For a driver, any driver, be it KO, Tony Stewart, or anyone, to attempt to race without a minimum of a fire retardent driving suit and a full face helmet in 2008 is foolhardy. Please don't tell me about the drivers ability or accomplishments. Or about his "rights" as an American to do so. For a track, event, or racing organization to allow this is equally foolhardy. And I am quite sure that the insurance company that covered this event was fully aware of this.:action-smiley-049:And don't tell me that this is the Chili Bowl and the track is small so the liklihood of anything going wrong is slim. I lost the best friend I ever had in racing when, in a full bodied, fully caged stock car, he hit the wall and broke his neck going about 50 mph on a 1/5 mile track. (Ernie Maynor - Islip Speedway - May 1, 1982) We talk a lot about the "Good old days" here but that doesn't mean that everything that happened back in the 50's and 60's was ok. Drivers died on a far too regular basis. This occured because safety features that could have saved many of them hadn't been designed and utilized as yet. Now we have roll cages, fire retardent uniforms, Hans devices, and a myriad of other safety ADVANCEMENTS that have made racing much safer than ever before. Are we to simply ignore these advancements so that someone can have "a little fun"? If drivers were allowed to "exercise their rights as American citizens" and choose what, if any safety devices to use then the number of racing deaths and serious injuries would go way up. This, of course, would lead to that other inalienable American right, the lawsuit. Families would sue event organizers and put them out of business. Aren't we losing enough tracks to suburban sprawl? Why must people be put in unneccesary danger to exercise our rights? Common sense needs to prevail here. I'd like for racing to be around for my grandchildren to enjoy.