CHECK OUT THE FLYER FOR THE DAYTONA ANTIQUE AUTO RACERS ASSN MARCH 1-4, 2012
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From Bill Wendt Pres of DAARA 10-17-2011
Automobile racing, the world we love so much, has once again shown us the huge down side of what can happen. Sunday's Indy Car tragedy shows us again what I have seen only too many times in my 58 years of racing cars. We all know this can happen in any series, but it is easy to become complacent while enjoying winning, or running good, or laughing about the" close call". In an instant that joy can turn to sorrow. Vintage oval racing is not immune from this potential .30 year old cars were not as safe as modern cars. Stock cars and modifieds are usually built to fairly safe standards, as racing goes. The safety equipment helps also, but as we know, you can get injured or worse in these classes. Open wheel cars, such as sprints and midgets are quite another story! Those with cages have some protection, but uncaged sprints and midgets were very dangerous in there day, AND STILL ARE! I would venture to say that a non-caged midget is the most dangerous car to race in motor racing today, in any series! The many drivers interviewed after Dan Wheldon's tragic death had one thing in common when asked "what can be done to help prevent things like this?" The answer , common to all of them, was "don't run so hard, so close together". DAARA members, does that sound familiar? As president of DAARA, how many times, at drivers meetings,have you heard me say the same exact thing?? MANY TIMES falling on "deaf ears"! Vintage exhibition racing is what DAARA is about. It is a privilege to be able to run "green flag laps". Let's take care of that privilege! If you will think about what the Indy Car drivers said, it had nothing to do with anything except HOW THE DRIVERS DRIVE, given the situation. The bottom line is what goes on inside that helmet! We have our U.S. Vintage Oval Track Nationals coming up soon. Hope to see you ALL there, for a the greatest vintage oval track race in the nation. As I always say------BE SAFE and HAVE FUN----IN THAT ORDER!!!
Bill Wendt Pres.
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