NASCAR got some surprise media coverage this week when they had a car get ripped in half and its engine and tire found their way into the grandstands.
Crazy stuff, no doubt, and I’m glad nobody was killed.

But to hear the way some folks are talking about it, you’d think this happens every day. The reality is it almost never happens; so there’s no need to overreact and make drastic changes at racetracks. Even most of the fans who were injured were not too upset; they wanted to come back the next day and watch the 500. NASCAR fans aren’t build like that; we brush it off and move on for the most part.

It’s never a bad thing, though, to see what else could be done to protect fans in the stands, but really I think there’s too much you can do about an incident like what happened Saturday. When things fly in the air unexpectedly, what can you do? Build a fence 500 feet high? You can try to make the cars not get airborne as easily, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

I feel safe at the racetrack, and I feel most fans do too. This random accident is eye-opening, and was crazy to see. But it will be quickly forgotten by most race fans as a one-time deal, and won’t be something that prevents them from showing up in the future to root on their favorite drivers.