Dangers of Motorsport

Motorsport is as Dangerous As it is Exciting.

(UPDATED: October 16, 2011)

Motorsports can be dangerous despite its full throttle appeal. Motor racing is a thrill ride that many people don't even know/care can be dangerous. I've created this blog post to quickly share some thoughts on how dangerous motorsports can be. In addition, I lend some thoughts to all of my readers around the world regarding racing and the dangers involved. And after all, it is these dangers and the fearlessness of racers which help all of us to love and appreciate motor racing. It is why we regard racers as our heroes/heroines. This blog post just shares some personal thoughts on the danger racing provides. Feel free to have a look at my commentary here.

POST NOTES:

Originally Created: May 28, 2011 at 7:26 PM Pacific [Daylight] Time (I had intended on updating this post among my most recent posts, so that's why I included the Originally Created note.)
Updated: OCT 16 2011 - added note on Dan Wheldon's death

--- Dangers of Motorsport ---

As much as I love motor racing, there is a reason why people often fear motor racing- danger and injury. The racers basically risk injury (and even death) every mph/kph at a time. It is their relentlessness to contest for speed and push their abilities to the absolute finest as why we love racing. We love the thrill of speed. We love how athletes take a simple task of driving/riding and apply actual racing technique to dominate race tracks. We love how racers put it all on the line to try to get to the checkered flag first before anybody else.

I don't like crashes. I don't like watching video highlights of crashes. People mostly love them because it's an adrenaline thrill or something like that. Well, I actually do think demolition derby can be fun to watch. But of course, not every race is a demolition derby. For the purpose of this blog post, I am reminded of why I dislike crashes as I saw some vicious crashes recently. In the Australian V8 Supercar Series at Barbagallo earlier this year, one driver's car stalled on the grid at the start of the and got rear-ended, leading to a fiery explosion. The driver who got rear-ended was Karl Reindler, and he got rear-ended by Steve Owen. Thankfully, Karl was able to quickly escape despite the violent explosion.

A link to the video. Because I don't want to anything seriously graphic, I will show you only the link to this horrific accident. You don't have to see this video if you don't want to, but just know that this is rather graphic: ""V8 Supercar explodes into flames at startline!!!.


If there is anything positive about watching crashes and such, it is a testament to the safety involved in making sure drivers/riders can race again. Racing machines can be rebuilt and repaired; human lives can not be rebuilt and repaired. That's why I'm proud of the many advances we have made in keeping race cars safe. You want to be able to fulfill your speed rush as many times as you like and live to keep racing. I saw a series of videos on YouTube in the past where race car drivers were killed in racing. It was just so scary and so disheartening to see racers lose their lives performing in their favorite sport. You know... Greg Moore. Aryton Senna. Colin McRae (though he died in a helicopter crash). Peter Brock. Daijiro Katoh. Dale Earnhardt Sr. Paul Dana. Just about every racer who was killed either during a race or during a racing session (like practice, qualifying, warm-up, etc.) are reminders that racing, while immensely satisfying to watch, can be immensely dangerous. Even if there are racers you don't like, you NEVER want to see them in a vicious crash that takes their lives. It is also just classless to wish something like that to your least favorite racers.

The moral of this story? Enjoy racing. Enjoy what racing brings. Just remember that motor racing is dangerous. Racers of various kinds are fearless athletes who contest for speed. They know that while their ultimate goal is to cross the line as winners, they also know that injury and/or death literally awaits every mph/kph at a time, every corner at a time. This is why we love racing and what racers do. They battle as fearlessly in their sport as much as any gridiron football player trying to make plays or basketball players trying to shoot baskets or block shots. Any athlete of any sport is subjecting themselves to injury every time they compete, and racers are no different.


(ADDED: October 16, 2011)
With a 15-car crash that ensued at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the IndyCar Series, Dan Wheldon of England was tragically killed in this horrific wreck. He was 33 years old and is survived by his wife and two children. The Indy cars for 2012 will have various upgrades to help aid in safety. Perhaps after this horrific incident earlier today, more innovations could be put to good use to help make these cars safer. We should be able to take negatives as a means to help make us better in the future. The unthinkable still lingers, but at least we can do what we can to help minimize the risk of injury as much as we can.

For more information on this horrible accident, read the following article, courtesy of Yahoo! Sports: "Indy 500 winner Wheldon dies after massive wreck" on Yahoo! Sports.





PERSONAL NOTE: I would like to send my deepest thoughts and prayers to any motor racers whom have lost their lives through racing. The thoughts and prayers go out to friends, family, and all whom have known and loved each fallen racer. Please honor and respect all racers in all disciplines of motorsport. That even includes various non-racing personnel (such as flagmen, pit crews, race officials, etc.). Their jobs are just as important as the racers on the track.





Thank you for reading. One last time: honor and respect all racers and racing personnel. That includes car racers, motorcycle racers, drifters... anyone basically in the path of impending danger while motorsport competition is going on.

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