Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Lamm, 24 Hours of Lemons Grand Poobah
Why You Want a Real Head-and-Neck Restraint
Today's sermon: safety. Now that we've outlawed piano-wire shoulder harnesses and are keeping Judge Phil off the track, what's the next best thing you can do to be safer? Wear a legit head-and-neck restraint.
Here's why: In an impact, your corpulent body remains strapped to the seat while your big, helmet-wrapped melon keeps moving. That can put terrible, even potentially fatal loads on the fragile, life-sustaining vertebrae, nerves, and muscles connecting your head to your body. Used correctly, a legit head-and-neck restraint limits those motions tremendously better than the bare-minimum-required, mostly-for-comfort foam neck roll.
Some series mandate these highly effective devices; some don't. And because they're expensive ($595+, though a whole team can usually share one), LeMons still leaves the choice up to you. There's no question you should use a head-and-neck restraint, though: It's a much better investment than wide wheels, that 10-gallon bottle of Jaeger, and everything else that you're already spending that money on.
We want to encourage all racers to step up to these systems. So, while pricing is set by the factory--you're generally stuck paying MSRP everywhere--we've convinced IOPort Racing to throw in some Get Out of the Penalty Box cards and bucks-off certificates on future purchases with each head-and-neck restraint bought for LeMons. IOPort's LeMons-only safety page is live now: You must be a registered team member to order.