posted on February 22, 2001 04:09:24 PM
A terrific sports columnist in the Salt Lake Tribune, Gordon Monson, has written a column called "Speed Risks Aren't Worth Deadly Results."
He said: "What's with the compulsion human beings feel, as a matter of sport, to strap themselves into machinery that on a track can outrun every opponent, except for one--death?
"Doesn't matter how good a driver you are, you can be better than all of the rest, but, at 180 mph, blunt force is always better than you.
"And still they race on."
He goes on to say he's tried to understand the thrill and even went to drag-racing school to see what it feels like.
"The problem with speed is, it kills."
"Noel Carroll, a former Villanova and Irish Olympic runner, once described sport as "a way of proving you are better than somebody else at something that's of no use to anybody.
"They will offer up prayers this week for [Earnhardt] who could bang fenders, trade paint, outrun every opponent, except for the one. Then, they will get back to burning up the track with open throttles. Dale, Adam, Kenny, and Tony would want it that way, right?
"I'm not buying it. Those guys are still dead. Jim Murray, the legendary columnist for the Los Angeles Times, pegged racing when he twisted the command heard each year at the Indy 500 by writing: 'Gentlemen, start your coffins.'
posted on February 22, 2001 04:56:29 PM
roadsmith - Our family has always loved racing. It started with a love my father-in-law had. My husband started racing at age 7. Little quarter midgets, then 1/2 midgets, then 3/4 and then full midgets. He raced for approx. 15 years.
These cars race on dirt, oval tracks of different sizes. The larger the track, the faster they go.
While our oldest son decided to race motocross motorcycles, our youngest son raced quarter midgets and Micro sprints. They all loved it.
While our children were growing up, we loved going to the Ascot Race track (in Gardena, CA.) to watch some of our friends who'd progressed to Sprint Cars. When there's someone in the race you're rooting for, it makes any race more exciting. My husband shares that the motivator for him was growing up with the sport, the competition, the thrill and excitement of speed and the feeling of belonging to a group of people who share the same love you do.
As far as accidents, injuries and even death goes, life is a risk. Why not do what you enjoy doing most?
People water ski, snow ski, mountain climb, sky dive, scuba dive, fly in gliders, race boats and enjoy many other fun sports with perceived danger. People get in cars and drive on freeways, people get in airplanes.. they crash too. See my point? Death will come no matter how we try and avoid it....and what could be better than to be able to earn a living doing what you love doing?
posted on February 22, 2001 05:02:58 PM
roadsmith...My husband & son love racing and machines of any kind. I don't get any of it. To me, it's a waste of precious fuel.
But, they don't care if I go to the opera, so I don't care if they watch racing. I don't know if I would actually let my son do any racing himself. He's lucky he's gotten a skateboard from me!
posted on February 22, 2001 06:26:13 PM
I bet the author of the above article likes boxing though...now there's a sport I don't get...beating the tar out of someone for fun...
posted on February 22, 2001 06:54:49 PM
I tried racing and found that I like to live too much. No matter how hard I pushed it there were several people going a fraction of a second faster on every turn and before you knew it they were running up my rear to lap me. The guys in front leave exactly zero margin between making it around each corner and wiping out turn after turn.
I saw a man get sideways and flip up in the air once. He went over the barrier upside down landed right side up on the grass and after a long sod peeling slide gained control again and shot back onto the track without a pause.
Afer a trip through the air like that I would have been happy to sit there and rejoice at being in one piece for awhile.
Once I stopped driving I never went to watch others race - it is as boring as watching paint dry.
posted on February 23, 2001 03:05:44 AM
Life and racing are not not risks. True nobody gets out alive, but risk means that for a given action the outcome can not be known. A gamble is an action for which the outcomes are known.
Racing is a gamble. We know the possible outcomes for the given actions that can occur in a high speed race. A good example of risk is the current xeno splicing of plant and animal genes. We do not know the possible outcomes.
Our lives have far less risks and gambles today than at any other time in human history. Before antibiotics, a cut often proved fatal, a broken limb or childbirth was life threatening.
While I certainly condone expermentation, there is no experimental benefit to be gained by racing. We do not need cars that can go any faster, we need cars that are more fuel efficient and less polluting. How many people would watch a race for fuel efficiency and emissions ?
Risks in most cases should be taken, it's how we learn - sometimes at a very high price, but we gain knowledge. Gambles must be carefully weighed before undertaken, because many gambles are a sucker's bet, and represent a failure to learn.
I view race car drivers as the dead racoons and possums along the road. You keep seeing these dead animals in the same places in the road. They do not learn and continue to gamble badly.
posted on February 23, 2001 08:55:48 AM
Linda_K's comment Guess it just has to be in your blood hits the nail right on the head....Either you get it, or you don't...To some cars are transportation, a device to get you from point A to point B & back, to others cars are an extension of who they are....Speed is a thrill, speed is power, power is, for some, the ultimate goal. Matters not if you achieve that goal thru autoracing, sky diving, luge, wild amusement park rides, ballet, opera, music, science, math etc, simply matters that in some point in your life you meet your objective. Not a way of proving you are better than somebody else at something that's of no use to anybody. but a way of challenging your spirit.
posted on February 23, 2001 09:24:48 AM
Car Racing is not a sport, it is a spectacle. A sport require some physical talent to be outstanding, racing only requires a mental defect that cancels the self-preservation instinct.
A now all those Dale Earnhardt fans "that he taught so much to and was such a good friend of" are now showing what they learned and their appreciation of what racing means to them....by sending Death Threats to Marlin Sterling, his business, HIS WIFE AND HIS CHILDREN!!!!
posted on February 23, 2001 02:29:46 PM
Why is it that people who don't like a particular pursuit, be it racing, skiing, scuba diving, walking the dog, or whatever, feel the need to voice heated criticism of it.
I'm not a fan of racing. I was when I was a kid, but I've not been a kid for the past twenty years.
For the naysayers who say racing is of no benefit, I simply say "pooey". Most of the itmes we consider "standard" on our autos came directly from the racing industry. To whit:
1. Seatbelts (which it turns out was the real culprit at Daytona).
2. Fuel injection--without which cars would still be the gas-guzzling hogs of the 60s & 70s. Also electric fuel pumps which make our cars more reliable.
3. Disc-brakes, which make our cars far more effective at stopping.
4. Rack-and-pinion steering, which allows us to steer more quickly, more precisely, and with less effort.
5. Four-wheel independent suspension, which makes our cars ride smoother and handle better, hence safer.
6. INCREASED fuel efficiency! No Reamond, none of us would want that kind of fuel efficiency on the road, but fuel efficiency is most certainly a racer's concern. Advanced combustion-chamber design and control of the burn duration came from racing.
7. Advanced rubber compounds and tread designs for driving in wet conditions. Why do you think tire manufacturers play such a dominant role in race advertising? Because this is where the leading edge of development is.
Ultimately, it was Earnhardt's restraint harnass that failed. There will be numeous investigations into why, and how to avoid it in the future. As to how some fans reacted, there are rednecks in all of us.
As for risk taking, how many of us strap on the seatbelt everytime we drive? How many watch our weight closely, exercise everyday, don't smoke, etc? The complications associated with those pursuits have cost society a helluva lot more than racing has.
In sum, if you don't like a pursuit, just say so and leave it at that. To go on ad nauseum speaking about something that you have no interest in, or detailed knowledge of, advances nothing.
For those who say they "don't get" racing, did you not engage in footraces as kids? Did you not ever want to outrun, outhit, outplay others in games and sports? On eBay, have you not ever wanted to outbid, or outsell someone else? Rancher hit it on the head, it's about human spirit. Nothing more, nothing less.
posted on February 23, 2001 07:42:50 PM
Swan- all those things you listed did not make its way into our automobiles through or because of auto racing, these improvements came through government mandate and Ralph Nader.
In any event, these improvments could easily be tested and brought to market without auto racing.
I personally do not care if auto racing continues or not - but I believe the point is- when people die doing it, don't expect reasonable people to hand you a crying towel or jump on the weeping train to mourn people who died from their self realized foolishness.
posted on February 24, 2001 07:42:35 AM
It's the smell of burning rubber, smoke and the roar of open pipes as you heat up your tires, as well as the adrenalin rush as you wait for the green light at the begining of that quarter mile! It is, literally, to die for...
posted on February 24, 2001 08:25:50 AM
Reamond, yes gov't. mandates and Nader did a lot to bring it into the everday auto, but they were developed, and are developed, in the racing industry, and they were developed long before Mr. Nader had pubes. Industry takes is from racing because the testing bed is already there and they don't have to pay for additional facilities, and they don't have to pay for additional test car drivers. Sorry, Nader didn't get seatbelts into cars, or disc brakes. The current use of fuel injection stemmed from the need for increased economy due to the "oil crisis" of the late-70s and is was NOT a gov't mandate, it was from public outcry. Face it, if Nader had his way, we'd all be using public transport, even in the wastes of west Texas and the badlands of the Dakotas.
And no, you don't have to, or be expected to, mourn for someone whose talents you don't appreciate. But don't expect his fans to feel less of a loss because you're not into the sport. I personally don't mourn his loss, as I don't track NASCAR, but I will not deny his fans the right to do so. What if it was the passing of some public "hero" of yours, be political, entertainment, sports, academic--would you want others trampling on your decision to mourn simply because they weren't in alignment with your thinking? All I'm saying is cut them some slack.
My only two points are: 1) People shouldn't rag on someone else's sport, be it racing, softball, or speed-knitting, just because they don't like or enjoy it; 2) Don't deny others the right to be fans of said pursuit.
posted on February 24, 2001 09:16:43 AM
I haven't been to a race in ten years - not since I watched a friend's boyfriend and sons race motorcycles. As a teenager I went to races in Atlanta and Watkins Glen. What I remember most about all of them was being sunburned and overwhelmed by the noise. I don't know anything about NASCAR.
Different people have different temperaments, hobbies, and goals. I have a neighbor who will buy any new gas-powered leafblower, tractor,motorcycle, snowblower,etc . He loves internal-combustion engines. His son does too. More power to them.
Almost two years ago I was in an accident when a cab ran a redlight and totalled my Saab. The officer who investigated said that I wouldn't have survived if I'd been in a Honda or Toyota. As it was, I went to the hospital with bruises and scratches but was discharged in about 20 minutes. I'm glad that my car had the safety features it did. I guess we never know when our time may be up. Perhaps it's best to be doing something we enjoy.
posted on February 24, 2001 09:26:04 AM
So ladies, you don't know why guys like dangerous sports and do other dangerous things such as, climbing Mt. Everest (although I know a few women now join in), round the world yacht races, speed boat racing, auto racing, men die doing this on a regular basis. It is in their blood alright...the little devils have something we don't, its called testosterone. Its a controlled substance if your doctor orders it, estrogen isn't controlled because no one takes it to make themselves feel good and perform better. They test both men and women for steroids at the Olympics and you are disqualified if you have it in your system. why, because you have an huge edge against your competitors. My SO is never sick except for an ocassional very mild cold. I on the other hand suffer migraine and cluster headaches and depression. It really makes him disgusted and he says, just get out of bed and work, you'll feel better. I have explained the testosterone and estrogen difference and he won't buy it. I'll bet he wouldn't take any of my hormones though Men usually don't even start to feel lousy until they get in their 50's, which my SO is and he still feels great. Ofcourse testosterone is what causes them to die younger than we do.
Women are by nature much more cautious than men.
We are the childbearers so it is something given to us to help us protect our children. So many young guys just driving crazy on the roads when they are teens and you know how teenage boys drive, thats why their insurance is higher.
There have been women with higher levels of this magical substance since we do have a small amount of it. There were, in fact, female Gladiators and you know those muscle bound body building ladies we see on tv once in awhile. You can't tell me they aren't taking Steriods, it is impossible for a woman to get rid of a certain percentage of body fat, thats what makes us round guys. The body builders want us to believe they have somehow gotten rid of it!!! They don't all do it but the ones with the oddly deep voices...well you tell me!!
Well, I've gotten a bit OT but I just thought the ladies might want to know what the "secret" is and again it doesn't include 100% of the men. I have known lazy ones.
posted on February 25, 2001 07:35:37 AM
I don't have too much of a gripe when people want to do stupid things that put their lives on the edge.
I do have a gripe when innocent people have to go out and save these idiots and risk their own lives to do so.
My son has been in the Coast Guard for 12 years. The stories he has told me over the years have made me both very angry and very sad.
He has had to go out to save pleasure boaters in awful weather because they went out to see "what it was like." Many of these people wanted Mike to put his men's lives at stake to save their boat. Some of these people have children aboard. Some refuse to leave the boat because they want the boat saved.
He knows men that have died going out on false alarms. One day when I was talking on the phone with him he said "Mom, I see the chaplain and the CO coming to tell the family that they are stopping the search for the missing men." Or how it feels when your 8 year old grandson tells you "Bobby didn't come to school today because he said his daddy was coming home and you know that's not the reason why Bobby didn't go to school?
If you want to do stupid things, do it, but innocent people shouldn't be expected to save your sorry a$$es.
The many faces of Muriel