In the last week, two prominent members of the motor-sports community were killed. On of my favorite drivers, Dan Wheldon, was killed in a 15 car accident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the 16th, while earlier today, MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli was killed in an accident in Malaysia. Some important questions are raised here: is it safe to race these vehicles? Are the tracks up to safety standards? And are the series themselves doing enough for safety? What are your thoughts on this?
Sure it's dangerous, so is walking down stairs. Everything we do has risk. When you've got 1000lbs of machine under you and others around you going 40mph, that risk is greatly compounded.
long answer: no sport (except probably tennis and golf) is truly safe. if people want to see something done that is everyday to most other people in america (driving really fast for no reason) then that's just fine. besides, it doesn't matter how safe it is, if the fans like it that way, then it will stay unsafe.
I do agree racing should continue, but their needs to be safety upgrades. Indycar is going to bring out a safer car next year (which ironically was tested mainly by Wheldon) that is trying to prevent cars from going airborne. But like you said, nothing is truly safe.
no sport (except probably tennis and golf) is truly safe.
The only thing I dispute is you stating that tennis is probably safe. It is one of the easiest sports to really hurt yourself if you don't pay attention, especially in doubles when players are close to the net. Like racing, if you don't have perfect reflexes, you could be screwed. And also the line judges and chair umpires are always at risk to be hit by errant groundserves.
Motorbikes were always one of the most dangerous means of transport,so I don't see a reason to why motor-racing shouldn't be dangerous. As bladerunner already said, no sport is safe,but some sports are just way more dangerous than others. Motor racing is definitely one of the most dangerous sports out there...
IMHO this kind of topic could appear only in mind of those people, who's not in the theme, if you'd ride a bike you wouldn't spent your and other's time discussing how it's unsafe and dangerous - everybody knows it, it was hammered in our mings pretty deep by TV and internet. I'll write here about bikers and motocycles, cuz i drive one (i can't say anything exact about racing cars, but it's kinda similar - only car racing is much safer than moto-racing). When person desides to ride a bike, he knows about the risk and danger, he knows that he becomes invisible on the road and can be shot down by truckers-driver or just some schoolish kid who just got driving licence and didn't pay much attention on the road, or biker may slip on the oil or overestimate his driving ability, and so on. The result of crash depend on sertain person, his driving style and experience and also wearing protection can protect you from not serious injuries, but if you broke an arm in protection it means that even without protection you'd brake your arm anyway, but the injury would be more severe.
People know about the risk and they choose themselves how to live, they do what they like. You know that pleasure must be payed.
IMHO it's ridiculous to make thread about what we already know since childhood.
in first place you have to look how good the guy is in motor racing in second place at the motor in third place the circuit he races in fourth place at his helmet and body protectors
what happend in las vegas was truely awsome (bad) those things happen and those things is what the public is always hoping to see. (well not so big and whit deaths like in las vegas, but always hoping to see some crash) i think trying to get it safer is always good. but crashes and deaths happend befor and is just part of the sport. it's bad when it happens but 100% safe will it never be.
and it's well known that driving a moterbike is more dangerous then a car. when he fly's of the bike. he has no protection for something like breaking bones. also ive heared that he was known for his risk taking during races and that he often drived other competitors from the track. and that it isn't realy a big surprise that it was him that had a big crash.
