Earnhardt report: Belt not to blame.

A court appointed medical expert has concluded that the broken seat belt was not to blame for Dale Earnhardt's death at this year's Daytona 500.

Dr. Barry Myers began by stating that the report was aimed at "considering and evaluating" each of the mechanisms which could have lead to the seven-time champ's death - including his open face helmet and apparently torn seat belt.

The report also described the "crash dynamics" that occurred, and refers to the forces induced together with the behaviour of the #3 car up to the point of impact.

Reconstruction.

"Mr. Earnhardt's car initially yawed anti-clockwise when viewed from above and travelled down (towards the centre of) the track. A right steer corrected this trajectory, however, the vehicle yawed clockwise and began climbing up the track. As a result, while most of the velocity of the car was directed along the track, a significant component of velocity was directed toward the wall.

"Prior to impacting the wall, Mr. Earnhardt's car contacted another vehicle, which increased its clockwise yaw angle relative to its direction of travel. As a result, the impact with the wall was equivalent to a passenger-side angled barrier impact."

"As a result of the collision, Mr. Earnhardt's velocity toward the wall was arrested and a component of his velocity along the track was also arrested. This gave rise to a (change in velocity) with a PDOF (direction), which is predominately frontal and from the right.

"Because there was no significant additional rotation of the vehicle after the crash, the (change in velocity) of the occupant is very similar to the (change in velocity) of the vehicle.

"Mathematical analysis and observation of the impact with the wall demonstrates that this was a very severe crash. By contrast, many people have commented that the crash did not "appear" to be severe.

"The reason for this common misconception is that the frontal crash occurs in only one-tenth of a second. As such, the crash is over in "a blink of an eye," and the (change in velocity) occurs over a very short time, producing very large accelerations. Frontal crashes which are angled to the right side of the vehicle are especially dangerous for the head and the neck of the driver."

Myers then described what happened inside the cockpit:

"Mr. Earnhardt struck the steering wheel sub-mentally (on the underside of his chin). This caused significant deformation of the wheel rim and a spoke and resulted in the impression/abrasion described in the autopsy report.

"While an abrasion in and of itself might be associated with small or large forces, this particular abrasion was the result of a very significant impact involving large forces. Moreover, these forces were directed posterosuperiorly (upward and backward). These impact forces alone can be large enough to produce ring fractures of the skull base."

The report went on to discuss possible factors which some have suggested could have saved Earnhardt.

Full face helmet.

Myers is very clear on this point: "It has been suggested that a full face helmet might have been an important aid in preventing the injuries in this crash. This is incorrect.

"If Mr. Earnhardt had worn a full face helmet, he would still have experienced the same tragic outcome."

Possible Seat belt failure.

Examination of Earnhardt's car had shown that his left lap belt webbing had been separated and possibly torn. Myers assumed the worst-case scenario for his analysis and that the belt had been torn by the force of the crash, rather than being cut afterwards.

"Physical evidence clearly shows that the restraint system, including the left outboard lap belt, carried large forces during the crash sequence... The fact that Mr. Earnhardt's head rotated and was struck from below also shows that his upper torso was restrained."

"As such, the restraint system functioned to slow Mr. Earnhardt's body. This includes the outboard lap belt for some significant portion of the crash. If the outboard lap belt had remained intact throughout the crash, Mr. Earnhardt's head would still likely have experienced similar inertial forces and similar contact forces with the steering wheel.

"As such, the restraint failure does not appear to have played a role in Mr. Earnhardt's fatal injury," although the report added; "while lap belt failure did not contribute to this injury, the restraint system should be appropriately studied (to determine why it was torn) as part of an ongoing safety effort."