Racing fans needn't overreact to risk of flying debris

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Scripps Howard

(Jul 29, 1998 - 6:16 EDT) -- Racing fans probably have a better chance of
being injured driving to the Brickyard 400 on Saturday than they do while
sitting in the stands, says an Indianapolis Motor Speedway spokesman.

This past Sunday three fans were killed and six others injured at the
Michigan Speedway's U.S. 500 when Adrian Fernandez's car hit the wall, and
the right front tire and parts of the suspension cleared a 15-foot fence
atop a concrete wall and flew into a crowded section of the grandstand.

Fred Nation, vice president corporate communications of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, said the tragedy "appeared to be a freak
accident."

"When you have cars on the track racing at over 230 mph there's no way
to stop the possibility of a tire going into the stands," Nation said.
"It's a very rare happening."

On Saturday afternoon about 300,000 racing enthusiasts will crowd the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway and take in one of NASCAR's premier races --
the Brickyard 400. Those fans, Nation said, know the tracks take every
precaution but that there is no guarantee for total safety.

"We have taken what we believe to be every reasonable precaution to
keep debris away from the stands," Nation said. "The first year
before we added the Brickyard we incorporated NASCAR criteria. We installed
the debris fence, which was 14 feet high, to a height of 19 feet from track
surface to the top of the fence all the way around the track. The top of
the fence is angled 45 degrees over the track. We raised the concrete walls
one meter to 42 inches.

"At the Brickyard and Indianapolis 500 we have had no significant
debris problem."

NASCAR vehicles are closed-wheel, unlike their CART and Indy Racing League
open-wheeled counterparts. Which isn't to say NASCAR hasn't had its share
of near tragedies.

In fact, at Talladega in Alabama, a frightening wreck led to a major rule
change for NASCAR competitors. In 1987, Bobby Allison's car, traveling at
210 mph, went airborne and wiped out 35 yards of grandstand fence. A woman
lost an eye from flying debris. The wreck brought about the use of
restrictor plates to govern engine speed still in use today at
superspeedways.

The last open-wheel racing tragedy in the U.S. before Sunday came at the
1987 Indianapolis 500 when a fan standing in the top row was killed by a
loose tire off Tony Bettenhausen's car. And in 1969 an onlooker was fatally
hit by driver Horst Kwech at the Michigan Speedway at a closed road course
during the Wolverine Trans Am.

Europe has seen tragedy too. In 1955 a car careened into the spectator area
at Le Mans, France, and killed 83 people that day. By the end of the year,
nearly 100 people had died from the tragedy. In 1996 five people died and
23 injured in Alencon, France, when driver Joe Sterkens hit a bump and flew
into a crowd of spectators.

Spectator injuries at sporting events are not well-documented, but with the
exception of riotous soccer fans and the occasional heart attack at a
baseball or football game, such occurrences seem rare.

Because most of these accidents are of the "freak" nature,
there's no real way to prepare for them. Nation said the 1987 Indianapolis
500 is a good example.

"We had a situation here where a wheel came loose and was hit by
another car," he said. "It wouldn't have mattered how high the
fence was in that case. It could have been 100 feet high and it wouldn't
have helped."

John Story, spokesman for the Daytona International Speedway, said the
management at each race track shares all of its safety information with
other tracks to promote safety.

"To be honest, we're not much different than anywhere else. Michigan
and Daytona do most things the same way," Story said. "We share
all of our safety information. There are no secrets."

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