There’s been some discussion about the appropriateness of the IRL people going ahead with the race on Sunday after Paul Dana died on the track earlier in the day. I don’t have a clue what the right answer is… but the safer decision would probably have been to push it back a day or two, or cancel it all together.
I remember a few years ago, a WWF wrestler died during a pay-per-view event, and the WWF caught hell for continuing with the show. I haven’t seen a whole lot of outrage about IRL’s decision to go ahead, and I’m alright with that.
I’d have cancelled it if I was in charge. And that’s not a criticism of the people who actually had to make the decision… I don’t know that there is a right and wrong here. I know a lot of fans paid for tickets and traveled a long way to get to the race, and that’s just a tough situation. If it was me, I’d have had a hard time sitting there and cheering for anyone just hours after a guy had died on that very spot just hours ago. But I certainly understand if not everyone sees it that same way. I just hope that they made the decision with their hearts, and not by a TV schedule or any other financial reasons.
To change the subject a little bit, it’s really sort of amazing that this kind of thing hasn’t happened more often in IRL. The way his car was shredded, it looked like it was made of styrofoam. Is this safe? Is professional car racing safe? Mark McGwire hits a few extra home runs, Jose Canseco writes a book, and we get a congressional hearing on baseball. How many people have died in auto racing over the years… and not a word? If I had a kid, I’d rather see him shove a needle full of dianabol into his ass than get behind the wheel of a race car.
Adam
I agree that it seems pretty scummy to continue with the race after something like that, but I can see why they did it; lots people payed money to see a race and they wanted to give them one. Like Kornheiser said on PTI today, I probably would have polled the drivers to see how they felt about the issue. If they wanted to go on, then fine. If not then you have to cancel the race.
March 28, 2006 at 3:43 am
angelo
I know that the people paid their tickets but I wonder how interested they were in the race after seeing what happened to Dana.
They stayed there because the race wasn’t canceled or postponed but I do not think they would have complained if it was stopped.
A good thing to do would have been to cancel the race and pay back the tickets to “respect” the tragedy that happened.
Of course that would have been done if sports were still a sport and not just a way to show to the audience as much sponsors as possible with the excuse of a match/race/etc.
I may be old school but I remember the bad feeling I had when in 1994 they did not stop the Formula One G.P. where died two drivers (Ratzenberger and Senna). I just watched that on TV and I cannot imagine what were experiencing drivers and fans in Imola.
That was really an eye opener on what sports were becoming and now have become.
P.S. Thanks for letting me comment and sorry for my bad english
March 28, 2006 at 4:20 am
Doug
Long live the Blue Blazer, Owen Hart.
March 28, 2006 at 9:31 am
vandwagon
My (limited) understanding of physics is that the more the car breaks apart, the less force is put onto the driver. The fact that the cars more or less shred, helps dissipate the energy of the crash.
March 28, 2006 at 9:42 am
jethro
Everybody racing cars and attending races knows about the real possibility of serious accidents. I agree with the decision to go ahead with a race the day after a fatal wreck in qualifying. A wrestler dying in the ring during a PPV show is completely unexpected and a different situation. That should be reason to stop the show.
As for dangers in auto racing vs. baseball:
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.” – Ernest Hemingway
March 28, 2006 at 11:02 am
j
The show must go on. As Jethro suggested, the drivers, teams, fans, corporate sponsors, etc. essentially acknowledge the risk of death just by showing up each week. I bet most elementary school-aged kids could predict death is a possible outcome when travelling in excess of 200+ mph.
Sad to say, Dana was not the first nor will he be the last racing death at all levels of racing.
If one race is cancelled, then all races must be cancelled from now through the balance of life of the sport. If not, then you run into possible scenarios where races are cancelled for popular drivers, while the dauntless, week-to-week unknowns would find themselves cast aside in favor of green flags.
March 28, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Bouj
Vandwagon,
That’s pretty much it. The kinetic energy is dissipated by the shredding of the vehicle. Note that the other driver, the one that Dana hit at 176MPH, spent the night in the hospital and went without a single broken bone. He’ll make a full recovery.
March 28, 2006 at 12:39 pm
tony
I don’t know how, but many of the drivers seemed cool with continuing, even though after the race, it was still clear that Dana was on their minds. How they could race, crossing the same point where that happened hours before, I have no clue.
I would bet if Carpenter died as well, they might have cancelled it. Also, I doubt they race if it weren’t driver error that caused the wreck. And I wonder if it was someone more high profile than Paul Dana if they’d have called it. Sick as it sounds, and knowing how close all drivers on a circuit are, or at least the respect for one another, I don’t know if they go on if it were Wheldon, Castroneves, Kanaan, etc. that passed away.
Surprisingly, in the last 20 years, even, there has been a very surprisingly low number of fatal on-track accidents in the major circuits. This is the third for IRL, CART I think had one or two, the one mentioned before in F1, and maybe a couple in NASCAR.
March 28, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Brandon
That car racing might be more dangerous than steroids is not the issue. Drivers assume the risk of death just by getting behind the wheel. Steriods has nothing to do with assumption of risk, and everything to do with gaining an illegal competitive advantage.
Also, before we assume car racing is more dangerous than steroids, let’s wait ten years and look at cancer rates for major leaguers who played between 1995 and 2005.
March 28, 2006 at 1:52 pm
j
I forgot about one of the codes/guidelines shared by professionals in racing: They don’t go to each other’s funerals.
I reckon that is one way to go out & race after one of their own was blown away during practice.
March 28, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Blue Blazer
I am not a nugget! I am alive and well! Long live the Blue Blazer!
March 28, 2006 at 11:45 pm
RexKwonDo
Only parallel I can think of was an Opening Day in Cincy I went to about 10 years ago. While the pitcher was warming up on the mound, umpire John Shirley turned away from the plate, walked slowly toward the backstop, and faceplanted into the plastic turf at Riverfront.
We were in the front row of the red seats (nosebleed), and watched it happen. He was a big dude and it looked bad from the start. EMTs came out, tried to revive him. They even pulled out the paddles on the field before putting him on a gurney and wheeling him away.
When the game was cancelled, there was a small amount of boos, but most people were just kind of dumbfounded. This was the last thing you expected for an Opening Day, and yes it was disappointing that it happened, but no one was pissed that the game was cancelled.
I suppose car racing has more inherent risk, but I would have been OK not watchin them fast cars turn in circles considerin a guy just died hours earlier…
March 29, 2006 at 10:50 am