AJ Roadster NJ
10-18-2011, 02:19 PM
These are just the thoughts of a fan of all motorsports. I watch every F1 race, every NASCAR race, most of the IndyCar races, many of the NHRA races, and have attended many of each. I love the sport.
I have been saying for a long time that IndyCar in particular is treading on thin and very unsafe ice. While Dan Wheldon's death is tragic, and while I understand that this has always been a blood sport and always will be, the sport as a whole will suffer horrible repercussions when, someday, a car flies over the fencing and into the grandstand. The potential for dozens (or more) of spectator deaths from one incident is very real in IndyCar.
F1 does not endanger spectators to anything like the degree that IndyCar does. NASCAR has had its moments of high risk, and as a result has gone to great lengths to implement effective methods of slowing the cars down and keeping them on the ground in almost all circumstances. The NHRA does not put spectator seats at the end of the strip.
Bottom line, there is a huge difference between a driver taking responsibility for his/her own risks by simply getting behind the wheel, and a fan taking a huge risk by buying a ticket without understanding that the sactioning body is throwing the dice on every oval they race.
Every ticket I've bought to any motorsports venue has fine print on it somewhere that says that spectating an auto race is inherently dangerous and the facility is not responsible if I die watching the race. Fine. But I also expect the sanctioning body to extend reasonable efforts to protect me. Someday, when IndyCar launches a car into the grandstand and kills 80 people (as happened at LeMans in 1955), it will affect F1, NASCAR, NHRA, and your local short track.
The entire sport will suffer. Angry lawmakers that don't understand the sport will pass ridiculous new regulations to strangle speed. IndyCar, as an organization, poses a threat to the rest of the motorsports community. There is NO REASON to run open wheel cars at 225 mph on a 1.5 mile track, period.
Rest in peace, Dan Wheldon. And know that if your death has a positive side, it will be that you changed IndyCar before their bad judgement and lack of sound reasoning resulted in far more deaths.
AJ
I have been saying for a long time that IndyCar in particular is treading on thin and very unsafe ice. While Dan Wheldon's death is tragic, and while I understand that this has always been a blood sport and always will be, the sport as a whole will suffer horrible repercussions when, someday, a car flies over the fencing and into the grandstand. The potential for dozens (or more) of spectator deaths from one incident is very real in IndyCar.
F1 does not endanger spectators to anything like the degree that IndyCar does. NASCAR has had its moments of high risk, and as a result has gone to great lengths to implement effective methods of slowing the cars down and keeping them on the ground in almost all circumstances. The NHRA does not put spectator seats at the end of the strip.
Bottom line, there is a huge difference between a driver taking responsibility for his/her own risks by simply getting behind the wheel, and a fan taking a huge risk by buying a ticket without understanding that the sactioning body is throwing the dice on every oval they race.
Every ticket I've bought to any motorsports venue has fine print on it somewhere that says that spectating an auto race is inherently dangerous and the facility is not responsible if I die watching the race. Fine. But I also expect the sanctioning body to extend reasonable efforts to protect me. Someday, when IndyCar launches a car into the grandstand and kills 80 people (as happened at LeMans in 1955), it will affect F1, NASCAR, NHRA, and your local short track.
The entire sport will suffer. Angry lawmakers that don't understand the sport will pass ridiculous new regulations to strangle speed. IndyCar, as an organization, poses a threat to the rest of the motorsports community. There is NO REASON to run open wheel cars at 225 mph on a 1.5 mile track, period.
Rest in peace, Dan Wheldon. And know that if your death has a positive side, it will be that you changed IndyCar before their bad judgement and lack of sound reasoning resulted in far more deaths.
AJ