Throwdowns > Closed

Schad - Notorious Deadbeat said 08/28, 11:34 AM
John Fitch.

Who? Well, we'll get into that.

First, some background. As some are aware, he was indirectly involved with the worst tragedy in racing history. The LeMans 1955 as shown below.



I say indirectly because he was the second driver in the team with Pierre Levegh, who's car was launched into the stands which caused the death of over 100 people. The cause of the crash has been debated since it happened, but this isn't the place for that.

This crash did one thing though. It got him to devote his life to safety on race tracks and roads.

Why is he the most influential driver ever? No matter who you are, you have benefited from his safety advancements that he invented if you've ever driven on a highway.

He came up with the Fitch Barrier System, which everyone has seen and it looks like a bunch of trash barrels and they are filled with sand in order to absorb impact.

The Fitch Compression Barrier is commonly used on oval tracks and other high speed areas on non-oval tracks.

We will get into more of his advancements, but when you factor that into his racing career, he stands alone.

Schad - Notorious Deadbeat said 08/28, 12:54 PM
Well, Fitch raced in more than 2 races in his career. In 1953, he was "Sports Car Racer of the Year". Most of the racing he did was in Europe, but did race at Sebring, and headed the Corvette Racing team and continued to race until 1966.

Now, it's ironic in a way that you chose Earnhardt for one specific reason. If he had been using one of John Fitch's safety devices, the "Fitch Full Driver Capsule", that would have attached his helmet in the same manner as the HANS device, he would have survived the crash that claimed his life.

While Earnhardt was influential to NASCAR, that is the end of his reach. Yes, he brought them more money and more exposure, but that's the end of it. Fitch influenced every NASCAR driver, along with the CART ones, the SCCA ones and on and on.

It took his death for NASCAR to take safety as the #1 concern, but that was almost 50 years after Fitch.

On top of all of that, he was also the design consultants for tracks such as Watkins Glen and Lime Rock, along with others.

So, he designed tracks, designed safety barriers for tracks, and has designed several safety devices used on the roads we all drive.

That's influence.

Schad - Notorious Deadbeat said 08/28, 04:31 PM
The whole bigger celebrity thing doesn't work here. Kim Kardashian is a bigger celebrity and better known than Clara Barton. Clara had a far bigger influence on everyone's lives than the worthless Kardashian. Yes, I know, worthless and Kardashian are redundant.

You missed the part about Earnhardt, if following what Fitch was trying to get everyone to do, would still likely be alive today if he had heeded the warning and used the devices.

As far as Earnhardt being more successful on the track, that doesn't apply either. Is Petty more influential than Earnhardt because he won more races?

Fitch may not be as big a celebrity, but he had a bigger influence on auto racing as a whole, influences everyone in their daily lives by his road safety measures and his safety measures on the track were almost 50 years ahead of NASCAR. 50 years!

Fitch raced at 6 Le Mans, the F1 circuit, and was driver of the year 1 year. He also was a team manager and a race track designer. That's a lotta influence in racing as well.

Nothing Earnhardt did reaches past NASCAR. Nothing. His influence is in a very small place compared to racing as a whole and the road system we all use.