Formula One

• Formula One is considered the pinnacle of motorsports. The cars are the most innovative and technically developed of all race vehicles, as are the driver safety mechanisms. Racers typically wear state-of-the art head protection such as the Schuberth helmet. These helmets are best-in-breed devices that are custom-molded from composite materials and optimized for intrusion protection, in addition to comfort and ventilation.
  
  

NASCAR

• After the untimely neck-extrusion death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona in 2001, the stock car community made a commitment to eliminating this kind of head injury in the future. Of all of the types of systems that came after Earnhardt's death, the HANS, or Head and Neck System, subsequently won out. The company produces a molded "collar" with integrated dual-shoulder surfaces that conform to the driver's shoulders. The helmet is then bound to the collar by flexible straps, and the shoulder surfaces are anchored to the body by the car's multi-point seat harness.
  
  

IndyCar

• One of the worst threats in racing is the potential of a pit fire. In this scenario, a hot race car catches fire as the result of spilled fuel or a filler hose failure. In the IndyCar Series, cars utilize ethanol, which is nearly invisible even though dyes are blended with the fuel in order to mitigate this problem. Therefore, drivers wear multi-layered fire-resistant clothing such as Nomex (hoods, underwear, socks, shoes, gloves), and more recently impregnated Kevlar to generate more strength and time between the point of a flash and the physical effects on the driver's body.
  
  

ALMS

• ALMS runs two type types of cars: open-topped full-body prototype cars, and closed-top full body GT cars such as the Corvette C7 or the Porsche Turbo. In the latter case, the car protects the driver itself by offering a safety cocoon called a roll cage. This structure is typically made of high-strength moly-tubular materials, able to handle significant impacts at high-speed and not deform or allow large external body panels to intrude into the cockpit and hence the driver.
  
  

Grand Am

• In common with the ALMS GT class, Grand Am full-body race cars are used throughout their event classes. Just like with all types of racing, fire is a concern, but Grand Am offers excellent semi-manual extinguishing systems to slow a cockpit or engine compartment down before a fire becomes more than an annoyance. In this case, it is not expected that these systems will eliminate a fire entirely, but the goal is to buy additional time to allow the driver to exit the car without getting singed.