Doctor Robert Hubbard died this week, having saved the lives of countless motor racers since the late 1980s.
Hubbard invented the HANS device which tethers a racing driver’s helmet to their shoulders to prevent death or head and spinal injury from whiplash and impact with hard objects in a crash.
In 1986, co-inventor Jim Downing was the first International Motor Sports Association driver to wear the first approved design of the HANS device, after Hubbard developed multiple prototypes.
HANS Performance, based in Texas, says Dr Hubbard, 75, – like all the families and friends whose racing driver loved ones are still with them – was surrounded by love in his last moments.
“Our thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends,” the company says.
“Bob’s invention truly changed the world of auto racing safety and he was a kind-hearted person who would help anyone in need. He will be missed greatly.”
The HANS device, which stands for “head and neck restraint system”, is made of carbon-fibre and is mandatory in all forms of FIA-owned motorsport categories, like Formula One since 2003.
It’s designed to perform similarly to the airbag in a passenger car, to reduce basal frontal skull fractures while still allowing head movement to look into corners and mirrors.
Original designs once prevented the head from turning before a revised design allowed the tethers to swivel on the helmet.
A crash in 1981 saw Hubbard’s friend Patrick Jacquemart killed in what was considered a low-speed, low-impact crash.
This encouraged Hubbard and Downing to develop the HANS device, which became part of a “renewed focus on safety in F1” when Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at the 1994 San Marino GP. The HANS device and protest from Professor Sid Watkins and the FIA saw a culture change across the wider motorsport community globally.
“The HANS had already become compulsory in ChampCar (when F1 mandated it in 2003), although at the time there was still some resistance in other forms of US motorsport,” HANS Performance says.
“The death of Dale Earnhardt Snr in the 2001 Daytona 500 would change that.
“The HANS already had a presence in NASCAR following a spate of recent accidents – several drivers were already using one at Daytona – but the loss of the sport’s biggest star proved decisive.”
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