Will Power seat belts

[Lotus7]

Reading this morning that Power's belts popped open a second time, and he came in, got re-plugged again, and went back out a third time...
Seriously?
With that mindset, why did he even stop the second time? No inkling that it might keep happening? Especially if loaded heavily in a crash?
The championship was long gone after the first stop, is he just ... stupid?
Thoughts?

[E1pix]

I see it as more of a “Never say die” and “Third time’s the charm” attitude — normally a good thing.

Although in this case, the former sure was a possibility.

[Mark_Silverberg]

Or why did he come in the first time? Under your logic he would have immediately thought the seat belt was faulty. I am not sure the mind had that much extra processing capacity when running that fast on an oval

[Jim Garry]

If he gets out of the car after a few laps, instead of "stupid" he'd be called a quiter.

[Lotus7]

If he gets out of the car after a few laps, instead of "stupid" he'd be called a quiter.

You'd call a guy who gets out of an indycar on an oval with faulty seat belts a "quitter" ? wow, ok

[Lotus7]

Or why did he come in the first time? Under your logic he would have immediately thought the seat belt was faulty. I am not sure the mind had that much extra processing capacity when running that fast on an oval

not what I said at all; the first time it happened he might have thought "not done up properly", or "I bumped it"; the second time was evidence of a problem...
and yeah, I totally agree with "lots to process", but these guys aren't the same as us mere mortals.

[Jim Garry]

No Ian. You called him stupid so I responded by reasoning that by that standard he can't win ... either he'll get called stupid or he'll get called a quitter. Clearly he's not stupid. And he proved hundreds of times over that he's not a quitter.

You'd call a guy who gets out of an indycar on an oval with faulty seat belts a "quitter" ? wow, ok

[Lotus7]

No Ian. You called him stupid so I responded by reasoning that by that standard he can't win ... either he'll get called stupid or he'll get called a quitter. Clearly he's not stupid. And he proved hundreds of times over that he's not a quitter.

well, with respect, lets disagree; while he sure isn't a quitter, he sure set a bad 'safety' example in my mind.

[E1pix]

It’s his life, and what was said of Gilles Villeneuve and Reinhold Messner.

[cliff]

back to the real question...why did they come undone? Faulty mechanism or something maybe got jammed in there when buckling..?
Reaching for an adjustment and popped it...and it sure took a long time to re-set when he came in, Not that there wasn't urgency in the moment which makes fumbling with that stuff worse. Wonder if we will ever know..

[alangbaker]

back to the real question...why did they come undone? Faulty mechanism or something maybe got jammed in there when buckling..?
Reaching for an adjustment and popped it...and it sure took a long time to re-set when he came in, Not that there wasn't urgency in the moment which makes fumbling with that stuff worse. Wonder if we will ever know..

"More haste…less speed".

[mikey]

It’s a tough design problem. Need a latch that’s easy to quickly release but not easy to accidentally release.
tight cockpit. It’s certainly possible to bump it unintentionally.

[mikey]

Regarding what Will might have been thinking you can only speculate.
But I will speculate that the team probably does not regularly practice rapid reassembly of the seatbelts under race conditions so he probably did not know how long it may or may not take to fix the problem. He was also fighting for more than just the championship, as the next several positions in the championship were also in jeopardy.

[hdsporty1988]

Regarding what Will might have been thinking you can only speculate.
But I will speculate that the team probably does not regularly practice rapid reassembly of the seatbelts under race conditions so he probably did not know how long it may or may not take to fix the problem. He was also fighting for more than just the championship, as the next several positions in the championship were also in jeopardy.

Agreed! I can only imagine how tough it is for the crew member to latch those belts while wearing a helmet and in those tight quarters.

[Lotus7]

Agreed! I can only imagine how tough it is for the crew member to latch those belts while wearing a helmet and in those tight quarters.

Agreed, I buckle drivers in several times a day, without wearing a helmet, without the aeroscreen in the way, and under zero time pressure; I was totally empathetic with that crew member.
But my question was what was Power thinking by going out repeatedly after it came undone twice. From earlier comments, I'm apparently more shocked than others :-)

[Fred Michael]

Agreed! I can only imagine how tough it is for the crew member to latch those belts while wearing a helmet and in those tight quarters.

Having buckled in a few drivers with the aeroscreen in place I can say that it's not really easy without a helmet but it's damn near impossible with a helmet on and the steering wheel in place. Then throw in the added pressure of doing it during the race. Why they didn't remove the wheel the first time is beyond me. I am told that they did remove the wheel the second time

[Robins Ken]

Reading this morning that Power's belts popped open a second time, and he came in, got re-plugged again, and went back out a third time...
Seriously?
With that mindset, why did he even stop the second time? No inkling that it might keep happening? Especially if loaded heavily in a crash?
The championship was long gone after the first stop, is he just ... stupid?
Thoughts?

Anyone willing to name the manufacturer?

[mont7]

This article is interesting, particularly when it discusses his partner’s health issues and his thoughts of quitting racing.

https://www.the-race.com/indycar/wha...dycar-decider/

The lead picture in the article shows him wearing belts, but don’t know the date of the photo. I use belts from the same company as in the photo.

[racerjon1]

One note on this while it's come up in discussion.

One the broadcast the announcers said something like, "it was the lap belt, that's the worst one. It might be OK if it was just a shoulder belt."

THIS IS 100% NOT TRUE.

The system must have all belts in place to work properly. A failure of any one component starts holding parts of the body in place and not others. Similar to how a basal skull fracture can occur when the body is held in place but the head is unrestrained, holding hips/lower extremities in place and not the upper body can create it's own set of injuries.

Do not drive a car if any part of your safety system has had a failure/is not operational.

[TimH]

One the broadcast the announcers said something like, "it was the lap belt, that's the worst one. It might be OK if it was just a shoulder belt."

What a clown.

[racerjon1]

What a clown.

I can't remember who it was, but I'd expect more from Hinch or Townsend if they heard/said it. Had I not been watching it on delay (came home from an SCCA event and watched the replay) I probably would have tried to use my network to get a message to them. (I know they read texts during broadcasts.)