Fatal accident, hobby soon to be banned!

This horrific accident took the lives of two spectators and injured several others. Surely this means the end of auto racing! We've all heard that it takes just one serious accident to end a hobby forever. So auto racing will be permanently shut down by the government now, right? ;)

---------------------------------------- Crash Kills 2 Spectators at Ill. Raceway

MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (AP) - A race car crashed into the stands at a southern Illinois track, killing two spectators and injuring six others people, officials said. The driver also was hurt.

State police were trying to determine what caused the car to shoot off the quarter-mile dirt oval track Saturday night at Mount Vernon Raceway. It was the only vehicle on the track at the time. The driver was doing a qualification run.

The car's speed wasn't known, but it flew deep into the stands, said Capt. Conan King of the Jefferson County Fire Protection District.

``I believe there's about 25 rows of bleachers,'' he said. The car ``landed probably two rows from the top.''

Jefferson County Sheriff Roger D. Mulch said two men suffered major injuries. Three other spectators and the driver, Kevin Beatiee, 38, of Benton, suffered minor injuries.

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Reply to
raydunakin
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This has always been pretty much my take, as well. People kill themselves and others in quite a few different ways, some sillier than others. Haven't seen parachuting, hang gliding, racing, etc. etc. banned yet.

Reply to
Tweak

Never Happen! There is Way Too much money in the racing industry to ban it, Billions of $$$.

I'd fear for the track though... Insurance for running a race track is very expensive.

1 lawsuit might leave them with nothing but memories. Local short tracks have been disappearing at an alarming rate & in my home state of New Jersey you can count all the tracks that are still running on 1 hand .

Big Race fan as well,

JD

Reply to
JDcluster

That's true. But even much smaller sports and hobbies have survived serious accidents. There were quite a few fatalities in the early days of bungee jumping, yet it's still here. Same with hang gliding. And I know that both of those activities were decried as dangerous, just as some today insist that rocketry is too dangerous. Yet those activities survived, and even thrived.

When the inevitable serious accident happens in rocketry, that hobby will survive as well. To some extent, it already has -- there have been major fires started by kids playing with model rockets, and although this has lead to some excess regulation, it hasn't killed the hobby.

Of course, I'm not suggesting we get complacent about safety. Complacency is the pride that comes before a fall. For instance, recently in our area a scuba diver was killed diving a wreck. He was a pro who taught advanced diving techniques. But he became complacent -- he went into a part of the wreck that was dangerous and off-limits, he left his partner behind, and he didn't use a guide line. As a result, he got trapped and drowned.

We must also avoid becoming complacent about fighting excessive regulations. We must always keep our guard up on that front too.

o
Reply to
raydunakin

Actually, there are countries that HAVE banned auto racing, because of such accidents. With very few exceptions, road racing in Europe doesn't exist anymore.

Eldred

Reply to
Eldred Pickett

Hi Eldred,

Europe bans guns also, and the rural folks live in fear of the street toughs at times.

In fact, if they hit the ruffian with say a bat while he is beating up the farmer, or raping his wife, the farmer will lose his farm to the criminal for using a harmful force greater to the force the criminal was using. It has happened in fact.

yep, I sure don't want to be like Europe in respect to bans, and yes, I have been their many times.

The UK is just now waking up to this, and meausres to let farm folks kick the crap out of criminals are working there way back into parliment.

I wonder if the UK can have chapters in the NRA like they do the TRA ?

Reply to
Almax

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Reply to
Tweak

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Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
the notorious t-e-d

Well while that's true, even if Model rocketry/HPR is banned, you will still have a sizable basten of people keeping it alive...like street racing, base jumping and such, sometimes the illegality is the draw for groups of thrillseekers. Point is, banning rocketry, even if a fatality occurs, will only lead to MORE fatalities, buy luring those kind of individuals to the hobby. Bob"if you outlaw rockets, only outlaws will have rockets"352

Reply to
bob352

Well, I *did* say with a few exceptions. And I meant AUTO racing, Tweak... The cross-country auto races(one city to another) are pretty much a thing of the past. There are still a couple, but nowhere NEAR the amount there were before a rash of accidents caused politicians to start outlawing them.

Eldred

Reply to
Eldred

In north America they've changed the 'race' to exotic auto rally, for obvious legal reasons. My dad completed two one lap of America's and no, I didn't get to be the co-driver :( However I did get my chance as a passenger in a 170+ blast in a 930 turbo :)

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For the seriously wild stuff....

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Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
the notorious t-e-d

Silly cagers running about bumping into each other and off the walls. ;-)

Don't forget the Macau GP, which includes cars and bikes. The Asian countries are going to pick up the slack in road races, I predict.

Reply to
Tweak

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