In a crunch, it could save lives in a crash. (Tar Heel Tattler).

H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, who runs Lowe's Motor Speedway and

The problem is personalities. Wheeler and NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr. don't get along. And that, Wheeler says, is getting in the way of what's best for the drivers. Crashes have killed six of them the past two years. "The lethal part of this is not good for business at all, much less the ethical question of being in a sport where people are getting killed."

Wheeler, president of Speedway Motorsports, and his boss, CEO and Chairman Bruton Smith, have long feuded with France and his late father. Lately, the bickering has been over race dates. NASCAR has allotted Speedway only one a year at each at its new tracks in Texas and Las Vegas. France's International Speedway Corp. owns controlling interests in 13 other tracks, most of which get two races.

NASCAR looks at the bumper as just another of the publicity stunts he's famous for, Wheeler says. "When we crashed the car here at Charlotte, it was a publicity stunt. But it was a publicity stunt to show that this works, and it needs to be adopted." The bumper crushes upon impact, absorbing the force that has caused fatal head injuries. Stock cars don't have bumpers, just thin steel tubes between their steel frames and plastic-and-steel exteriors. Current construction is too stiff, Wheeler says, sending all of the force into the cockpit.

After Dale Earnhardt's death in February, Wheeler searched for an engineer to design a better bumper. That led him to Paul Lew, president and CEO of Lew Composites in Las Vegas. Lew makes bike wheels and airplane parts out of directional carbon fiber, which has been used for years to fortify Indy and Formula 1 cars. Lew spent $3.5 million and seven months developing and testing the $6,000 bumper. Tests have shown its effectiveness at the same speed as the Earnhardt crash, and he had hoped to convince NASCAR of that before the racing season ended in November.

That wasn't likely to happen. George Pyne, a NASCAR senior vice president, isn't sold on carbon fiber. NASCAR is looking at another option, aluminum foam in the front of the cars. In mid-October, Pyne said it probably would take two years of testing before NASCAR could approve anything.

Wheeler, who has no financial stake in the bumper or Lew's company, says that's too long. "When you've got a situation like this, you've got to roll some dice."