CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, September 26 - October 2, 1997 - 37
HEALTH & FITNESS
Local f'trefighters promote safety at NASCAR races
fighters at Dover races for 15
years.
To work there, he said, firefight-
ers must be active members of a
Delaware fire company, and they
must have additional training in
flammable liquids. They also at-
tend additional safety training ses-
sions prior to each race weekend
when drivers hold seminars to in-
struct rescue personnel on issues
pertaining to the vehicles.
John Andretti, RCA Ford driver,
provided the safety seminar for the
Sept. 19-21 Busch Series and Win-
By Kerry Kester
NASCAR fans know that when
accidents occur on a race track, it
is only seconds before fire crews
and medics reach the cars. During
the races held in Dover, skilled
firefighters and medics from
throughout the state work together
to provide the quality rescue ser-
vices for Busch and Winston Cup
races.
Charlie Martin, a member of the
Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire
Company, has been working with
both Lewes and Rehoboth fire-
Jen EIIIngsworth photo
Members of the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Department
also serve as members of the NASCAR Fire and Rescue Team
during the races in Dover. Shown in front is Charlie Martin of
the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Department, while in back
(l-r) are Ted Doyle, Bill McManus and Dover Volunteer Fire De-
partment Station 46 member Jack Mitchell.
ston Cup Series in Dover, said
Martin. He said Andretti went
through all the vehicle features and
explained anything that is new or
changed in the cars as well as ba-
sics for those who might be new to
working NASCAR events.
"NASCAR is very safety con-
scious," said Martin. "Safety's
their number one thing. Without
the safety crews, they wouldn't
race. From what I've heard,
Dover's ranked in about the top
five. It's a good track - it's one of
the tracks that's never had a bad
safety crew. The safety crews are
really good at Dover."
Safety crew members, explained
Martin, need to learn how to quick-
ly switch off the cars' electrical
systems and open the hood to en-
sure the vehicles have no fires.
"Usually you can see them," said
Martin, but the crews always fol-
low procedures.
Martin recalled a race several
years ago when Mark Martin, who
won this year's Dover race, had a
car fire. "We chased it all around
the track to get it," said Martin,
who said crews were dispatched
from several turns. Martin, he
Racing
said, was trying to drive back to Pit
Row. "He knew he was on fire,"
said Martin. The fire crew from
Turn 4 finally caught up with him,
and they soon saw that the car was
spilling fuel.
"They used a lot of duct tape on
the car," said Martin, and the dri-
ver was able to complete the race.
Pit crews can replace or repair any-
thing on the vehicles except they
cannot replace the engines, said
Martin. Most fires are caused by
oil line or belt breaks, he said, and
those can be repaired.
Continued on page 41
Wives Auxiliary promotes healthcare
By Kerry Kester
Drivers, pit crew members and others who work in
the professional stock car race industry often sustain
injuries, but when they need to leave the track to get
medical attention, their absence can impede the effi-
ciency of the highly competitive racing teams. The
Human Performance Center provides easy-access
healthcare services to credentialed racing staff mem-
bers and drivers.
The concept of a mobile, sports-medicine unit began
in 1980 on the rodeo circuit, said Gene Andrews of
Mobile Sports Medicine Systems Inc., who operates
and coordinates services for the car-racing mobile
clinic.
He said Don Andrews, athletic trainer for the Fort
Worth (Texas) hockey team, along with J. Pat Evans,
M.D., the Dallas Cowboys team physician, attended a
rodeo and offered their services to the cowboys. The
interest among cowboys was high, and the mobile
clinic evolved to include a facility that maintained
necessary equipment and could easily be moved from
rodeo to rodeo.
In 1986, Winston Cup Racing Wives Auxiliary Inc.
picked up the concept and offered an on-site health-
care service to Championship Auto Racing Associa-
tion (CART) at the Indy car races. That service was
also well received, and by 1993 it was expanded to in-
elude the NASCAR circuit when the auxiliary sam-
pled the interest level at a NASCAR event at the
Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.
"Then we started adding a few tracks each year, and
now we're covering all the tracks," said Andrews.
The Human Performance Center has been part of the
Dover NASCAR event for the past three or four years,
he said. During the MBNA 200 and 400 events the
weekend of Sept. 19-21, approximately 30 drivers and
crew members sought medical attention at the mobile
clinic.
"This is not sanctioned by NASCAR," said An-
drews, but each track, he said, must give individual
approval for the van to operate at a race, but most
tracks are pleased to have the service.
The healthcare services are available to the racing
staffs, said Andrews, but licensing is too difficult to
obtain for treating the general public at all the differ-
ent race sites. "But it's available to the Busch crews,
too," he said.
"We work with the infield medical center," said An-
drews. The van, however, gets new healthcare staff
with each new town. Using a referral system, local
athletic trainers are hired to work at each race. Not
only is that system cost efficient for the program, local
professionals are able to provide information about
Continued on page 40
Women and HIV: A call to action
At a time when women's issues
such as abortion, sexual harass-
ment and rape are at the forefront
of public debate, one important is-
sue is being overlooked.
HIV and AIDS has been histori-
cally ignored as a woman's issue.
According to the June 1997 issue
of "Positive Living," AIDS is the
third leading cause of death in
women age 25-44 and the leading
cause of death in African-Ameri-
can women in the same age group.
Thanks to increased funding in
research and excellent treatment,
education and prevention pro"
grams, death from AIDS-related
illnesses fell in 1996 by 15 percent.
However, deaths from AIDS-relat-
ed illnesses rose by 3 percent in
women in the same time period.
Unfortunately, most programs are
not specifically geared toward
women; AIDS is not looked at as a
"women's issue." This fact alone
puts HI'V/AIDS on the agenda for
women.
HIV/AIDS is central to all
women's issues. The number of
women infected with HIV will
equal the number of infected men
by the year 2000
We cannot wait that long for
equal treatment and equal pro-
gramming. Women need to be-
come active participants in the so-
lution to this ongoing problem of
disparity.
We need to organize and partic-
ipate. We must make certain de-
mands and we must be responsible
for seeing that these demands are
met. We must become major play-
ers in the solution. We must de-
mand that the issues of racism and
sexism not pervade this disease.
African-American and Hispanic
women comprise 21 percent of the
population, yet they account for 78
percent (59 percent for African-
Americans and 19 percent for His-
panic women) of all women's HIV
cases.
AIDS rates for Black and His-
panic women are 17 and six times
higher than for white women. We
must demand support groups, pro-
gramming, and child care for these
women. We must demand ethnic
and gender-specific prevention
methods.
Additionally, the national popu-
lation of women living with HIV in
prison is greater than the number
of women with HIV in any city in
the United States. The majority of
these women are young mothers.
We must reach out to incarcerated
women and ensure them the sup-
port they need and deserve.
We must demand to be included
in the clinical trials. Women ac-
count for only 10 percent of all
clinical trials. Women constitute
20 percent of all cases of HIV in-
fection yet are virtually forgotten
in treatment research.
We must be sure our lesbian and
bisexual sisters are not discounted,
for they face the same issues and
tragedies of this disease. We must
educate young women to make
positive choices and give them the
necessary tools to negotiate safer
sex with their partners. In doing
this, we empower women to be-
come activists; be it in their own
home, locally, or nationally.
We need to educate one another
on welfare reform and managed
care. We need to thoroughly un-
derstand the healthcare system and
how it is affecting us. We need to
plan for our children's future.
I urge every woman reader to be-
come involved to see that we find
these solutions. One of the best
ways to get involved is to speak
out. Submit an article to "Voices,"
call your service provider, demand
more programming.
Apply for funding in child care;
it is available for women who need
emergency assistance to get to a
job interview or doctor's appoint-
ment (ask your case manager for
details.
Organiz e an HIV+ support group
in your community. Make a behav-
ior change that will decrease your
risk of infection. Do something.
Whether it be in your house or the
White House, you will be making a
difference.
when another woman is infected
with HIV every 20 seconds, and
the government is turning a deaf
ear, something must be done. It is
up to us.
HEALTH TOPICS
Abby Karlsen
Abby Karlsen was an intern
at the Delaware HIV Consor-
tium, who granted permis-
sion to reprint her article.
