend the impact event
[00:00:56.710]and lower the impact forces on the driver.
[00:00:59.020]You know, I've had my bumps and bruises and broken bones,
[00:01:02.500]but a lot of those wrecks could've been a lot worse.
[00:01:04.450]And I've hit many a times, and you know, being able to
[00:01:07.630]walk out of there with a headache is pretty amazing,
[00:01:10.120]and just a testament to the research they've done here.
[00:01:12.631]You know what, it's very rewarding
[00:01:14.600]to be able to see something we developed
[00:01:16.150]here at the University of Nebraska,
[00:01:17.850]from faculty researchers as well as students,
[00:01:20.420]and to see it actually saving lives
[00:01:22.380]of race car drivers every weekend.
[00:01:24.500]One thing that makes me feel comfortable
[00:01:26.440]about coming here is seeing that they're
[00:01:28.040]not just resting on their laurels saying
[00:01:30.270]hey, we've got a great product, it's good enough.
[00:01:32.100]They just keep trying to improve on it.
[00:01:34.360]Stuff like we've seen with Iowa Speedway,
[00:01:36.340]the first track that, you know,
[00:01:38.070]is just a fully SAFER barrier
[00:01:39.700]all the way around the track.
[00:01:40.800]And now they're bringing it to the interstates
[00:01:43.720]and roadways that we drive on everyday.
[00:01:45.870]And that's what, we just saw a crash test right there,
[00:01:48.560]and just more innovation that they keep working on.
[00:01:50.940]I'm a race fan, I'm a race car driver,
[00:01:52.800]so being able to see the speed museum
[00:01:54.626]and you know, I grew up around sprint cars,
[00:01:57.168]so obviously that museum is loaded with old sprint cars.
[00:02:02.050]My dad owned the black TMC sprint car
[00:02:05.770]from Sammy Swindell for God knows how many years,
[00:02:08.644]and when I was born, that's,
[00:02:10.420]you know, I was at Knoxville every weekend.
[00:02:12.454]You know, if we weren't on the road
[00:02:14.440]with the World of Outlaws,
[00:02:15.370]we were running David Hessler and the 360 class
[00:02:19.040]right when it started.
[00:02:19.873]We'll be at Iowa Speedway in, I think
[00:02:21.590]about 10 days probably now.
[00:02:22.820]It's a track that I obviously love going back to.
[00:02:25.650]Twice a year, get to go home and see the family,
[00:02:28.720]friends, have a ton of people that come out to the race.
[00:02:31.160]It's just a lot of fun, and the Iowa winners
[00:02:33.840]put a lot of character into that racetrack.
[00:02:35.450]And like I said, that's what, as a driver,
[00:02:37.870]that's what we like.
[00:02:38.703]The Iowa field is in the hands of the starter.
[00:02:41.340]Green flag in Iowa.

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NASCAR driver Michael Annett tours MwRSF

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