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About the Author - gearhead
"The IRL picked an interesting day to enforce the blocking rule"

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Complete Motorsports Safety: The Impossible Standard
6
comments
Sometimes, Death Just Isn't Preventable
by gearhead
>7 days ago

The death of Scott Kalitta was both tragic and pointed out the obvious: Auto racing is dangerous. As the years have passed and safety standards have improved, serious injuries and deaths have thankfully declined. Unfortunately, now and then catastrophe strikes. This decade, it happened in NASCAR with Dale Earnhardt. it happened in IndyCar with Tony Renna and Paul Dana, and now it's happened in drag racing with Scott Kalitta and Eric Medlen last year.

The one silver lining is when there is a big accident, there is usually something that can be learned that hopefully will prevent something similar from happening again. In Kalitta's case, it appeared the run off area at the track was sub-standard. Plus, it seems to me that having a retaining wall at a dragstrip for any reason other than crowd control is a bad idea.

Over the years, safety measures have evolved. Recently, the changes have been more sophisticated and advanced that ever. We now have the HANS device, the SAFER barrier, the Car of Tomorrow, and more stringent track standards than ever before. We saw how far we've come over the past year when Michael McDowell and Dario Franchitti walked away from incredible accidents.

Unfortunately, it's just not possible to make racing 100% safe. The risk of serious injury or worse will always be there, no matter how safe they make the cars and the tracks. It's the risk every driver at every level takes.

Was Scott Kalitta's death preventable? I don't know. What I do know is he wasn't the first and unfortunately he won't be the last.
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74 days ago
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I'm still stunned they had a cement wall at the end of the track. What in God's name was that doing there? Just terrible.
 
74 days ago
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I've been around racing my entire life & I now race myself.  Everyone who gets behind the wheel, in any type or level of racing, understands the risks involved.  I've been at live events where people have been burned, crippled, & yes even killed.  It's nothing that you want to be a part of, but it happens. 

 

I completely agree that death & injury will always be a possibility in auto racing.  It's part of the reason we do it & we watch -- for the thrill of being on the edge & going as fast as physically possible.  However, the standards for safety will always be improving & should be the highest priority. 

 

I am of the belief that when the Good Lord decides that it is time for me to go, then that's what will happen.  Sometimes safety & equipment have nothing to do with it.  Dale Earnhardt's wreck appeared to be much less of an impact than thousands upon thousands of others that "walked away".  You just never know.

 

Racing is dangerous, but in all reality so is driving to work everyday.  You just have to live everyday like it's your last here on Earth & do the best you can.
 
74 days ago
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100%InjuryRate wrote:
I'm still stunned they had a cement wall at the end of the track. What in God's name was that doing there? Just terrible.
They should go careening into civilians instead?  If the parachute doesn't deploy for some reason, there isn't much hope for them anyway, so damage control becomes the name of the game.
 
73 days ago
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RenegadeLG wrote:
They should go careening into civilians instead?  If the parachute doesn't deploy for some reason, there isn't much hope for them anyway, so damage control becomes the name of the game.
How about a corn field at the end? Or a sand pit? Or anything but a concrete wall.

And I don't understand your argument at all. It's not like there's a law requiring civilians to be at the end of a drag race runway. It should be left open.
 
73 days ago
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100%InjuryRate wrote:
How about a corn field at the end? Or a sand pit? Or anything but a concrete wall.

And I don't understand your argument at all. It's not like there's a law requiring civilians to be at the end of a drag race runway. It should be left open.
Who goes to drag races besides rednecks hopped up on moonshine?  There's always going to be stragglers wandering around.  Although that's more of a case for getting rid of the walls.  Anyway, these walls were to protect camera equipment, most tracks do have deep sand traps, but it's not as if this guy was going to survive the first explosion anyway.
 
73 days ago
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RenegadeLG wrote:
Who goes to drag races besides rednecks hopped up on moonshine?  There's always going to be stragglers wandering around.  Although that's more of a case for getting rid of the walls.  Anyway, these walls were to protect camera equipment, most tracks do have deep sand traps, but it's not as if this guy was going to survive the first explosion anyway.

You think that's what killed him?  I really think if he hadn't hit that wall, he could've walked away -- we may never know.  The explosion may have knocked him out, or he may just not have been able to stop or steer after the explosion, I don't know.

 

But I've seen many guys walk away from fiery crashes like that, haven't seen many walk away after running 290+ mph into a concrete barrier head on though.
 
 
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