It's the summer. And so it's time for what, in my mind is the essential trio of summer races. The Indy 500, the Monaco GP and the Le Mans 24 hours. 3 of the most famous races of the year, taking place in the space of about a month. However, they are also three of the more dangerous races on a racing calendar, with both Le Mans and Indianapolis being among the five tracks to have claimed the most lives.
Motor Racing is dangerous. We know it. The drivers know it. Everytime they step into a car somewhere they must know that they could be injured or worse (no doubt the try to put this out of their mind as much as possible). Everytime we watch on TV and see a bad accident there is a split econd where we may feel the worst. The moment we saw the blue tarpaulin over Hiekki Kovalienen's car after his crash in Barcalona, the split second on radio silence before a window net comes down.
Motor Racing is dangerous, but not as dangerous as it used to be. There have been many advances in various safety equipment over the last decade or so. The SAFER barrier, and their extended use from just the outside of the corner to inside walls. The increased safety in NASCAR's new COT, shown to a massive extent during Michael McDowell's horror accident in Texas, the stronger shell, the fire-proofing, the bigger windows for an easier escape, moving the driver towards the middle of the car, a move which, if universal would have had Dario Franchitti racing this weekend. The HANS device, probably the biggest peice of technology to increase safety, making deaths like Dale Sr's and Roland Ratzenburger's basically a thing of the past, and probably saving Robert Kubica and Kovalienen, among many, many others in the process.
Track owners, more often the target of fan anger for one reason or another have also helped, installing barriers, increasing medical facilities, and rules makers, accused of faviouritism, inconsistency. I can hardly imagine a NASCAR race with racing back to the line after yellow.
But all of these things pale into insignificance compared to the biggest thing that makes motorsport safer - the safety crews. To be honest you probably take them for granted. You only notice them when they're not there. Often before cars have stopped spinning, flipping and crashing the safety crews are on the track. They are better trained than ever before, better equiped. Gone are the days when fellow racing drivers were better prepared to deal with fires than marshals wearing jeans. And now consider not only the teams who work for the big sanctioning bodies, at the big tracks. But also think of the, probably voluntary, guys who work at your local track, attend race tracks for public track days.
What they do is also dangerous. Even the marshals that work at well-maintained international circuits work in the face of danger. They put themselves in the way when motorsport is at it's most dangerous. When a car's on fire everyone moves away from it, yet track workers move towards it. These marshals love racing as much as any of us, they make it possible. And personally I thank them. The summer wouldn't be the same without them.
We've all probably had several moments where we've gasped for breath and had a lump in our throat while watching some horrific crashes. The safety innovations in the past decade have been wonderful and you're right, have probably saved more lives than we'll know.
Thanks for spotlighting some important people and issues.
Broomy - Good call out to those invisible folks who do much to help the sport each week, and often go unappreciated as they risk their lives. My husband had pointed out to me at one time that a lot of the safety course workers for the F1 races were volunteers. Don't know if that is still true. But you really have to love racing to volunteer as a course worker.
Very good point. Our comments about safety over the past several months have centered on the technological innovations. However, the sea change in the methods and competencies of track safety workers (particularly the medical crews) has been every bit as dramatic. The fact that Alex Zanardi is still alive despite losing most of his blood volume following his horrifying accident in Germany is a testament to the preparedness and skill of the crews who mostly sit and wait - only very rarely having their skills called into action. But when things go horribly wrong, drivers and their loved ones can rest a bit easier knowing they will benefit from state-of-the art medical care within moments.
Gerrel - about the voluntary-ness of F1 marshals and safety crews.
I'm never really sure. I have a feeling that the doctors who are there travel with the series to every track. But they are only the ones who arrive in the medical car at a crash. 90% of them are just for that track (hence the fact that at the weekend one of them was waving a Turkish flag at the end). I know that the guys you see in Europe at small national meetings are volunteers, but whether there are also professionals - the best from that country - who work at the F1 races, I don't know.
Ahhh, I do believe you are correct on that. Would make the most sense anyway...with the medical staff being permanent. I think perhaps the corner workers and such were more what would be the volunteer workers from that country where the race is being held.
I always want to write something witty here, but my wit is always confused with something worse ------------- ------------- ----NASCAR and Auto Racing in general mostly here, but I get distracted by shiny sporting objects as well and give them an airing too---------- ------------- -----Pastimes include rooting for the underdog and trying to fathom why Golf is considered a sport-------- ------------- ---
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