Going to dive off dirt track racing this time and discuss my thoughts on the now continued talk of safety after the tragedy at Las Vegas speedway Sunday. Like the death of Dale Earnhardt back in 2001, every one was ready to jump the gun and question the safety of driving. It has led to some improvements on race tracks with addition of foam walls and the "hanz" device as required driving gear. But what more is needed this time?
Look, this is open wheel racing and it is at times the funnest and fast racing, while at time it can be as boring as watching a tree grow. These cars are designed for bigger faster tracks that have less bank. They are areodynamically sound with different wings and and wedge to cut through the air. So when you put these cars on the track that is 1.5 miles and banked, you are going to see some very fast, very quick manuvering of the cars to where you have the recipe for a crowd delight and a drivers nightmare.
What happened on Sunday was a tragedy, but this is racing. Every driver knows the risk they take when they strap in and fire that motor up. But why do we have to question the safety again? This was an accident that happened and it Dans death wasn't becuase he wasn't safe. Dan died because open wheel racing does expose the human body more that stock car racing. Always has. The head of the driver is only protected by a helmet and if the car does happen to flip or in Dan's case, goes head long into the catch fence...the head and spin can't take that force. As unfortunate as it is, this is what got Dan...and that is the open wheel racing risks these drivers take.
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