Columnist Ron Kantowski: Racing is risky business

Friday, May 28, 1999 | 11:59 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at 259-4088 or ron@lasvegassun.com

It's T-minus-48 hours to the biggest weekend in motor sports.

With major races at Indianapolis (Indy Racing League), Charlotte (NASCAR Winston Cup) and suburban St. Louis (CART), the boost will be turned up during the annual Memorial Day Weekend carnival of speed.

Naturally, there's a chance that someone could get hurt.

The holiday weekend also will bring boaters and jet-skiers out to Lake Mead in full force.

Naturally, there's a chance that someone could be thrown overboard.

And I'll bet there will be dozens of hiking-boot-and-Granola types who will use their extra day off to scale the bluffs at Red Rock Canyon.

Naturally, there's a chance that someone could fall off.

Auto racing, boating and mountain climbing are inherently dangerous pastimes. The participants know that going in. They calculate the risk and proceed at their own speed -- or in auto racing, at one that hopefully will land them on the outside of the front row.

Driving a car at speeds once only fathomable to astronauts and Leon Spinks is not so much an issue anymore, as advances in technology and safety have assisted bold drivers in becoming old drivers. Prior to the 1970s, the life expectancy of an Indy car driver was only slightly greater than a John Larroquette sitcom. Now, they live to be A.J. Foyt's age, which is a good thing (I think).

But there's a new element in the equation. Innocent spectators have become a variable.

Twice in the past year ordinary appearing accidents have resulted in tragedy when wheels were launched into the grandstand. Three fans were killed in a CART race at Michigan last August and three more perished in an IRL event at Charlotte last month.

A guy falling to his death while climbing a mountain is one thing. Were he to land on a bunch of innocent bystanders would be quite another.

This weekend, the CART and IRL cars will be fitted with wheel tethers that should reduce the likelihood of suspension parts being launched into the grandstands in the event of a crash.

You'd almost need a stopwatch to measure the haste at which the sanctioning bodies reacted to the situation. That said, was I the only one watching the race at Atlanta last year (entirely possible, given the IRL's dismal TV ratings) when a tire flew into the empty backstretch grandstands? Heads would have rolled -- probably literally -- had those stands been packed like they are for Winston Cup.

One of the rumors making the rounds was that the big shots at the Lowe's (formerly Charlotte), Texas and Atlanta speedways, whose cash cow is stock car racing, were considering dropping their IRL events in the knee-jerk aftermath of the Charlotte tragedy.

I wonder if they would have had the same reaction had the catch fence at Pocono a few years back not done its job (barely), preventing Bobby Allison's airborne car from crashing through the fence and into the stands?

Let's be honest: If the track operators were totally committed to the well-being of their fans, they wouldn't pump their tanks full of Budweiser and Miller Lite and then turn them loose on an interstate highway after the checkered flag falls.

Given that scenario (and with all due respect to the victims and their families), I'd rather take my chances against a flying tire.