The Scene

THE SCENE

IVAN J. WAGAR

SOME twenty years ago, a very tragic thing happened at the Isle of Man. During practice and race weeks not less than six riders were killed, with head injuries being the contributing factor in all but one death.

Most of the natives, and the people closely associated with the races, gravely nodded their heads over the fact that the world’s most dangerous circuit had again proven its superiority over man. They felt the “wee folk” had a lot to do with the deaths of riders who did not show the proper respect for this, the supreme test for all racing riders. Now, twenty years later, the circuit has again claimed six lives over the TT period. The speeds are much higher now, and the circuit is much faster, but one thing remains the same: head injuries accounted for almost all of the deaths.

It is somewhat understandable that the six riders were killed in the early Fifties. The plain truth is that very few people knew or cared about helmets that truly protected the head. The ACU, the English governing body of the sport, and the FIM, the world governing body, had no standards for helmet construction. After that “blood bath” both parties hit on the idea of “approved” helmets. How well I remember the “Old Terror,” Vic Anstice, pushing his thumbs into the shells and pulling on the straps to see if the helmet would withstand a crash. What these gentlemen seemed to miss completely is the fact that there is one helluva difference between a pair of thumbs and being clouted by a stone wall at 100 mph.

So, through all these years, we have had these characters pushing and pulling on those damned creations that wouldn’t protect you if you fell from an office desk onto a hard tile floor. The problem over there is all too frequently the problem we face over here, and that is that the people making and enforcing the rules and standards are so far removed from the sport that they don’t know what is required. It’s sort of this way: if you raced when everyone wore leather helmets, it was kinda difficult to sink your thumbs very far into the helmet. Then, in the year 1950, they had these wonderful new pressed paper devices that resisted thumb punctures, and everything had to be all right.

While these dodderers fiddled with their thumbs through the years, the upstart Americans, thanks to the Snell Foundation, made great strides in head protection. The foundation did not rely on the touch of a 60-year-old thumb, but instead depended on a striker that hit the protective shell with an alarming force. The foundation also realized the need not only to protect the skull against fracture, but also the need to protect the brain during the severe impact of high-speed collisions that lead to concussion. It is now safe to say, thanks to Snell’s pioneer, Dr. George Snively, that helmets manufactured in this country have almost eliminated the dreaded state of concussion, and this has been the case for several years.

What have the ACU and the FIM done to eliminate another “blood bath” on the very tricky, dangerous Isle of Man circuit? Apparently very little. English and European pride have taken precedence over reason, and American technology has become a dirty word. The fantastic British motorcycle press, which should be concerned with finding ways to encourage saving the lives of the heroes of racing, refer to American helmets as “Bone Domes,” and liken the wearers to some sort of space freaks.

Now, and this is really ironic, both the ACU and the FIM have parent organizations which are the governing bodies of the four-wheeled sport (including Formula 1 racing). The FIA, world governing body of grand prix car racing, and the RAC, the English governing body of all auto racing, approved only American helmets for competition. Yet, as recently as two years ago, an American motorcycle rider went through considerable red tape to have his helmet approved by the ACU. Had he gone to England to race cars, the helmet would have been automatically approved.

The first encouraging news of a change came last year when the ACU secretary, Ken Shierson, said the ACU would give blanket approval to all Snell-approved American helmets. Where the ACU failed this year is they did not require that all helmets at the Isle of Man meet Snell standards, or any similarly rigid requirements. Had these standards been met, we would now have at least four of the riders still with us to race another day.

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How well I remember ol’ Herbie Mills, the course marshall at Hillberry, when I had crashed for the fourth time at the Isle of Man. Herbie was quite a campaigner in the Manx Grand Prix before the war (WW II), and is a very good butcher in Onchan when he is not doing his thing, well before breakfast, signalling up at ’illberry. It was Herbie who made me realize that racing in England is sort of like boxing. The first thing he said, after finding me crashed, was, “ ’ow’s yer ’ed?” Obviously Herbie didn’t care about arms and legs, ribs and miscellaneous things. But Herbie did know, after years of watching, riding and marshalling at the Island, that a head injury will kill or maim forever even the very best riders in the whole world.

Although I completely destroyed my “Crunchwell” paper helmet and walked around in a daze for a couple of days, I later completed practice and rode in the races. But only after I shot a couple of games of pool with Herbie. Herbie, God bless him, had a message. He told me about the time he hit his head real hard, and has had trouble focusing ever since. He jokes that he can still cut the best steak on the Isle of Man. But I know that he would rather lap the Isle of Man at 100 than cut the next 10,000 best steaks ever seen on the Island.

During the game of pool Herbie also said, “You know, the Italians are ’ere again with Graham. They have four cylinders and a lot more horsepower than anything ever on the Island, but do you think that with all this technology they might some day find a way to protect the head from becoming a cabbage if you hit the road hard?”

Well, and this will make Herbie happy, technology has found the answers to reducing head injuries, the most consistent contributor to motorcycle deaths. A good American helmet may save your life if you pay the price to save your brain. Once damaged, the brain will not recuperate.

The head is the key to the whole thing. How much is your head worth? A $15 hat that will spell disaster if you meet a bird head on, or a $50 hat that will save you from a rock, or a car, or a truck? [Ö]