It seems like a logical statement to me (that track days are more
dangerous than race days). Any fool with enough money can buy a fast car, see
wreckedexotics.com if you doubt that.
I'm not saying anything about this guy
or how well his car was prepped. There were lots of bad things in that car,
though. I too noticed the passenger belts flailing around, the lack of arm
restraints or HANS device, the fact that he seems to have had some sort of
chain dangling from his mirror or somewhere on the dash, etc. etc. I was also
cringing when the track worker insisted on pulling his helmet off. And as cool
as a lot of people think those single hoop bars look, I prefer something with
at least four secure mounting points. Of course this one had three and seemed
to do it's job well enough. The ones that really should be banned are those
chrome double bump things you see on Miatas all the time. With no rear
supports, they are just a big mouse trap waiting to fold over kill the
occupants.
Back to my point - In a real race you have a sanctioning body
that mandates some level of licensing / certification / safety equipment,
etc. A lot of track days basically say if you have a helmet (often borrowed
and the wrong size), your car doesn't leak fluids and has the battery tied
down, you can drive after signing the waiver.
It's kind of similar to the
way I give rental trucks on the highway more attention than I do professional
truckers. Not that I don't pay attention to all the traffic, but I am much
more wary of rental trucks. Worst of all? Those Zipcar "Wheels when you need
'em" rental cars so popular around NYC. There are lots of New York City folks
who don't own a car and rarely drive. Whenever I see a car with that
emblazoned across the rear bumper, I steer well clear...
David Booker
Long
Island
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