Haven’t we carried all of the tributes a little far? Even the family members have mentioned that it just makes getting on with their lives that much harder and yet the fans feel that they are more important than the family members; why?
Fans have told me that this last year was the most tragic year ever in racing. Those who make that claim surely have not been fans of racing for any great length of time at all. They overlook the deaths of two drivers within days of each other at Daytona not all that many years ago; or the loss of two others in a fiery crash at Indy on the same day one of the greats of Nascar was injured and was later to succumb to those injuries. All of this only months after another of the Nascar stars had lost his life in a race at California.
Or have they never heard of the tragedy at a track in France where not only a driver was killed, but a rather large number of spectators as well?
And I have to wonder exactly how many of these fans realize that it was fifty years ago, Sunday, July 29, 1951, to be exact, when three racecar drivers all lost their lives in three separate accidents within an hour of each other? It is rather ironic that they had been the three slowest qualifiers for the Indy 500 that year. Cecil Green of Houston, Texas, spun and went over the wall between turns one and two at Winchester, Indiana, during time trials. Bill Mackey, (William C. Grietsinger Jr.), of Dayton, Ohio, did the same thing a few minutes later at the same track. At Williams Grove that same afternoon, Walt Brown of Long Island, New York, also died when he crashed between the first and second turns while attempting to qualify.
Should all of these drivers be overlooked in the mad rush to show tribute?
I know that some folks will scream at me that all of this is ancient history; that it has nothing to do with the way things are today, etc., etc., etc. I’d have to say that it has everything to do with the way things are today. While it certainly would be considered tragic for something of this magnitude to occur, has it never crossed any of the fans’ minds that just such an occurrence is entirely within the realm of possibility?
For all to sit back and think something of this nature will never happen is to only disillusion oneself. I’ve had others tell me that this is a fatalistic attitude; I have to disagree; it is not fatalistic, it is realistic, and while I am all for every possible advance in safety in the design of the cars, the tracks, and the drivers' personal equipment, I am also realistic enough to know that racing has always been, is today, and always will be, a dangerous sport. Mechanical failures, driver errors in judgment, accidents, and multi-car crashes are all still very much a part of the sport. If this were not the case, would it have become as popular as it is today?
I think I’ve said this before, but obviously it bears saying again: Would it not be better to stop the crying because they’re gone and smile because they were here?
I think so.
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boB