While just owning all the right pieces of equipment is often good enough for the tech department, the question becomes, is that good enough for you? After all, if you get injured on the track, you are the one that's going to have to live with the pain and hospital bills. And if you can possibly avoid a several-thousand-dollar emergency room bill or time out of work by spending a little more on your safety equipment, isn't that a good investment? Yeah, we thought so too.

Expand that safety checklist to include real value judgments. Fine, you own a helmet, but is it showing a spider web of fine stress cracks from the time you threw it on the ground in frustration after a bad heat? Or, you have a five-point harness but do you spend the time to check for fraying webbing around the adjusters and mounts? How about the gloves you have to show the inspector but never bother to put on and leave in the trailer whenever you take the track? You get the idea.

No matter how good it is, no piece of safety equipment will be able to protect you from everything. If it is designed well and installed correctly, all of your safety equipment works together to provide you the best possible protection. Following a standard checklist before every practice and race just makes good sense.

Check out our Snell 2015 helmets here. You might want to take a look at some new shoes and gloves while you are at it. If you have any questions, call us toll free at 1-800-654-7223. Our help is free.

Excerpts taken from Hot Rod Network and Simpson article by Jeff Huneycutt.