The tragic death of a spectator at last weekend’s NHRA race at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona, has opened the discussion of race track safety. We were tipped off to a Fox Sports story, linked below, that briefly mentions that disaster before launching in to a glowing review of the fantastic track safety at NASCAR events. This seems like a bit of a slap at the NHRA.
Obviously it is impossible to argue against protecting spectators and fans as much as possible at racing events, but this story seems to steer the reader in the direction that NASCAR has been the greatest innovator in the history of auto racing. One need to look back only as far as the death of Dale Earnhardt to see that there have been shortcomings in that sanctioning body’s own history. Improperly mounted seatbelts contributed to Earnhardt’s death and NASCAR teach inspectors failed to catch this, or worse yet, there was no established criteria in the rule book for seatbelt mounting.
Take this paragraph from the Fox Sports story for example: “The tragic death of a fan at an NHRA event this past weekend has once more cast a spotlight on safety at racing events. In that glare, it is clear just how much work NASCAR tracks put into maintaining their own level and high standards — all year.”
It seems to be saying, “Yep, those knuckle dragging rubes at the NHRA have nothing on the white knights of NASCAR who never sleep when it comes to safety.”
We’re sure that all legitimate race tracks take safety seriously, there’s a multitude of reasons why. The biggest one is probably financial. Unsafe tracks cannot get insurance, cannot open the doors, and go out of business. What we think is interesting about the timing and tone of this story is the fact that it seems to go out of its way (in a passive agressive manner) to place NASCAR on a higher plane than any other racing organization, and seemingly without fault or worry.
Something more productive may have been a look back at the safety advancements of motorsports through the year, both from the results of tragedies like happened last weekend and those that have come about through proactive ideas from smart people.
The more strong racing organizations we have, the better. It is a sad day when they start to cannibalize themselves.
Source — FoxSports.com — NASCAR racetracks play it safe for fans
