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Biomechanics

Biomechanics - Poster Session B

Poster D3 - Comparing Grassroots Dirt Track Racing Crashes by Environmental Changes and Track Type Comparing Grassroots Dirt Track Racing Crashes by Environmental Changes and Track Type

Thursday, October 24, 2024
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM EST
Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Introduction:  Grassroots dirt track racing encompasses various racing events on dirt and local short oval tracks. Midget racing is a popular form of grassroots dirt track racing involving lightweight, high-powered open-wheeled vehicles drifting around a track. Crashes are common; however, characteristics of crashes in the sport are not well-documented. Environmental conditions and track type are factors that may influence track texture, traction of tires, and speed of vehicles that may contribute to instability of the vehicle and subsequent crashes. The objective of this study was to determine factors that influence the frequency of crashes in grassroots dirt track racing.

Materials and

Methods:  Video of midget dirt track racers was analyzed to identify crash events occurring across 63 days of racing via FloRacing (FloSports, Austin, TX). Additionally, for each day, environmental changes (e.g., temperature, humidity), and temporal categorization (seasonal variation) were obtained from “weatherspark.com”. The type of collisions (e.g., car-to-car, car-to-track, car-to-wall), track type, track length, environmental changes and temporal categorization were documented for each race day. Races conducted indoors were categorized accordingly. The number of crash events and driver-crashes (i.e., a single instance of one driver crashing their vehicle on the race track) were quantified as well as the number of crash event per track, crash events per race day, and crash events per track per race day. Here, a singular crash event can include multiple driver-crashes. Bar charts and scatter plots were created to visualize and compare the number of crashes & driver crashes according to the collision, track, and environmental categories.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: : Over 63 days of racing at 24 unique tracks, we observed 580 unique crashes and 1095 driver-crashes. 48.8% of the total crashes occurred at one track, which was indoors and held over 11 days of racing across three years. Estimated temperature on race days ranged from 37.1℉ to 93.9℉. More extreme temperatures (T < 55℉ and T > 80℉) were associated with a greater number of crashes and driver-crashes as shown in Figure 1. Across the 24 tracks, 13 tracks had clay foundation and 11 tracks had dirt; most races occurred on clay (n = 38) compared to dirt (n = 21). Tracks with clay surfaces had almost twice as many crashes and driver-crashes than tracks with dirt surfaces as shown in Figure 2. Finally, smaller tracks resulted in the greatest number of crashes and driver-crashes per day per track, with 1/8 mile tracks having 6 crashes/day/track and 13 driver-crashes/day/track. The number of crashes and driver-crashes in grassroots dirt track racing are affected by environmental factors, such as temperature, and track characteristics, such as length and soil type. Understanding factors that influence crash frequency will inform strategies to mitigate crashes for driver safety.

Acknowledgements (Optional):  This project was supported in part by the NSF REU Site (Award #1950281) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.