Rules to take effect in all three series starting this weekend
NASCAR formalized expanded standards for pit road safety apparel Wednesday, making specially certified gloves, head socks and underwear mandatory for over-the-wall pit crew personnel in all three national series.
The move became official through a bulletin added Wednesday to the NASCAR Rule Book. The requirements go into effect beginning with this weekend’s events for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Pocono Raceway and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway.
The measures were spurred by a major pit-road fire, which injured three crew members during an XFINITY Series race April 24 at Richmond International Raceway. Two members of the Richard Childress Racing No. 62 team for driver Brendan Gaughan were briefly hospitalized; a third crewman, working in a neighboring pit stall for the JGL Racing team, was treated and released the same night from the track’s infield care center.
NASCAR competition officials had already recommended that teams use the apparel approved by the SFI Foundation, a California-based organization that sets motorsports industry standards for racing equipment. Teams in all three national series were notified May 13 that the recommendations would soon become a rule.
Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition and Racing Development, said last month that many teams were already in compliance with the new rule. The three weeks from when teams were notified until the rule went into effect, Pemberton said, were meant to allow teams and manufacturers of safety equipment enough time to get crew members up to code.
“We were going down this path anyway,” Pemberton said. “I use the (phrase) ‘you get a tap on the shoulder every now and then’ … (the Richmond incident) helped to put it on the fast track. We’ve all worked together and a lot of times it’s better if we throw a rule out there for everybody to comply.”