CONCORD, N.C. – In a much-welcomed move, NASCAR will have a traveling safety team announcing Wednesday morning that they have contracted with American Medical Response (AMR) to have a reservoir of doctors and paramedics who will treat drivers and teams at the racetrack this season.
AMR’s partnership with NASCAR only applies to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekends, leaving the standalone races for its XFINITY and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series divisions reverting to its previous routines in years past.
As part of their agreement with NASCAR, AMR will provide one state-license trauma doctor and paramedic at every Cup race weekend. AMR will be accompanied by two NASCAR Track Services team members – to provide immediate response in case of an accident.
“One of the keys for us was to have that comfort factor – we think the care has been really good at track but it’s that recognized person that the drivers trust and that initial observation was someone injured or were they not,” NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said.
While other racing series, such as IndyCar and NHRA have a traveling set of doctors, O’Donnell said it contracted with AMR so it could have doctors who treat patients on a daily basis. Throughout the 38-race season (including Clash and All-Star event) at the sport’s top level, drivers (and potentially teams based on situation) are expected to see a rotating group of about four doctors.
“This partnership further strengthens NASCAR’s medical response capability, making our well-established, medical response system even better,” added O’Donnell. “AMR is a leader in the emergency services sector, and its doctors and paramedics add another layer of expertise to the immediate response team.”
As part of the new initiative, an AMR doctor will be named as the national medical director to oversee NASCAR’s medical policies, track protocols and approvals of drivers cleared to return to racing. AMR personnel have previously staffed select NASCAR races as part of contracts with tracks and works major sports venues and events throughout the country.
While NASCAR will have a healthy dose of AMR representation at the track, local emergency room physicians and personnel will continue to communicate with nearby medical facilities from each of the track’s infield care centers. The AMR will coordinate with the local medical staff to ensure the most thorough care for the competitors (and teams).
“If there was a way for us to upgrade what we already to do, we are always open to looking at that,” O’Donnell said. “When we spent the time meeting [with AMR] on the philosophy of how they would go about being a partner and specifically how they could enhance our care that we give to the drivers, candidly this was a no-brainer.
“This was something that we looked at that drivers have looked at care [about] when you look at concussion protocols and all these things become more and more important as that initial look into the race car – who is that what are their qualifications and how are decisions being made for us became more and more a key area we needed to look at.”
With their new relationship with NASCAR, AMR becomes the official Emergency Medical Services partner of NASCAR.
“We’re excited about this partnership with NASCAR,” said Edward Van Horne, president and chief executive officer, AMR. “We’re going to work collaboratively with NASCAR and local teams to share best EMS practices and ensure the highest quality of care.”
While once hoped that NASCAR would implement traveling safety team to all of its national and regional platforms, O’Donnell wouldn’t rule that out completely for down the road.
“This is a first year that we’re going to look at it and anything we can improve upon, we’re always open to that,” O’Donnell said. “We’ll look at how that works … and see where we go from there.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
