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Show Racing Continues To Kill By PETE FRITICHIE The sports pages of May 25 told these stories: The Indy 500 was marred it's always marred by the fiery crash of Danny Ongais, burned terribly and rescued from the twisted wreckage of his burning racer in full view of thousands of fans. SWISS RACE car driver Herbert Mueller died in a terrible terri-ble crash of his Porsche 908 at the Nuernbergring in West Germany w hen he crashed into other cars and his burst into flames, which could not be extinguished ex-tinguished before he was cremated. cre-mated. At Charlotte. N.C.. Bobby Allison won the World f00 Grand National Stock Car race, but his brother Donnie was injured in a crash. The hospital said Donnie who wasn't burned alive suffered a broken shoulder, fractured ribs, a concussion and damaged dam-aged lungs. (He was pulled from his car unconscious with thousands of fans watching.) Jl ST ONE day of racing in a year of this so-called sport, during which numerous drivers driv-ers are cremated and others burned horribly and others permanently injured. The question is: Is this sport or promotional exhibitions which make huge profits for promoters? promo-ters? No one can argue that the risk of death, the excitement of fatal crashes, is not one of the "draws" for fans at auto races. It's a sad commentary on the times, when human life is so cheap that money and profits can perpetuate an exhibition which is certain to cause death. IT'S ALMOST like the old Roman spectacles when the mob licked its collective chops at the sight of humans facing, and suffering, death before large gatherings of "fans." |
