Originally Posted by Don Capps
Lest it be overlooked, keep in mind that there many who were very vocal regarding the deaths and injuries that occurred in automobile racing. Although the loudest protests were over the deaths and injuries to spectators, justifiably so, that each season resulted in the deaths of more than a few drivers did not go with comment. To a very large extent, the problem lay within the racing community itself -- the organizing clubs and promoters along with the various sanctioning bodies were very the blame for the hesitancy in embracing the sort of safety measures that John Fitch (who was campaigning for circuit and road safety in the US for years), Jackie Stewart, Jo Bonnier, and others (Emerson Fittipaldi, for instance) were advocating.
The racing community has a wonderful tendency to rationalize things, so beware of the bull**** lines are so often trotted out such as that people were used to death due to the war and other such rationalizations, ad nauseam, that keep appearing. It was cheaper to have the "inconvenience" of a few driver deaths than spend the money to make things safer, as in genuinely safer. The level of denial and the ability to rationalize the irrational within the racing community and its fans is almost breath-taking in its scope.
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