Robert Hubbard
Inventor whose HANS device has saved racing drivers’ lives
ROBERT HUBBARD, who has died aged 75, was a Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics whose invention, the HANS device, has saved the lives of countless racing drivers.
Hubbard developed the Head And Neck Support device with his brother-inlaw, the Sportscar Championship driver Jim Downing, after realising that many deaths in racing crashes were due to fractures at the base of the skull. The HANS consists of a brace that extends from the neck upwards and down over the chest, preventing potentially lethal sudden head movements.
The catalyst was the death in 1981 of Downing’s friend, Patrick Jacquemart, in a crash during testing. Downing asked Hubbard: “What can we do to prevent this?”
The pair set to work, and in 1985 they filed a patent application; the following year Downing raced at Daytona using a prototype. But while the actor and motor racing fanatic, Paul Newman, was an early adopter, sales were slow – 300 over the first 10 years – although General Motors and Ford contributed funds as research continued.
Perceptions began to change as more drivers lost their lives. The deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola, on one weekend in 1994, concentrated minds, and Professor Sid Watkins, the head of Formula One’s medical team, began to take an interest. The Austrian driver Gerhard Berger tested a version, but although the US Indycar circuit made HANS compulsory, F1 was slow on the uptake.
In 1999 the Uruguayan driver Gonzalo Rodríguez died of a basilar skull fracture in a crash at Laguna Seca raceway in California, and interest in HANS intensified. Then two years later, the American racing legend Dale Earnhardt Snr died of the same injury, killed instantly on the final lap of the Nascar Daytona 500. Downing recalled: “In one week, I took orders for 250. I had three on the shelf. It was a very hectic year after Mr Earnhardt died.”
Although its drivers were sceptical about HANS – as Earnhardt had been – Formula One finally came on board not long after his death. A drivers’ meeting about the device was held in São Paulo, Brazil. There was a long delay while they waited for Michael Schumacher to turn up; the all-conquering German driver eventually appeared, and listened to the presentation. Afterwards, he stood up, asked a few questions, then said: “I’ll take three,” and walked out.
The other drivers were convinced: if it was good enough for the greatest ever racing driver, it was good enough for them.
Robert Hubbard was born on June 8 1943. He graduated in Engineering from Duke University, then completed a PHD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, studying the mechanical properties of the skull, at the University of Illinois.
In the 1970s he worked for General Motors, developing crash test dummies. He was a consultant to Nasa, and was Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics at Michigan State University, retiring in 2006.
Since Earnhardt’s death in 2001, no Nascar drivers have been killed on the track – a statistic largely attributed to innovations like the HANS. The device and related artefacts are due to be exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum from 2021.
Robert Hubbard is survived by his wife of 52 years, Joann, and by their twin sons.
Robert Hubbard, born June 8 1943, died February 5 2019