BTN LiveBIG: NASCAR made SAFER at Nebraska

If you search for ?NASCAR crash wall? on Google, dozens of stories and videos appear that show fiery crashes. You will also find headlines featuring driver reactions to these crashes, as was the case for Jeff Gordon earlier in November.

This weekend, the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup comes to a conclusion with the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Thanks to work being done at the University of Nebraska, drivers that hit the wall this weekend are more likely to worry about the condition of their car than whether their life is in jeopardy.

Indeed, the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) is making tracks all over the country SAFER.

One of the most prominent innovations from the MwRSF is the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier, which is designed to absorb and reduce kinetic energy during the impact of an accident, and lessen injuries sustained to drivers.

The SAFER barrier was first installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2001, and the MwRSF has since been selected by the Indy Racing League, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NASCAR to develop, test, and evaluate safety features for their race tracks.

For more about the SAFER barriers, visit our Youtube channel.

For more about the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF), go to: http://mwrsf.unl.edu/index.