Letter: Auto racing always a risk

Ron@vegas.com

Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

I appreciate Brian Hilderbrand's skill as a journalist, yet he seems to have run with the herd on this one ("Unsafe at any speed," Jan. 14). Life is dangerous and people die; 40,000 souls, give or take a few, die on American highways each year. Maybe we should all start walking?

Auto racing has always been a dangerous sport for courageous human beings. We love the sport not because they die, not because they suffer horribly, but because they know the risks involved and defiantly venture into the unknown.

You and I can both drive our passenger cars around Walt Disney World Speedway at "safe" speeds all day, every day and I guarantee you we'll never suffer a scratch. The problem is we would be the only two there because anyone could do the same.

Sam Schmidt got back in a car that mangled his feet in Texas. He knew the risks and he paid the price for living life closer to the edge than most of us will ever dare stand. Do not mourn for him. He chose the path.

As a great man once said, "There is beauty in danger when it is intentionally sought." Yet on the flip side, there is also great loss to those of us who applaud heroes like Sam.

-- WILLIAM TODD

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