Acknowledgements

Many individuals and companies contributed to the development of Isaac®, some without even knowing it. Although we cannot mention them all, we would like to acknowledge the main players. They are presented here in the general chronological order of their participation. We apologize for any omissions, and all errors are ours.

Rod Henry, P.E.: Licensed Professional Engineer, engineering consultant and former Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Central Florida. Rod has extensive design experience which includes "high impact devices." Rod developed the initial equations which predicted the final head loads in the actual crash tests. Great work starting with nothing but pencil and paper.

Racecar Engineering in Winter Park, Florida: RCE is a nationwide racing parts retailer with over 300 performance product lines. They supplied the helmets and harnesses used for our crash testing and the seat used for our mockups. Special thanks to Scott for getting everything on such short notice.

Penske, Bilstien, Koni and Suspa: Shock manufacturers who injected reality into the project by telling us what could and could not be done with a shock.

SPA Technique in Indianapolis: Provided some excellent computer-generated reports of the dyno tests of the shocks. Without these we could not have matched our forecasting equations to the computer models or crash test data.

RKB Engineering in Sanford, Florida: Provided all the machined aluminum and stainless steel components for our test prototypes. Great work. Thanks for meeting a tight schedule.

General Research and Manufacturing in Harbor City, California: Provided all the machined titanium components for our test prototypes. If you need complex, five axis CNC machining of anything from balsa wood to kryptonite, give them a call.

Paul Begeman, Ph.D. at Wayne State University Bioengineering Center: Dr. Begeman is a master of the computational models which analyze the reaction of the driver's body to a racing crash. He saved us countless hours refining the Isaac® design. Thanks also goes to the lab technicians, especially Craig Foster, who have run so many crash tests they make it look easy.

Paul Altamore, Manager Engineering Services, TNO-MADYMO North America: Paul makes sure the TNO-MADYMO software, used in the Isaac® computer simulations, is up to snuff.

Leon Kazarian, Ph.D.: A biomechanics expert who has worked with the U.S. Air Force and Navy analyzing injuries caused by ejection seats, carrier landings and helicopter crashes. Dr. Kazarian performed the biomechanical analyses of the remains of the astronauts retrieved from the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Ford Motor Company: Provided the detailed stock car model used in the computer simulations.

Tom Gideon, General Motors Racing Safety: Many thanks for his offers of support, and GM's support of Wayne State's lab over the years.

Bruce Neal, Technical Sales & Applications, Inc. in Oviedo, Florida: Bruce tracked down the quick-release pins we needed. TSA handles a lot of high performace parts and pieces for the likes of NASA and other aerospace customers.

SEI Motorsports in Daytona Beach, Florida: Four days after final testing one of our engineers used the Isaac® at an SCCA event. SEI provided the Spec Racer Ford and all track support. Budd and Frank Severino have a great crew—Jack and Rob worked straight through the Florida heat for two days and Frank had some good driving tips for his students. Ah, Florida in July: 97 degrees, heat index of 107, and a black, three-layer driving suit. When our guy got home his wife first thought it was the dog that smelled so bad.

Mick Robinson of Robinson Motorsports in Melbourne, Florida: If you want to know how to drive an SRF fast, ask Mick. Mick also gave us some excellent feedback on Isaac®.

Briar Racing in Sanford, Florida: Thanks to Mike Fritts for letting us shoot some photos at their shop. Not only was the car brand new, the rest of the shop was spotless also.

Red Rocket, Inc. of Orlando, Florida: This public relations firm has done a great job of getting the word out about Isaac® without resorting to hype. Their graphics and Web work are top notch.

Bill (a.k.a. planet6racing): Bill is a racer/engineer who contacted us about developing the adhesive helmet mount technology. We had been working on this for some time, but Bill was an expert on the subject and offered to do the R&D for us. Several months, and 30 lab tests later he had the answer. Great work, Bill. Thanks.