Death at the Speedway
I’ve never liked auto racing, but I know that millions love it. But back when I was in college, I plowed through a biography of Stirling Moss, Formula One racer, because for a time I had a boyfriend who was a huge fan and I wanted to try to get with the program.
The only thing I remember from the book is a fact that you racing fans think may think is completely obvious, but to me it was not: Moss observed that the difference between dying and winning a race can be to take curves a tenth of an MPH faster or slower, while the difference between winning and losing the race can be the same.
To me it was chilling, but to those who love the sport it’s thrilling.
I had occasion to think of this again when I heard of the crash at yesterday’s IndyCar, one of the worst in history, involving 15 cars and causing the death of Britain’s Dan Wheldon, 33, in the fiery wreckage.
Why did it happen? I haven’t watched the video and don’t plan to, but even if I had I don’t understand racing well enough to know. But this seems like the best possibility:
Asked about speed after the crash, Wheldon’s former boss Chip Ganassi said, “There’ll be plenty of time in the offseason to talk about that. Now is not the time to talk about that.”
And Franchitti said: “I agree. We’ll discuss that and sort it out.”
But driver Oriol Servia didn’t mince words: “We all had a bad feeling about this place in particular just because of the high banking and how easy it was to go flat. And if you give us the opportunity, we are drivers and we try to go to the front. We race each other hard because that’s what we do,” he said. “We knew if could happen, but it’s just really sad.”
What is too high a risk of dying in a sport such as auto racing, and what should be done about it, if anything? When does sport turn into the Roman Coliseum?
It turns into the Coliseum when the government sponsors the whole thing for the purpose of distracting the people, when the drivers are slaves, and when death is the point of the show.
Instead, you get drivers like Sevia saying, “If you give us the opportunity, we are drivers and we try to go to the front. We race each other hard because that’s what we do. We knew if could happen.”
The very last thing that needs to happen is for people outside the sport to impose safety regulations on it.
No, I’m not a racing fan either. I just like the idea of people pushing the technology as far and hard as they can just for the thrill.
People will hang-glide, climb the Himalayas, and race cars at 200 miles per hour. That’s what some people are destined to do, destined by their own desire to push the limits, challenge their endurance, and go for the gusto.
I do find spectators’ vicarious thrills a bit troubling, however.
The fact that no one else died in that horrific wreck is amazing.
Ryan: from what I have read, I don’t even think there were other particularly serious injuries. Which is also amazing.
I spoke to someone who was there, and he said it was a terrible terrible thing to watch. He also said the entire crowd stayed there for about 2 hours till they heard the news, and were very quiet.
What’s really actually amazing is that someone died. The sport has gotten more and more safe for drivers over the years because of the equipment and also the cars. As a matter of fact, there has been considerable discussion in the community from drivers as well as fans about it being too safe now. Some drivers in particular say the increased safety may actually promote more accidents because drivers know they can take more risks.
It’s complicated.
I don’t race cars, although I do participate in a sport that most people consider dangerous – aerobatics – even though we don’t think of it as being dangerous. I think racing cars is similar – it just looks dangerous. Sure people die or get hurt once in a while, but if you look at it from a purely statistical viewpoint, riding bicycles could be more dangerous. There are whole studies about how people perceive risk and it’s not straightforward.
Regarding your question about what should be done – I vote for nothing. Let the drivers and owners work it out.
Freedom means taking risks. If you want freedom, bad things as well as good things can happen. I want freedom and the chance for good things to happen.
oh… watch it… its easy to see how a set of events lead to a ending… in this case no rocket science is needed… you see it… and in slo mo.. they break it down… an engine or a tire goes, or a bump… and so on…
and car wrecks are not the worst.
the bicycle wrecks in the french racing domes with high leaning turns are..
and dont forget… gymnasts die the most and get paralysed the most… but we arent squeamish at all… despite fewer die in racing and the sport requires lots of cash! (not that gymnastics is cheap but not like race cars)
its also less safe to be a garbage man than a cop… and more dangerous to be a farmer than a marine in the current wars/actions…
“Freedom means taking risks. If you want freedom, bad things as well as good things can happen. I want freedom and the chance for good things to happen.”
Amen!
I don’t even think there were other particularly serious injuries. Which is also amazing.
its NOT amazing if you think that people that do things are not idiots, and that red neck imagry aside, people arent all that stupid either!!!!
auto racing is what feuls the designs in your car at home… positraction… air stabliizers, feul injection, and so on… ALL racing car things first..
so what your really watching is test pilots…
and also, if your not interested, your going to paint up your representation in poor releif as that is usually peoples habit when not interested unless they cultivate otherwise and hacve a reason.
but from safety cages, break away engines…pressurized gas tanks like in fighter plains… fire proof clothing and so on..
its as high tech as you can get!!!
which is why the deaths are not so much..
and if you notice… they tend to go out when older… dale, and this guy… not in their 20s… but as they change…
I do find spectators’ vicarious thrills a bit troubling, however.
It’s not vicarious if you’re actually at the track though, is it? Spectators are just as likely to get killed as drivers, since pieces from these accidents sometimes fly into the crowd.
Most new ovals are built for NASCAR these days, hence the high banking Servia mentions and don’t really suit open wheel cars as they can get airborne much easier. FWIW open wheel racing on ovals in the US is dying anyway, and has been for years. Oval track fans like a roof on their cars and IndyCar makes more money at street tracks, where the speeds are lower and accidents less likely to be fatal.
Comparisons to the Coliseum are overwrought. As Greg says above, the sport has worked diligently and continuously to reduce death and injury in the sport. The statistics are frankly amazing.
I grew up in Indianapolis and have seen a man die right in front of me while I was in the stands. Simply put, there is no vicarious thrill from a death – no bloodlust, there is only sadness and disappointment.
The accusation that racing fans are looking for the danger is made out of ignorance about racing and what is involved. Yes, there are a large number of drunken yahoos in the stands, but even they are not there to see an accident. In NASCAR it’s all about identifying with a driver and rooting for your guy. It is slower and the cars are hardier precisely so there can be bumping and other “hot” action without injury to drivers or fans.
In Formula 1 its all about technical excellence. Certainly the least appreciated form of racing in North America – precisely because it requires the most of the fan to follow it well. When people die in F1 – the entire continent of Europe mourns and the entire sport feels like they failed – part of defining technical excellence is preventing injury and death.
In Indy Car it is all about speed – pure unadulterated speed. And yet, the sport has gone from the most watched form of motor sport to a deep second place behind NASCAR in part because of a huge dispute about how to make the sport safer after the last huge pile-up. One group wanted to do so through F1 level investment, which few American racing teams could afford – the other, the eventual winners of the dispute, through slowing down, and keeping the entry price into the sport within reason – but both wanted to make the sport safer.
Now is the time to mourn Dan Wheldon. The off season will be all about how to make sure this never happens again. With new chassis designs coming in next season, there will be major overhauls in the rules, the tracks and the driver training.
Racing will not stand for a death – they will mourn it deeply and fight it much harder than they fight each other on the track.
When does sport turn into the Roman Coliseum?
Not yet.
I’m trying to wean myself off professional sports.
Too many owners are sleazebags. Too many players are thugs. Too many fans are louts.
Have been a fan of racing for many years and a fan of Dan Wheldon since he signed with Andretti racing. I’d left off watching the series this year except for the Indy 500 simply because Wheldon had lost his ride. My prayers go out to him and his family and fans.
For the last several years I’d witnessed several crashes in the Indy series that were frighteningly horrendous and have become squeamish watching the cars race on banked ovals. Jimmie Johnson, champion and star in the NASCAR series has come out and said these cars should not be allowed on banked tracks — I agree and hope Indy will do away with all oval racing with the exception of the flat oval at Indianapolis.
One last thing I remember the movie Grand Priz a favorite of mine. In it the Eva Marie Saint character inquires of Jean-Pierre Sarti (played by Yves Montand) about the danger, Sarti/Montand responds:
”The danger? Well, of course. But you are missing a very important point. I think if any of us imagined – really imagined – what it would be like to go into a tree at 150 miles per hour we would probably never get into the cars at all, none of us. So it has always seemed to me that to do something very dangerous requires a certain absence of imagination.”
Forgot to mention, Sarti dies at the end of the movie – losing control of his car, flying off the track, and crashing into a tree.
Here’s a recent Bill Whittle video which is relevant to this discussion. He begins by analyzing the recent Reno Air Race crash (remember, Whittle is himself a pilot), and then goes on to discuss freedom and risk.
Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Live Free or Die
DEFINITELY a great opportunity to hone our ability to do nothing.
ONE man died, voluntarily doing something that’s not inherently problematic.
Also, DJMoore stole my response and improved on it.
The thing that makes racing interesting is the same thing that makes life interesting: it can kill you.
Leave it alone. No one lives forever. I think I’d prefer to go out doing something I enjoyed than be kept safe by the nannies.
gs Says:
October 17th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
I recommend baseball. I think there are probably fewer thug players in baseball than in some other sports. But that hasn’t always been the case. See the 1890s.
I agree that Indycar is better suited for a flater track and not the high-banked, cookie cutter ovals that NASCAR has littered the land with. That said, Jimmie Johnson’s got no business telling the grandfather sport of oval racing that they have no business being on ovals. I understand that his statement is in a way a compliment and a statement of awe at Indycar drivers, but that said, that’s not his place to speak on. He races fendered cars. Different business entirely.
More people die each day on the interstate highways than do those participating in all of professional Motorsports during the past twenty years.
While traveling at 65 MPH in the center lane I become a road hazard with vehicles passing me on either side.
Commuting 80 miles per day around Chicago I see a lot. The most dangerous and reckless drivers on the road are the guys in pickup trucks, based on my own observations (and I am a guy).
Next comes women blabbing on mobile phones. Don’t get me started…
“What is too high a risk of dying in a sport such as auto racing, and what should be done about it, if anything? When does sport turn into the Roman Coliseum?”
It’s a legitimate question to ask, but it must be understood that Indycar is far from being circus theater. And I’d argue that the risk of dying in auto racing, while present, isn’t as high as many people think. Remember: 15 cars were involved in the wreck, only 4 drivers went to the hospital, only 2 were kept overnight for observation and both are already released. Only 1 died. In the past decade, there have been zero race-day deaths; the only ones have either been in practice (Paul Dana), or in “private testing” (Tony Renna). You have to go back to ’99 to get your last in-race fatality (Greg Moore). Indycar is actually immensely safe, especially considering the horrendous wrecks that have been seen in the sport since those deaths. Most of the time, the driver actually walks away. Sometimes with some help, but they *walk* away.
Yesterday was an aberration in every way.
I would argue against comparing auto racing to ancient Roman spectacle. The sports that hold *that* distinction don’t use automobiles. Pro wrestling has filled the gladiator niche, and in a way so has MMA (albeit in a far more serious, disciplined, and less soap-operatic way than the circus that is wrestling). In contrast, modern auto racing more has commonality with technical sports like Yabusame (Japanese mounted archery, Samurai inspired) in that it’s not about brute force, it’s about finesse, knowledge, and experience in applying natural physical skills. In short, you must be in command of some very specific technical skills in order to run a race car. And you must also be fit; the G-forces a driver experiences for 2, 3 plus hours are immense. The point is that, despite the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s boast (“Greatest Spectacle in Racing”), auto racing is far from being a circus type of show. Instead, it’s a conglomeration of speed experts, putting knowledge and skill to the test in a most incredible way.
So when does it turn into Roman Coliseum? Usually when the sports stewards have lost any sense of propriety and dignity. Thankfully, Indycar hasn’t; on the contrary, it’s a legitimate criticism that there’s still too much “old school” holding the sport back. Things could have become a grotesque spectacle yesterday after the wreck, but thankfully, somehow, it didn’t. Not even close. And kudos to those involved for avoiding that. The gravity of all people in the paddock, the incredibly sensitive taste and restraint demonstrated by the crowd, and the amazing, nobody-thought-they-had-it-in-them coverage by ABC, who managed to highlight the sorrow without exacerbating the maudlin managed to perfectly display the pain and sorrow at what happened. We were all in shock. And instead of creating spectacle, Indycar managed to convey genuine sorrow, and ABC somehow managed to find the perfect level of coverage for it. So it could have happened yesterday, it could have become ludicrous and overdone, but it didn’t. So when does sport turn into the Roman Coliseum? All I know is that it didn’t yesterday, and that’s a tribute to all involved.
When does sport turn into the Roman Coliseum?
When fans attend for the specific purpose of watching the participants die.
Modern sports, even the most dangerous ones, are nowhere near that.
D.J. Moore and Foxifier sum it up for me.
The Stirling Moss quote also taps the nail right on the head. It applies in a variety of mileu. Oldflyer’s axiom: “Imagination is the enemy of all risk taking.” I commented on another forum that it is fortunate that carrier pilots, as an example, are certain of their own immortality (I said immortality, not immorality). One really must be.
I haven’t cared for racing since I was a kid. Used to got to the dirt stock car tracks down home. My brother was a NASCAR fanatic until they day he died. I do not think his interest was in mayhem, but rather the joy of watching the man/machine interface operating at peak performance.
For a different sort racing related book, I recommend the wonderful “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein. Caution, it will wrench your heart, but it is a beautiful read.
Yes, agreed to both. Wrecks are the *annoying* part, because they destroy the motion poetry of what’s happening. Watching drivers utilize draft, position, certain characteristics of corners, degeneration of tires, increasing speed of cars due to decreasing weight of fuel as it’s consumed in order to gain position and outrun their competition… that’s watching racing. That’s why I “watch cars go around in circles”. Because the circling is the least part of it all.
Anyone who watches auto racing for the wrecks is (*expletive deleted*)ing stupid.
“When does sport turn into the Roman Coliseum?”
When more people die each year professionally performing the sport than die in auto accidents.
rickl Says:
October 17th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
gs Says:
October 17th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
I’m trying to wean myself off professional sports.
Too many owners are sleazebags. Too many players are thugs. Too many fans are louts.
I recommend baseball.
Thanks for the feedback, but are you sure?