About the Ryan Newman crash (Newman listed in serious condition but not life threatening)
Still no word that I have heard about the nature of his injuries but the news says he is serious with non life threatening injuries. All things considered, that's good news.
Anyway, about the crash. As you watch it, the structural integrity of the car itself is quite remarkable. While the flimsily built bodywork just sort of distorts, crumbles, then falls off, the structure appeared solid, almost undamaged. Rigid. The driver protected. That's the reason so many NASCAR (and other forms of racing) crashes are walk-aways. Yes, to be sure, this is dangerous stuff, but the technical rules are heavily on the side of safety.
To me, the scary detail was the fire. What was its source? A ruptured fuel cell came to mind. Fuel cells have been around for 50 years or more. They are several orders of magnitude better today than when first put in use, but perfect is not an applicable descriptor. After the car came to rest, liquid pouring out was visible near the fire. Not sure if it was fuel or coolant. Oddly the fire did not grow even as the liquid appeared to be flowing toward the fire.
Anyway, I think this crash was a testimony to safety at 200 mph.
No, I am not a NASCAR fan, although I do enjoy motorsports in general.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The protagonist is roped into accompanying a friend on a bus tour of sites in the life and death of Dale Earnhart.
I have to say, by the time the book was over both the protagonist and I had developed a sympathy and understanding of the fans.
For me it was like that episode of Designing Women that followed a similar pair (believer and skeptic) to an event commemorating Elvis Presley.
Neither NASCAR nor Elvis does anything for me, but something resonates deeply for a lot of people.
