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CNN Live At Daybreak

NASCAR to Release Official Earnhardt Autopsy Report Today

Aired August 21, 2001 - 07:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: NASCAR releases the official findings today of its investigation into the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt. You can see the announcement live when it happens right here on CNN at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

CNN's Mark Viviano looks back on the events leading up to today's event.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HELTON: This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I have ever personally had to make but after the accident in turn four at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt.

MARK VIVIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The racing world had barely begun to mourn the loss of NASCAR's most popular figure when questions arose about events that took place after the accident. NASCAR, seeming to confirm its reputation for secrecy, took complete charge of the investigation.

ED HINTON: I thought of all people Earnhardt would open them up, Earnhardt would make them say we've got to face the facts, we've got to open up, we've got to move with all deliberate speed. Instead, we heard life has to go on. It was a very disappointing day.

VIVIANO: Five days after the fatal wreck, NASCAR called a press conference to announce that a broken seat belt may have played a role in Earnhardt's death.

HELTON: What we have found in investigating Dale Earnhardt's car from the Sunday accident is that there was a broken left lap belt. The seat belt from the left side of the lap belts came apart.

VIVIANO: But Helton found himself loudly contradicted by seat belt manufacturer Bill Simpson, who was furious over NASCAR's rush to judgment. Adding to the mystery was Tommy Propst, the emergency medical technician who rushed to Earnhardt's aid immediately after the crash. Two months after the wreck, Propst claimed the seat belt was not broken.

On the day after the accident, primarily autopsy results showed that Earnhardt's death was due to basilar skull fracture, the result of a sudden violent head whip forward. The circumstances surrounding Earnhardt's death heightened awareness of driver safety. Use of head and neck restraint systems has increased from about five drivers at the Daytona 500 to approximately 30 in the six months since the fatal wreck. Suddenly drivers and crew chiefs were talking as much about soft walls and crush zones as spoilers and restrictor plates.

Beyond the focus of what drivers might war to protect themselves is the issue of the cars. According to the "Orlando Sentinel," NASCAR's investigation has determined that the cars need to be more crash friendly, that is, they need to be designed to better dissipate energy in a frontal crash before it reaches the driver compartment.

Initially accused of trying to orchestrate a cover-up in the Earnhardt death, NASCAR did retain outside investigators and experts to assist in its recreation of the incident. That willingness to step outside of its own ranks has helped NASCAR redeem itself in the eyes of many of its critics.

I'm Mark Viviano.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the championship auto racing team series, it's a different racing series, known as CART, learned from its drivers' injuries and accidents. And Dr. Stephen Olvey is CART's medical director.

Good morning, Dr. Olvey.

DR. STEPHEN OLVEY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CART: Good morning.

LIN: So what do you expect to hear, the questions that may be answered by today's report, and what questions won't be answered?

OLVEY: Well, Earnhardt's death, I think you're going to find that the report will be pretty much in agreement with the findings of Dr. Myers, the independent investigator that was brought in to look at the autopsy photos and the results of the medical examination. Other than that, I think it would be pure speculation at this point because the report has not been released yet.

LIN: All right, we expect to hear about that report, the details of the report, at 3:00 this afternoon, 3:00 Eastern Time. But in the meantime, for our purposes here before we really dig in with you, tell us the difference between NASCAR racing and CART racing, the cars themselves.

OLVEY: Well, the CART cars are open wheeled cars and open cockpit cars. They weigh quite a bit less. The power to weight ratio is such that they're a little bit faster than the NASCAR cars. So the driver is very exposed in those cars.

The NASCAR Winston Cup cars, as you know, are stock cars. They're closed cars and the driver is contained inside the closed cockpit.

LIN: OK, so factoring in those differences, back in the '80s CART drivers experienced a series of injuries and accidents and CART learned from that. What changes were made?

OLVEY: Well, that's exactly right. We had a run of very disabling foot and ankle injuries and as a result of that we began keeping very accurate accident and injury statistics and we were able to make that area of the car much stronger, move the driver back in the car a little bit, add an extra bulkhead to the car and, you know, made a dent in those kinds of injuries.

And then that's when our investigation started and we've really had an ongoing investigation for all the years, I think, since about 1982. And then along about 1985 we got a lot more information with crash recorders placed in the cars and that allowed us to know the direction and the magnitude of the forces involved in a crash and we could take that data and give it to Ford Motor Company and their engineers and biomechanical people and actually do computed reconstructions of the crashes.

So we had problems develop all along during those years that necessitated kind of an ongoing investigation.

LIN: And yet at the same time you made those changes, CART made those changes and yet back in 1999 you suffered two drivers dying in crashes in less than a month. Did those safety standards, those changes to the cars, really make a difference?

OLVEY: Well, that's exactly right and I want to take this opportunity to say that we felt very comfortable before 1999. We thought we really had a safe car. And I think NASCAR was in that same situation. You have to remember that NASCAR has raced several years without significant incidents or problems. They've had very exciting, very close races and an excellent safety record and then all of a sudden they had the rug pulled out from under them just like we did in 1999. And as a result of what happened to us, we've looked much more closely at the race tracks themselves as well as we've mandated the HANS device, the head and neck support.

LIN: Right. But I guess my point, Dr. Olvey, is that as NASCAR looks at padded walls and crash crush zones for their cars and all the -- and looking at the safety recommendations implemented by CART, I mean what is the lesson here to be learned, that simply drivers are going to die on the course from time to time?

OLVEY: Well, that's true. All sports carry an element of risk and death can happen in any number of sports. But when you get a series of events that are unusual or have not happened or whether it's just the odds catching up with you. I think this type of investigation is necessary and I think NASCAR did exactly what they needed to do in launching a very thorough investigation.

My understanding is this is probably the most thorough investigation that's ever occurred in the history of motor sports and I think they're going to look at every aspect of the construction of the cars and come up with ways to improve them now that they've recognized this problem or this problem has cropped up.

LIN: As they're doing now. OLVEY: Exactly.

LIN: Dr. Stephen Olvey, we'll all be watching for that report at 3:00 Eastern. Thanks for joining us this morning.

OLVEY: Thank you.

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