Child-size HANS device mold
Object Details
- Description (Brief)
- Child-size HANS device mold is a white fiberglass composite with a gray underside. This mold is for the first child-size device, made for Joey Logano at age 12 in August of 2001. Logano became a NASCAR Cup series champion and a Daytona 500 winner. The Head and Neck Supportive Device, or HANS Device was invented in the early 1980s by Dr. Robert Hubbard (1943-2019), a biomechanical engineering professor at Michigan State University. Hubbard began designing his device after his brother, Jim Downing, an American road racer, lost a fellow racer to a skull fracture in a racing accident. The basilar skull fracture is a common injury in auto racing an often results in serious injury or death due to the force of movement and momentum placed on the head and neck while the body remains in place through the use of seatbelts. Hubbard’s device provides support for the head and neck in these types of high-speed collisions. Hubbard produced his first prototype in 1985 but it wasn’t until 1989 that his device was manufactured and only after he and Jim Downing formed Hubbard Downing Inc. and developed it themselves. The auto racing community resisted the device complaining that it was too restrictive and uncomfortable but after many deaths due to skull fractures, especially high-profile racers such as Dale Earnhardt Sr., NASCAR mandated the use of the HANS device in 2001while Formula One racing followed suit in 2003.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- ID Number
- 2021.0086.02
- accession number
- 2021.0086
- catalog number
- 2021.0086.02
- Object Name
- HANS device, auto racing
- Physical Description
- fiberglass composite (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 16 1/2 in x 14 in x 8 1/4 in; 41.91 cm x 35.56 cm x 20.955 cm
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
- Sports & Leisure
- name of sport
- auto racing
- level of sport
- Professional
- Record ID
- nmah_2008287
