They say bad things come in three, this past week in motorsports shows this to sadly be true. We've covered the untimely passing of Dan Wheldon. There is a well written piece in the New Your Times, A Driver’s Death Raises Questions About IndyCar’s Leader Not a day after we lost Dan Wheldon, Off-road racing champion Rick Huseman and his brother were among three people killed when a small plane crashed in the Southern California desert. Then tragedy struck the racing world again Sunday when 24-year-old rider Marco Simoncelli died after crashing and then violently colliding with two other riders in the MotoGP motorcycle race in Malaysia. Hope thats all for quite some time.
The very sad truth of the matter motorsport is a life & death sport. We have all been reminded of how deadly it can be & it is a shock to all of us. In the not to distant past death was much more common in the sport many of us love. Dan's death will not be in vein. Much will be learned that will help drivers in the future. Whether that is in car construction, trackside barriers or the shear lunacy of running open wheel cars running 3 abreast inches apart at 200+ has yet to be determined. Helio was right in his comments on Twitter. I also think Randy Bernard is a circus clown. Although I feel he was not at fault in Dan's untimely death. As for MotoGP, No idea how anyone could make that safer??? Amen
It used to be worse. (long video) [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9-QrRl1Uk]Grand Prix - The Killer Years - YouTube[/ame]
Several of the commentators let slip and then quickly moved on (you do not critique the fallen so close to the event) that Marco should have just let it go. But that was not in his character. It is ghoulishly ironic that the first person to strike him was Colin Edwards. Colin has probably the best low-side save that has been captured on film. the elbow save Marco was attempting to do the same when the front tire caught traction and hooked him back across the track.