Given that Tom Gideon’s reason for existing is to protect NASCAR drivers, you’d think he might bristle a little more when he hears about stock car fans who say they only watch the races for the crashes. Oddly enough, it doesn’t prompt the kind of reaction you’d expect.

“We know that crashes are a constant,” NASCAR R&D’s safety director calmly replies in a phone interview from his North Carolina office. “Statistically we know that there are going to be a certain number of wrecks every year, and the number really doesn’t vary all that much from year to year. The accidents have remained constant over the years, but our outcomes are a lot better.”

Gideon – who will be the keynote speaker when the Faculty of Human Kinetics hosts its sixth annual Kinesiology Research Day on March 21 – joined NASCAR in his present role after a long career with General Motors. As manager of GM Racing, he developed driver’s restraints, reinforced racing seats and the inboard net required in the Grand-Am and SCCA Pro series. He was instrumental in building prototype safety vehicles for racing and contributing to NASCAR’s present car.

A professional engineer who graduated from Ohio State University, Gideon’s primary role with NASCAR these days is in crash analysis and improving driver safety. On Wednesday, he’ll speak to students about his career.

“The focus will be on showing students where research can lead them, and how it can prepare them for, or even become their careers,” said Faculty of Human Kinetics research leadership chair Dave Andrews.

Gideon will also disucss how far the sport of racing has developed in terms of safety over the last century. Considering the number of races that are held every year, NASCAR’s record has been good, he said. There were a number of fatal accidents around the end of the 1990s and early 2000s – most notably the one in Daytona that claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt in 2001 – which prompted NASCAR to reach out to other areas of expertise to help make the sport safer. There haven’t been any fatalities since then, he said.

“I love what I do because the results are on the track,” he said. “If someone does get hurt, we look into it in great detail.”

Besides Gideon’s address, the event will include a student panel on kinesiology research, as well as a poster session for student researchers to display and discuss their work. More than 60 posters will be on display.

For more information, contact Dave Andrews at 519-253-3000, ext. 2433, or at dandrews@uwindsor.ca