Fire protection is function, but suit says more

Trucking 2000

12/12/2008

Back during the days when knights went into battle protected by heavy suits of armor, one problem always presented itself: how to go to the bathroom. Their solution was simple but crude. While the circumstances for wearing a protective suit have changed, modern racecar drivers still share the same problem: how to go to the bathroom.

Their solution is something else they share with their knighted brethren. “It’s a question that everyone wants to ask,” Jamie McMurray says. “You have to pick and choose your battles. If there are 40 laps left and you think you can hold it, you just tough it out. If you are halfway and it’s been a long race already, then you just go. It’s part of it. Everyone does it.”

For the knight, the impediments were more those of wearing the suit of armor. They simply weren’t designed with that in mind and donning and removing the cumbersome gear was an arduous and rather lengthy process.

For the modern racecar driver, the colorful firesuits they wear throughout the race are designed with safety in mind first and comfort and convenience second. After all, a firesuit isn’t much if it’s comfortable but doesn’t protect the driver in the event his ride bursts into flames.

An ongoing evolution, the firesuit is both an essential piece of equipment and a style statement.

In Indianapolis, the sound of revving motors can be heard at more places than just the racetrack.

Passersby Impact Racing’s factory can barely hear over the revving and almost machine-gun like sound emanating from within, where dozens of women are pushing and pulling yards of cotton and cloth through rows of sewing machines.

Seaming blocks of fabric together and quilting panels beneath each block, the women are building the most underrated, yet essential piece of equipment required by all NASCAR drivers: the firesuit.

“People don’t realize what goes into a firesuit. Each day I tell my employees that we have a chance to save lives with every suit that leaves this building,” said John Schneider, president of Impact Racing, founded by safety equipment pioneer Bill Simpson.

What started as borax-dipped coveralls in the 1950s has greatly evolved into computer-engineered safety suits made of Nomex and nylon. Since the day NASCAR mandated the use of firesuits, companies from around the globe have been in constant competition to design the next lighter, safer and more comfortable suit to glove the frames of the sport’s best drivers.

 Before the 1970s, drivers wore nothing tougher than a cotton T-shirt and a pair of dungarees, so many talented, smart drivers paid the price for their lack of safety gear.

In 1959, Bobby Allison’s modified stock-car caught fire at Dixie Speedway after gas spilled into the cockpit on a fuel stop. At that time, he was wearing a T-shirt that said “Save with Vigorlube.”

“The part that said ‘Save with’ was kind of like a decal ... those words were burned right into my back,” Allison recalled.

Nearing the end of the 1960s, the motorsports industry realized it needed to make a concerted effort toward engineering a fire-retardant suit. Simpson used his connections with NASA and procured some Nomex-blended material, which would come to revolutionize the driving suit.

“The material was filament Nomex, and I was the first person to make a racing suit out of it. I took an old cotton driver’s uniform and cut it apart; from there I made a pattern, put my ever-expanding sewing skills to work and stitched up a suit out of Nomex,” Simpson said.

The suit debuted at the Indianapolis 500 in the late 1960s and expanded to other series including drag racing and NASCAR. But the work didn’t stop there.

“The constant battle you faced is that drivers’ didn’t want to wear them, because they were too hot. I always said, ‘hey if you have a 1,000-degree fire it’s going to get a whole lot hotter,” said John Schneider, who works with Simpson on new technologies for Impact Racing. “And back then drivers didn’t want to buy suits. They wanted to spend all their money on going fast. Now you just don’t even see a driver step inside a car without one.”

The making of a firesuit is a balance of form and function that begins on the computer. Layouts representing the entire suit are computer drawn, printed out to scale and cut to size on large panels of Nomex-blended fabric. Once the outer shell of the suit is cut out, the process of quilting the layers together begins.

“The inner layer is the heart of the suit and the outer layer is more or less for sponsors,” Schneider said. “The more layers you have, the more protection you’ll have.”

But protection from fire alone isn’t necessarily the only purpose of these suits.

“Everyone thinks that the direct flame causes the problem, but it’s the heat transfer,” he said. “Let’s say you catch on fire. It’s not the outside flame that’s necessarily harming you, although it’s the end result of that outside flame. It’s the heat transfer going through the suit coming from the flame.”

More than that, stored energy is especially harmful.

“The flame is gone but there is this stored energy that can burn you. So you have a driver who has been in a fire and there’s no flame but the heat is still there and it will continue to burn until you get the uniform off or get water or take that energy away,” Schneider said. “That’s where most massive burns come from is the energy locked inside.”

The effect of stored energy is a topic of ongoing investigation and research, Schneider added.

“The work never stops on research and development, perfecting your patterns, etc.,” he said. “On our end we worry about safety and on the other end they are worried about how they look on camera and in a magazine.”

As for the appearance of the suit – collars, arm gussets, epaulets and quilting – some of those features were created with function but have since become obsolete. Others have managed to stand the test of time.

Originally, suits were designed with epaulets either on top of the shoulders or on the latissimus dorsi served to pull a driver from a burning or smoking car.

However emergency response experts highly oppose that practice because of the risk of neck and spinal cord injuries. But the epaulets still remain and are mostly used by sponsors as advertising space.

Dressing the likes of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. pays big dividends for these companies by way of brand exposure. They create each suit with style and appearance in mind.

Two-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson’s firesuit is custom made and engineered by Alpinestars, an Italian company known for its high-quality suits used in Formula One. The company made its first foray into NASCAR’s garage after winning over Kurt Busch in 2003.

Their designs, tighter fits and comfort soon came into demand. Johnson followed suit in 2004 and later Gordon and Kyle Busch.

Many call Alpinestars the Mercedes of firesuits. Fans even say Kyle Busch looks better in his firesuit than he does in his street clothes. The difference may be that the company understands the subtle fashionable details.

“If the driver looks better, we look better. If the girls like to check out Kyle, more cameras will be on him, which is better for us and his sponsors,” said P.J. Rashidi, racing development for Alpinestars. “Everyone benefits from our work. That’s the bottom line.”

Some manufacturers will even make the suits tighter in the rear, unbeknownst to the driver, to benefit the female fan.

“We are sensitive to the female fans and make our drivers look appealing for them. We make tweaks here and there and surprise them. It keeps everyone happy,” Rashidi said. “You get comfortable in loose-fitting suits, but form-fitting helps in the car.”

Jamie McMurray knows that firesuits have become something more than a protective layer between a driver and a potential fire.

“I really don’t take notice if people check me out in my firesuit, but I guess it’s really no different, at least for us, than wearing regular street clothes and being checked out,” said McMurray, who has worn suits from several makers and now wears the Simpson brand.

Earnhardt made a splash this season when he brought a mainstream sports-wear company to the game after donning the iconic three stripes of adidas. It was a partnership between two powerhouse brands and a way for Earnhardt to find a suit that didn’t creep up his leg while driving or shrink at the cleaners.

“This is not a beauty contest,” said Juan Montoya, who is outfitted by Impact Racing. “I’m already taken so it doesn’t matter.”

But to listen to the former Formula One driver turned Cup racer, you realize he has a strong influence over what goes into his threads. All the drivers do.

“For me it is how the suit is made. You know what you like,” Montoya said. “For me I don’t use pockets. And I don’t like the NASCAR way with the suit over the boot. Everyone tucks theirs in but they have an extra layer that goes outside, I don’t like that. And the stitching needs to go forward. The sides need to be forward so it’s not on your ribs.”

And in case you didn’t notice, Montoya has more room in the rear of his suit than the average driver.

“Yeah, it’s comfortable,” he said. “It needs to be baggy so it doesn’t squeeze my ...”

Message received, loud and clear.

But Clint Bowyer knows how extra material can bunch up and cause problems, restrict movement or create discomfort. The safety belts which strap a driver into his car are tight and don’t allow for adjustments, he said.

Meaning, if you get a wedge in your shorts ...

“You just have to tough it out for 500 miles,” Bowyer said with a laugh.

Firesuits have graduated from a simple uniform to a piece of fashionable self-expression. From the pioneering designs of Simpson to the most recent fittings developed by adidas, dozens of companies are helping keep drivers safe while making them look good.