NASCAR Racing: seating, crash injuries, nascar drivers

Question
hello stooge,

  my question is, why are the nascar drivers seating so far forward?  i remember when the driver's arms were more outstreched.
  seems to me that there would be less crash
injuries if the seats were back more. especially
in regards to head and neck injuries.(earnhardt?)

 thanks,
dick

Answer
There is no set rule on distance, it is driver preference. The way Ol' DW explained it once was take a bowling ball and hold it out close to your body and see how long you can hold it. Then take the same bowling ball and extend your arms all the way in front of you and see how long you can hold it.
Wrestling a 3500 pound car for 4 hours is just easier when your arms are closer to your body.
As for injuries, the seat belts aren't supposed to allow you to travel that far forward. And yes, we could get into the physics of this discussion but it was done to death last year. I'm staying away from that.