Memorial Day honors those that have lost their lives in our nation's service.  The spiritual and symbolic center for this holiday weekend is at Arlington National Cemetary and the Tomb of the Unknowns as the Honor Guard sentinel walks the mat, pacing out 21 steps then turning and marching back 21 steps.  Rain or shine, night or day.  And the changing of the guard is something every American should witness at least once.  Honor all of our veterans and our men and women currently serving our nation by just taking a quiet moment out of your weekend to say a little prayer of thanks to them.

This weekend is also known for racing, most traditionally the Indy 500, but also Nascar's 600 mile marathon at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.  Throw in the glitzy crown jewel of the F1 season (the Monaco GP) to start Sunday off in style and you've got quite a racing line-up there.  Plus the added bonus of having Monday off from work as a recovery day.  As I sit here at my Dell home computer, anxiously looking forward to watching the races with friends and to drinking too much beer and to burning various meats on a Coleman grille, I can't help but also reflect back on some racing history as well.

It's good to stop and remember.

Racing is inherantly a dangerous sport, always has been, always will be.  It's just the nature of the beast.  Everyone involved realizes that, the drivers, the track officials, and the fans.  I'm amazed at how far safety in motorsports has advanced, but the danger from pushing vehicles to go faster and faster, closer and closer to the absolute limit will never completely be eliminated.  Engineers design and build cars that test the technological boundaries, and race drivers take those cars right to the edge of the precipice.  And sometimes beyond.

Ayrton Senna.  My all-time favorite Formula 1 driver was killed on May 1, 1994, at the San Marino GP in Imola.  That was a dark day, in fact, that entire Grand Prix seemed cursed.  During qualifying Rubens Barrichello was injured in a crash, and then during a practice session Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed when his car slammed into a wall.  Then finally during the race, Senna was leading but being pushed by a young German driver named Michael Schumacher when in the Tamburello corner of the Imola circuit Senna's car went airborne and struck the outer barrier of the track.

Something like that happens so fast.  In an instant, and you blink.  Did I just see that?  Some crashes just have a bad look to them, I can't really describe it, but maybe it's from watching enough racing and seeing enough crashes or maybe as humans we just have a natural understanding of physics that some crashes you know to disregard and some you know to hold your breath.  Because that instant can have long effects.

Track officials later found a folded red and white Austrian flag in the cockpit of Senna's car.  Apparently he was planning to wave it as a victory flag in tribute to Ratzenberger.

Senna is still my favorite driver for many reasons but mainly because the dude was almost psychotically driven to win and he had plenty of talent to go with that passion.  That combination certainly made him alot of enemies in his day too.  His days at McLaren-Honda were obviously the most memorable of his career, and the interesting part of it was that McLaren didn't give him team leader status.  McLaren was an equal opportunity team, there was not a team leader and a support driver - there were two team drivers.  Anyone that witnessed the incredible 1988 season and the bitter rivalry between Senna and Prost can vouch for that.  People that argue Michael Schumacher is the greatest F1 driver of all-time should consider the fact that during his days at Ferrari, Schumi had everything slanted in his favor, while during most of his days at McLaren, Senna had to fight for every pole position, every fastest lap, and every GP victory.

Dale Earnhardt.  Sometimes nicknames just don't seem to make sense, while other times nicknames just embody a person's image perfectly.  The man that was basically the image of the Nascar Winston Cup Series became known to even those of us who didn't regularly follow Nascar as "The Intimidator".  That right there is a race driver's nickname, and it was only fitting that at the pinnacle of his career, the 3 car was painted in black.  Like the old western movie in which the bad guy wore that signature black hat.

Dale Sr played that part perfectly too.

Similar to what made me a fan of Senna, I liked the attitude of Earnhardt.  He had that aura about him.  For me he was Nascar.  I didn't watch many Nascar races other than the big ones (Daytona, Talladega, the Brickyard, etc.), but when I tuned in most often it was because of him.  Earnhardt's career was intertwined with Daytona, and when he (finally) managed to win one in 1998, it was just one of those feelgood moments in motorsports.  Dude deserved it very badly, and it was very cool to see him get to victory lane at that event.

Then on Feb 18, 2001, on the final lap of the Daytona 500, Earnhardt's car speared the concrete wall of Turn 4.  He was most likely killed instantly.  I did happen to be watching when that crash happened, and unlike Senna's crash I honestly don't remember initially thinking that it was too bad.  I suppose the fact that there was a dash to the line for the win going on while Earnhardt hit the wall might've been a distraction from the wreck.  The replay isolation on the 3 car showed just how severe that impact really was, and in many ways I truly believe that crash and the loss of Nascar's icon led to great advancements in safety throughout stock car racing.

And that's probably the best tribute that racing can give to these two icons.  Just keep racing, and just keep improving for the future.

I know that's an odd pairing: Ayrton Senna and Dale Earnhardt.  But as I was thinking and remembering about past drivers that we've lost, those two names immediately came to mind.  For sure, two very different people, but yet very similar in many ways.  I also thought of the story of Bill Vukovich who was killed May 30, 1955, in a crash during the Indianapolis 500.  Of course I wasn't around to see that crash, but naturally I've done my fair share of reading about the history of American racing.  Anyone who has read about the history of the Indy 500 has no doubt read about Vukovich, who has been called by racers of that era, "the greatest driver in American motorsports history".

But there's no sense in me just reposting the Wikipedia entry about him, so I'll let you research all of that for yourself.