Safety Must Come First When You’re at 235 MPH

After watching a replay of the horrific and tragic accident that took the life of racer Greg Moore last Sunday, my initial observations all pointed to safety issues (or lack thereof) at the new California Speedway.

Why would track officials, and especially CART, sanction an event at a speedway where the inner crash barriers are predominantly reinforced concrete walls and totally void of any tire stacks, energy absorbing materials, etc.? CART needs to seriously look at their competition across the pond, most notably Formula One, to see the efforts they have extended to the drivers and crews in recent years.

Most turns have several yards of “sand pits” before any hardened barrier can be reached by a skidding car, not the pretty, made for TV “grassy green belts” that Mr. Moore skidded across like a skater on a frozen lake. Catch nets could have also been deployed in vulnerable sections of the infield.

How many more senseless deaths will motor racing in this country endure before some real changes are mandated?

DEAN HARISIS

Yorba Linda