08-05-2012, 04:54 PM
Accidents happen. Even the best players in the world get hurt sometimes.
Take auto racing. Wilbur Shaw had won the past two Indy 500s in the mid-1930s. While practicing, he noticed a faulty wheel, and they marked it with chalk so they wouldn't accidentally use it. On the morning of what would have made him the first three-in-a-row winner, there was a fire in the garage. Nobody was hurt, nobody's car was ruined, and it got put out soon enough. Halfway through the race, Wilbur was leading the race by a fair amount when the car suddenly snapped right, slamming into the wall, and the car caught fire. He was paralyzed for life from the waist down. The faulty wheel's chalk mark had been washed off by the hoses.
20 years later, Bill Vukovich had also won the past 2 Indy 500s. He, too, was leading midway through this one, when there was a wreck ahead of him. He was unable to avoid it, and his car slammed into it, and flipped off the race track. It landed upside down outside the track, and he died immediately of a fractured skull.
10 years after that, Joe Weatherly, the 1963 series champion, was doing a tire test in Riverside, California in a NASCAR stock car. One of the tires blew, and his car smashed into the concrete barrier, killing him.
Later in the year, a huge crash in the World 600 killed stock car star Fireball Roberts.
In 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was battling with Kenny Schrader for 3rd position in the final corner of the Daytona 500 when they collided, crashing hard into the outside wall. Dale was killed, and this started a huge round of safety improvements in NASCAR and in auto racing in general.
And just last year, after winning the Indy 500 in a surprise finish after the leader crashed on the last corner, Dan Wheldon was killed when he was unable to avoid a massive wreck in the season finale of the Indy Car series.
That's just racing. There are many, many more people who have been killed or severely injured in nearly every sport. There is no way for any sport to be perfectly safe.
Take auto racing. Wilbur Shaw had won the past two Indy 500s in the mid-1930s. While practicing, he noticed a faulty wheel, and they marked it with chalk so they wouldn't accidentally use it. On the morning of what would have made him the first three-in-a-row winner, there was a fire in the garage. Nobody was hurt, nobody's car was ruined, and it got put out soon enough. Halfway through the race, Wilbur was leading the race by a fair amount when the car suddenly snapped right, slamming into the wall, and the car caught fire. He was paralyzed for life from the waist down. The faulty wheel's chalk mark had been washed off by the hoses.
20 years later, Bill Vukovich had also won the past 2 Indy 500s. He, too, was leading midway through this one, when there was a wreck ahead of him. He was unable to avoid it, and his car slammed into it, and flipped off the race track. It landed upside down outside the track, and he died immediately of a fractured skull.
10 years after that, Joe Weatherly, the 1963 series champion, was doing a tire test in Riverside, California in a NASCAR stock car. One of the tires blew, and his car smashed into the concrete barrier, killing him.
Later in the year, a huge crash in the World 600 killed stock car star Fireball Roberts.
In 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was battling with Kenny Schrader for 3rd position in the final corner of the Daytona 500 when they collided, crashing hard into the outside wall. Dale was killed, and this started a huge round of safety improvements in NASCAR and in auto racing in general.
And just last year, after winning the Indy 500 in a surprise finish after the leader crashed on the last corner, Dan Wheldon was killed when he was unable to avoid a massive wreck in the season finale of the Indy Car series.
That's just racing. There are many, many more people who have been killed or severely injured in nearly every sport. There is no way for any sport to be perfectly safe.