By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor
Safety in NASCAR just took another step forward. On Wednesday, the sanctioning body announced a partnership with American Medical Response to move toward a dedicated traveling safety team for the first time in their history.
While not quite as big the Holmatro Safety Team that the IndyCar Series uses, NASCAR will now have a dedicated safety chase vehicle that will roll out to any accident scene along with the other safety vehicles that have been used previously. AMR will provide a state-licensed doctor and paramedic for the chase vehicle and they will be joined by two NASCAR Track Services team members to make an assessment at the scene.
In addition to the new safety chase vehicle, NASCAR will also continue to use experienced local emergency room doctors in the Infield Care Center to help maintain the connection with local hospitals.
“This partnership further strengthens NASCAR’s medical response capability, making our well-established, medical response system even better,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “AMR is a leader in the emergency services sector, and its doctors and paramedics add another layer of expertise to the immediate response team.”
Also, AMR will provide a physician to serve as the director of the AMR Safety Team to oversee all aspects of the services provided by AMR, as well as working with the NASCAR Medical Liaisons and NASCAR Consulting Physicians.
