So would it be more exciting and would you pay more if drivers were still wearing leather helmets, t-shirts, no roll cage, lap belts only, no arm restraints etc......
We all know racing is dangerous and exciting and that is what makes the sport what we all enjoy and love. However, do you think the sport would still be around today if safety improvements were not constantly being made? How many parents would be putting kids into this sport if we were loosing drivers like we were in the decades past. Not to mention that if we were still "Back in the Day" the Insurance companies would have made it impossible due to cost, and the government would probably have banned auto racing by now.
We know it will always be dangerous and we know cars are going to keep getting better and faster to a point. However, I am thankful for all the safety improvements that have been designed, and I know that we will constantly be making more improvements. Not to ruin racing, but to help a driver increase their odds of kissing the family good night and to watch there kids grow up. Every time a driver walks away from a crash we see what improvements have done to help that happen. Anytime a driver does not walk away and is injured we look at what happened and what we can learn help make more improvements. Are we trying to make it as safe as sitting on the front straight playing board games....Hell no, but can we do things to try and help our drivers chances to do what they love and what we love to watch until the day they decide to retire after a long career... Hell Yes!!
Originally Posted by krjoyce1:
so would it be more exciting and would you pay more if drivers were still wearing leather helmets, t-shirts, no roll cage, lap belts only, no arm restraints etc......
We all know racing is dangerous and exciting and that is what makes the sport what we all enjoy and love. However, do you think the sport would still be around today if safety improvements were not constantly being made? How many parents would be putting kids into this sport if we were loosing drivers like we were in the decades past. Not to mention that if we were still "back in the day" the insurance companies would have made it impossible due to cost, and the government would probably have banned auto racing by now.
We know it will always be dangerous and we know cars are going to keep getting better and faster to a point. However, i am thankful for all the safety improvements that have been designed, and i know that we will constantly be making more improvements. Not to ruin racing, but to help a driver increase their odds of kissing the family good night and to watch there kids grow up. Every time a driver walks away from a crash we see what improvements have done to help that happen. Anytime a driver does not walk away and is injured we look at what happened and what we can learn help make more improvements. Are we trying to make it as safe as sitting on the front straight playing board games....hell no, but can we do things to try and help our drivers chances to do what they love and what we love to watch until the day they decide to retire after a long career... Hell yes!!
I don't feel that less safe is more exciting. I do feel however that it is impossible to bring an end to injury or worse in sprint car racing. No matter what you do, it will happen again and again. Don't take that to mean that we shouldn't try, just don't be too shocked when injuries still occur.
Most everyone on this thread is talking about how to make the car safer or restraints and gear for the drivers. Personally I see a lot more tracks that have obvious safety issues that contribute to bad injuries than I see drivers not using good safety equipment. Perhaps before we start trying to re-engineer the car we start taking a harder look at how to make the tracks safer.
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
-Helen Keller
Originally Posted by jjones752:
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
-Helen Keller
Before anyone flames me for this I should elaborate; I do not advocate going back the way things were when the cars looked like the one in my avatar. As beautiful as they are and as romantically as we remember them, that ship has sailed.
What I AM saying is though we can continue to make improvements on driver's personal safety equipment, a race car's crash-worthiness, track improvements, safety crew training and a hundred other things, the day will never come when driving a Sprint Car on a dirt track will be 100% safe. Life itself is never 100% safe.
I believe most of the brave lads (and lasses) who choose to practice this, the most exciting sport on the face of the earth, strap into their mounts with their eyes wide open. Sometimes the best that those of us in the stands who pay to watch them ply their skills can do is say a prayer as they pass by on the parade lap and wish them Godspeed and a safe return.
I'm not sure were some of you guys get the idea that people are trying to make racing 100% safe or won't be happy until it is..... Guess what it will NEVER be that way, and we know that, so do we stop making improvements because we will never do that?? NO!
And yes wtvw, you are right, their is a lot that can be done to make improvements to the tracks as well.
Originally Posted by krjoyce1:
i'm not sure were some of you guys get the idea that people are trying to make racing 100% safe or won't be happy until it is..... Guess what it will never be that way, and we know that, so do we stop making improvements because we will never do that?? No!
And yes wtvw, you are right, their is a lot that can be done to make improvements to the tracks as well.
Originally Posted by KRJoyce1:
I'm not sure were some of you guys get the idea that people are trying to make racing 100% safe or won't be happy until it is..... Guess what it will NEVER be that way, and we know that, so do we stop making improvements because we will never do that?? NO!
And yes wtvw, you are right, their is a lot that can be done to make improvements to the tracks as well.
Since your post is right below mine, I'm assuming that you're lumping me in with those guys that have "the idea that people are trying to make racing 100% safe or won't be happy until it is", but the fact is, I agree with you wholeheartedly; my only concern in all of this is that in trying to make the cars safer, they lose the identity and character that makes Sprint Car racing appealing in the first place.
Case in point is the recently-deceased Gold Crown design; while arguably a much safer car, at least in concept, on the larger paved tracks, was it a "better" version of a Champ Car? I submit that it was not...
