Death of IndyCar racer triggers calls for safety review

Stories are running now that Justin Wilson saved 6 lives after his death, as he was an organ donor.

The dangers of open cockpit racing.

The most dangerous part of open cockpit racing is driving to the track on a public highway or street.

The most dangerous part of open cockpit racing is driving to the track on a public highway or street.

^^

Very few accidents in auto racing end up with injuries involved. But higher performance driving means increased risk that any accident will be significant. Like Felipe Massa who caught a suspension spring in the coconut in a freak accident.

Dan Wheldon's death was also a pretty unique occurrence, but that also could have been prevented with some cage protection for the head.

True. But it was also a freak accident. You can only make a sport like auto racing so safe where anything past it is just diminishing returns.

It's a long way from the old days when there was a death every other week in F1.

One of the most dangerous racing events.

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/isle-man ... addiction/

Being interested in this stuff as I'm an FIA certified Race Marshall, we showed a film by Sir Jackie Stewart to the club membership this past spring, on the progress made since the 1950s on course safety. It was actually shocking to see how some drivers were left to burn in their cars, or how cars crashing into spectators was just 'the price of admission'.

Just the fact that I get yearly education in the use of fire suppressants, first aid, vehicle fire systems and driver extraction is simply amazing! Back 'in the day' course Marshalls were almost non-existent!

Yeah I've seen that film too. What shocked me is the responses to the drivers calling for more safety: the media called them a bunch of pussies for not wanting to die unnecessarily. The bad old days indeed.