Established in 1957 after the tragic death of Pete "William" Snell, the Snell Memorial Foundation has been a leader in helmet safety both in the United States and around the world. For over 50 years, the Snell Memorial Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, has been dedicated exclusively to head protection through scientific and medical research, standards development, helmet testing, and publ
ic education. Dr. Snively was the principal architect of the Snell Memorial Foundation. In 1956, at the time of Snell’s crash, Dr. Snively had already been interested in helmets and crash injury protection. Fired by Snell’s needless death and with the support and encouragement of the SCCA and Pete’s friends and loved ones, Snively intensified his efforts. Within a few years, under Snively’s leadership, the newly incorporated Snell Memorial Foundation published the first Snell standard for protective headgear. Over the next twenty years, Snively revised this standard continually upward demanding more and more protective performance from the helmet industry. Thanks to the support of the auto racing public, whose numbers were soon swelled by a considerably larger motorcycling public, Snively got that improved performance.
