Parker Kligerman is a 25 year old NASCAR Driver and NBC Sports TV Personality. He climbed through ranks driving for iconic names such as Team Penske, Brad Keselowski Racing, and Kyle Busch Motorsports. He will be racing the #92 Ricky Benton Racing Valvoline, Advanced Auto Parts, and Black Tire & Wheels Ford at Daytona on February 19th, 7:30 PM est.
Almost two years ago, former NFL quarterback Donovan Mcnabb took a gouge at than newly crowned 6-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson – Saying he and all racecar drivers were NOT athletes. The sport as a whole went on the offensive. Fans threatened Donovan, NASCAR drivers tweeted their reasons for why they were.
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I as a NASCAR driver wrote a piece, but I didn’t take the offensive – I agreed, Why? Racecar drivers are not athletes, we are racecar drivers and until drone pilots are actually flying their RC planes. We are the only sport that no matter if it’s a practice or a simple test, we are putting our lives on the line every time we step into that car.
Many drivers will prove their athleticism by pointing to their fitness regimes, the strength they need to endure constant punishing g-forces or even the heat. Some will tell you their half-marathon times, full marathon or even triathlon times. In hopes to justify why they are athletes. They wouldn’t be wrong, this does prove athleticism – yes. Does it help you stamina wise over a grueling 4 hour race – most likely, although hard to prove. The problem is none of this directly makes a driver drive any faster… Well at least I haven’t seen Jimmie Johnson get out his car and start running beside it to win a race. If he does that at Daytona, I’ll eat my own shoe.
Therefore sports tech in racing must help the driver achieve a better result- right? If it’s not helping them directly achieve better lap times or stay faster over a run then what’s the point? This is where the lines blur. As I said before it’s almost impossible to tell if Jimmie Johnson is any faster at the end of a 50 lap run because he is fitter than another driver. As he may have taken care of tires better, his setup might be working better at this point in a run, or his car could just be plain better.
His fitness could quite possibly be making him more comfortable at the end of a run. This we can’t deny, if you’re not exhausted. You will be making better mental decisions, which in turn could make you faster. So what tech could be helping him? Well you may have noticed earlier I mentioned the heat.
Race cars are HOT… I am not talking hot day at the beach hot, I am talking temperatures that many foods could potentially cook at – hot. 140+ degrees fahrenheit, on a day like the 2015 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis speedway, where Casey Mears had a thermometer attached to his seat. At times in the race it was north of 140 degrees, the race proceeded to take over three hours. Chef’s slow roast chickens at this temp, basically we are slow roasting…
Mind you, where the temperature being measured was in a very ventilated portion of the car. Down at his feet in the foot well, where the engine is a mere inches from your toes the temperatures will be 200+ degrees. Without protective booties on your heel the sweat in your shoes can be known to boil and sear your heals. Every piece of the car is metal, it absorbs the heat and radiates it throughout the cockpit. Add in the carbon monoxide, rubber burning under the wheels wells, and fumes. You get the picture of how brutal an environment a race car cockpit can be.
Now for the tech. How can we in this day and age keep these drivers cool?
Outside air ventilation is always an easy fix, but this is a problem. The more sealed off a race car is at times, the faster it will go. So driver ventilation can slow you down. Drivers will always sacrifice their well being for speed. As a famous quote from an owner in Formula one “If I offer my drivers a car that is 2-tenths slower but perfectly safe, or a car two tenths faster that is inherently dangerous. They’ll pick the faster more dangerous one.” It’s in our DNA – We want to win.
In the early 2000’s we transitioned to closefaced helmets. Bringing air directly into the helmet, from outside the car kept the driver’s head cooler and the air he or she breathed in cleaner. This could potentially trick the whole body into thinking it wasn’t as hot. The next step involved filters. Filters to cut down on the carbon monoxide poisoning drivers could possibly suffer. As a little disruption in the body of the car (from tapping the wall or other cars) and suddenly the exhaust fumes, could be directly in the cockpit.
There has been attempts with suits called “cool-suits” that pumped water through a series of tubes in the suit to cool the driver. Sounds great? It wasn’t. The problem being it was a very heavy system, and if it failed. Suddenly you were covered in an extra layer of rubber tubes full of water. It was like wearing Saran Wrap in a sauna.
In 2013 I was introduced to something that would become almost essential for myself. That year I was offered free suits and nomex from Sparco, an italian maker of racing gear.
Their suit was one of lightest I had ever felt, so light you could see through it. Being so light and thin was key as we are required to wear multi-layer nomex suits. Under these suits we also would wear Nomex underwear. These two things combined for many years were always a thick uncomfortable, and hot fit.
Though Sparco then offered me something that would be a real game changer. They offered me this new form of Nomex underwear they were calling “X-Cool.” Being in good shape at the time, I scoffed and thought I’ll be fine. My Sparco rep insisted I try it though, remarking that “I have seen drivers get out of the car with this technology and actually shiver, because it can make you feel so much cooler.” I agreed and my next race I was wearing X-Cool technology.
Upon opening the packaging for the first time I smelled a scent similar to mint cream. It seemed to be a very normal set of Nomex underwear I had worn my whole career. It wasn’t until I got in the car for practice at Daytona that year and started sweating that I realized my body had a strange feeling happening. It was being cooled almost like a cold cream was covering me.
It was odd, but at the same time fantastic. I could only imagine being at one of our hotter races in mid-July and how much cooler I would be! I have never raced without X-cool nomex since.
How does this technology work? Well I am no scientist, so Sparco was nice enough to explain
“The X-COOL SILVER technology is a sensory temperature control of the body temperature. The chemical treatment applied to the fabric consists of millions of microcapsules containing an active principle which is released when exerts a mechanical strain (rubbing, body movement, friction). The active principle contains menthol essence and contributes to lowering the driver’s body temperature leaving a freshness sensation. Permanent treatment of silver ions also inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria.”
Lots of science talk! All I know is it works. So when you’re watching the Daytona 500 this Sunday – in between shoving nacho’s in your face and thinking “I can do that” – pay attention to the Sparco drivers, they may just be a bit cooler. And as we all know – cooler heads prevail!