For one not in the racing world, it is difficult to understand the sense of loss those in “the family” feel after the fiery crash that killed beloved British racer Dan Wheldon.
Wheldon, a good man, died Oct. 16 in a fiery crash in Las Vegas. He was doing what he loved, what all of us involved in racing love….
Some may call it the result of a dangerous sport, but danger is not what pushes these drivers who spend their lives in the pursuit of speed. It is not vehicles, after all, that we mourn or celebrate, but the people involved, the passion, the fervor, the triumphs, the losses and the loss.
Passion forms the foundation for the racing family.
The passion can come from all over, bringing everyone together to form one cohesive group that becomes so recognizable to everyone involved. Passion is the underlying force to which we as a racing community can go out and participate in the sport that we love so much. The passion that drives us as a community to continuously put it all on the line is not something to be explained but rather experienced.
I cannot fully explain the sensations and feelings I experience as a corner marshal, flagging for every level of experience, responding to every incident that occurs near my post, risking my life on a regular basis, all in the name of such a deadly sport known as automotive racing. It is a passion that drives and pushes me back to the track, and it is the same passion that breaks you down when a tragedy like this occurs.
The same can be said for the drivers.
It is their passion that drives them to don the safety equipment, develop the technology and push that technology to the edge and beyond.
The passion is the same for all of us, from the fans, to the race workers, to the race officials, and to the teams and drivers.
No one has ever argued with the fact that automotive racing is a dangerous sport. In few other sports is death witnessed.
Since the introduction of the idea of racing, improvements to safety in racecars–and subsequently your street cars–have been making extreme leaps. It is terrible that most of these improvements have come from the result of a death or serious injury, but necessity is, as they say, the mother of invention.
Nothing can make you truly safe in this sport that pushes and crosses the danger line.
Dan Wheldon, like all involved in this sport, loved riding on that line.
A good racer, good family man, he will be missed by those of us who, like him, love the sport he lived … and died for.