On September 15, 2001, CART had scheduled a race at the Eurospeedway Lausitz. After the terrorist attack on the United States, questions abounded about whether to hold the race. A decision was made to hold the race which was re-named the German Memorial.
As the end of the race neared, Alex Zanardi was t-boned by Alex Tagliani. While Tagliani suffered minor injuries, Zanardi’s body was hit by flying shrapnel when his car exploded, severing both of his legs. Rapidly losing blood, his life hung in the balance. Dr. Stephen Olvey and his long-time partner Dr. Terry Trammel, the head of the orthopedics team, saved Zanardi’s life. This was possible only because of the advances in motorsports medicine over the previous four decades. including that if there was a life-threatening accident, the patient would be airlifted to a Level One trauma center in Berlin some 35 minutes away rather than to Dresden, a 10-minute trip.
The book is a history of Dr. Olvey’s involvement in motorsports medicine which began while he was attending the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He responded to an ad on the bulletin board for volunteers to work at the Speedway during May. Working under the direction of Dr. Thomas Hanna, whom Dr. Olvey credits with inventing motorsports medicine, his first year did not include the Indianapolis 500. When Dr. Olvey returned for a second year, he was stationed during the race at Turn 1 with a hearse which doubled as an ambulance. The only medical supply in the vehicle was a bottle of oxygen.
In the 1950s, drivers had little protection during a crash but that began to change in the 1960s. Seat belts became mandatory in 1963. Colin Chapman designed the first monocoque chassis in 1962. The driver sat in a safety tub surrounded by energy-absorbing, breakaway components to dissipate much of the energy associated with a crash. Many drivers would walk away without a scratch.
Wally Dallenbach suggested a traveling medical team to Dick King, the president of the United States Auto Club (USAC) after the Milwaukee race in 1975. Dr. Olvey recruited Dr. Henry (Hank) Bock, one of the first emergency room physicians in Indiana, to join the team. Dr. Bock advanced the medical system at IMS into what is one of the most sophisticated of its kind in the world. Dr. Olvey says if you have a heart attack, you are probably better off to have it at the Indy 500 than in your home.
The idea of a Safety Truck originated with Steve Edwards in USAC. The truck was equipped with everything needed for the safe extrication of an injured race driver including emergency resuscitation equipment, splinting material, dressings, extrication tools, oil dry and fire extinguishing apparatus.
Dr. Olvey met orthopedic surgeon Dr. Terry Trammel on Race Day 1981. After Danny Ongais crashed his racer, his legs protruded from the front of the racer. Dr. Trammel was on duty in the emergency room because he was the newest doctor in his medical practice. Dr. Trammel saved Ongais’ mangled right leg which and soon became the “go to” orthopedic surgeon for racers.
In 1981, A. J. Foyt was injured at a CART race at Michigan International Speedway where, among his other injuries, was a moderately severe concussion. He was airlifted to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. He signed himself out of the hospital and returned to Texas. There, he began to complain of headaches and double vision. A CT scan revealed a small blood clot on his brain. As a result of the crash, Dr. Olvey convinced race promoters, including Roger Penske, to hire medical evacuation helicopters for the transportation of seriously injured drivers.
After racers Gordon Smiley and Jim Hickman died in 1982, Dr. Trammel suggested that they document and publish the accident and injury statistics in a medical journal. Their first paper appeared in 1984. It showed that orthopedic injuries accounted for 89% of all the injuries sustained during the period. Head injuries comprised only 10% while internal injuries were less than 1%. This is very different to what normally happens in a highway crash where internal injuries are frequent along with head injuries. The difference is because of the six-point seat belt system utilized in race cars. Drs. Olvey and Trammel uncovered that for race car drivers, attention was needed to the chassis to lessen the impact of the crashes upon the feet and ankles. While skull fractures were uncommon, most head injuries were the result of rotational forces. With this information, engineers redesigned the racecars to have a stronger footbox reducing foot and ankle injuries by 60%
Motorsports safety took a leap forward when General Motors concluded that there were things to be learned by studying motor racing crashes that would be applicable to street cars. They put a black box, similar to that found in airplanes, in some of the racecars. The information gleaned helped to improve the safety of the sport. By increasing the integrity of the safety tub in which the driver sits, and changing the position of the gearshift lever, the number of hip injuries were reduced. Crash recorders were installed in all race cars in 1993.
Emerson Fittipaldi suffered a severe neck injury in a crash at the Michigan International Speedway. Quick intervention by the Safety Team immobilized his neck while surgery in Miami, where he resided, kept him from being paralyzed. A computer model of his crash resulted in a change in the cockpit to keep the head and neck from moving too freely. Other changes were made including having seats made to better fit the driver. The HANS device for head and neck support was later developed by Dr. Bob Hubbard and his brother-in-law, Jim Downing. It became mandatory for all CART oval races in 2001.
CART was also the first motorsports group to utilize ImPACT, a computer program which can determine not only if an athlete has suffered a concussion but also when it is safe to return to action. Subsequently, earpiece accelerometers were developed to measure the forces the brain is subject to during a crash. Dr. Olvey was at the center of this line of inquiry. They were first used in CART and IndyCar in 2003.
I stumbled upon this book because of a documentary, Rapid Response. The book is easy to read and is the story of Dr. Olvey’s life in medicine and includes many amusing tales of his involvement in motorsports. Dr. Olvey served as the director of the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami for over 25 years.