By Jackie L. Franzil
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Washington, DC, Mar. 30 (UPI) -- With just two laps to go at Daytona International Speedway in Florida during a race in February, 28-year-old Billy Venturini was in a prime position for a respectable finish at one of the nation's premier superspeedways.

But suddenly, the veteran ARCA RE/MAX Series driver found himself caught up in a 14-car pileup with his car engulfed in flames.

The driver was rushed to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona, where he was treated for a fractured vertebrae and torn ligaments in his neck.

"It is what it is," said Venturini of his accident, which left him sidelined from racing for an estimated six months. Only about 20 percent of people survive this type of injury without becoming permanently paralyzed.

While he heals, Venturini must wear a contraption called a Halo on his upper body to give his neck support. "I don't think they were looking for comfort when they designed this thing," Venturini said.

The large device, which resembles a tomato cage, consists of a steel ring which encircles his skull and attaches to his head with four bolts. Straight posts lead down from the steel ring to his chest.

"This is all I've ever done for a living," Venturini said despite his injury. "I love what I do now. I wouldn't change it for anything."

Despite various safety improvements in auto racing over the last several years, death and injury remain common problems in a sport that thrives on excitement and speed. According to a study by the Charlotte Observer, more than 300 drivers, spectators and crewmembers have perished in auto racing-related fatalities in the United States since 1990.

However, that number is low in comparison to some other industries. For example, according to the national safety council, 439 people in the United States alone died in 2001 after falling off of a ladder or scaffolding.

Professional racecar drivers often brush off the risk of on-the-job injury or death.

"I look at it as I can die walking across the street, so I might as well be doing something I love," said T.J. Bell, a competitor in the ARCA RE/MAX Series as well as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Bell has participated in a variety of dangerous activities, including racecar driving, water sports and motocross. "Extreme" is the word most often used by his friends in describing the driver.

"If you're scared you're probably going to be hurt and you're probably going to be slow," said Bell, who said he depends on his team and other drivers to keep him safe.

Bell said he especially depended on crew chief Jeff McClure. "He told me when he very first met me that he would never put me in equipment he wouldn't put himself in."

Andy Hillenburg, a professional driver whose racing resume includes stints in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, Indy Racing League, USAC, NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, agreed that danger is a second thought among professional racers.

"As far as the dangers you don't really think about that," said Hillenburg, who currently owns and operates the Fast Track High Performance Driving School in Harrisburg, N.C., which trains future drivers on how to race.

Although Hillenburg said he had never been seriously injured while racing, he has sustained injuries that prevented him from competing for a period of six or seven weeks.

Since the death of NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt in 2001, officials in the highest ranks of auto racing have worked closely to increase the safety of the sport.

Among safety improvements implemented in recent years, many NASCAR tracks have installed steel-and-foam energy reduction (SAFER) barriers, often called soft walls, to absorb some of the energy in crashes.

Several NASCAR tracks, including Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, have already installed SAFER Barriers.

"We always want our competitors to be as safe as they possibly can be and the SAFER barriers were the next logical step in that direction," Clay Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway, said in a statement released September 2004, when the barriers were first installed at the 0.526-mile oval. "I know firsthand from my Late Model Stock experience that hitting the wall is never fun, but at least with the SAFER barriers we have lessened the impact of the hit."

And at least one racecar driver said he has benefited directly from SAFER barriers.

Bobby Gerhart, who has been competing in stock cars for more than 20 years, took a hard hit at Nashville Superspeedway in an ARCA RE/MAX Series event this season, slamming into a soft wall barrier.

"It could have certainly been a lot worse for me," Gerhart said of the wreck. "I don't know how fast I was going but I can tell you it was FAST."

While Gerhart said his lower body was extremely sore in the days after the race, he escaped the crash without any major injuries.

"In a hit like I took last Saturday, years ago the outlook may have been way different," Gerhart said.

"Most drivers aren't ultimately responsible for their safety," Gerhart said, pointing to the role race teams and series officials play in keeping drivers safe.

Gerhart said that he noticed all of the sanctioning bodies placing a greater emphasis on safety over the last five years, helping drivers to concentrate on other things.

One such way sanctioning bodies have increased the level of safety for their competitors in recent years is by mandating the use of a head-and-neck restraint system (HANS) device, or similar restraint system. The device is designed to protect a driver from severe neck injuries by minimizing movement of the head, neck and shoulders during a high-impact crash.

ARCA and NASCAR both require such systems.

Gerhart believes the Hans device he was wearing at Nashville contributed to his survival.

"It did its job," Gerhart said of the Hans Device.

Billy Venturini, who is not expected to resume driving duties until August, was wearing a support system called a Hutchens device during his incident. But because he suffered a side-impact crash rather than a head-on collision, the system was unable to prevent his neck injury.

Trevor Ashline, a restraint system engineer who helped design the Hutchens device as well as a similar system known as the R3, said that Venturini's neck fracture was the result of "rotational injuries," which cannot be prevented with neck restraint systems.

But Ashline said much had been done in the past four years to improve the safety of the sport.

"It's how everything works together," Ashline said, explaining that many improvements had been made in the cockpit area of stock cars in recent years. For instance, drivers now use more advanced seats that protect both their ribs and shoulders. They also use stronger, polyester seat belts rather than nylon ones.

However, Ashline said that despite recent safety improvements, auto racing would always be an inherently dangerous sport.

"People die in racecars," said Ashline. "If you are going to get your kids involved in racing you can expect to know people that are going to get hurt or die. It happens all the time."

Meanwhile, Venturini remains on the sidelines of the sport he loves, waiting for his neck to heal so that he can compete again.

He said his outlook on racing had not been affected by the accident.

"When I climb back into that racecar I'm going out there to win."

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(Extreme Jobs takes a weekly trip into the lives of those with extreme professions. Be they part-time or full-time, well-paid or barely compensated, such jobs can be extremely dangerous, extremely interesting, extremely singular, extremely challenging, or otherwise a galactic leap beyond the everyday 9-to-5. Please send comments and questions to Dar Haddix, UPI Business Correspondent, at dhaddix@upi.com.)