Another race ( and avoided tragedy ) is in the can.
It appears the independent contractors ( aka drivers ) are going to have to chip in the money themselves if they want SAFER walls everywhere. Actually, there’s probably more than one of them that has the means to fund the whole thing alone. But that shouldn’t be their responsibility.
Who else has the deep pockets to do the job? Well there’s most of the track owners, or Nascar, or how about some influence from the “Race Team Alliance? You remember. The coalition of the biggest teams that formed last year “to represent themselves before NASCAR on issues pertinent to the growth of the sport.” Ah. Never mind them. They got together ” to work together to increase revenue, spend more efficiently, and deliver more value to our partners.” I guess the safety of their drivers doesn’t fit in there somehow. To be fair, that also shouldn’t be their responsibility. Back to the track owners and Nascar. What the heck is the problem?
Now I’d be perfectly content if there were never any SAFER barriers. Drivers have always known the risks. They have always gone as fast as they could regardless – at least the really good ones. Sure, there’d probably be a few former drivers still alive (and retired by now). But since SAFER is extant, it should not be just half-***ed. I keep getting this image of a track with all the walls secured except for a 10 ft. stretch that “no car would ever hit here with enough force to cause harm. This will save us $20000.00”.
By Gary Erdakos
