You Are What You Are, When You Were By Dick Smith©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. After the recent tragedy in Toronto I had a problem. I witnessed theaccident [Jeff Krosnoff] on TV, along with a friend, and our short comments were to theeffect that "it didn't look good" as they went to golf or whatever. Later,of course, I found out the full news. Checking things out, I found RASI [UseNet Newsgroup: rec.autos.sport.indy] and CART Friends [private list-server] literally overflowing with sentiment and grief. OK...RASI also included the usual clueless blathering as well. I hadn't reacted that way. Even when Jim [DeFord] suggested that I comment in CART Friends from ahistorical perspective, I had difficulty 'getting into' the job. I ended upposting a pretty bland piece. Was I That callous? That cold? Didn't Ifeel what those around me felt? Didn't the death of Jeff Krosnoff. meananything? Why hadn't I reacted to Scotty Brayton's death like the others?Frankly, I was a little worried about myself.... I had to take some stock to figure it all out. But, now, I think Ibetter understand. It reminds me of a 'training' film I once saw called"You are What You Are, When You Were". It was truly forgettable, but theconcept of the presenter was that people act and react in ways that aresymptomatic of the times when they grew up. In other words, our parents(OK, for most of you, your grandparents) were a product of the depressionand those events colored the rest of their lives. Since I now live over 1000 miles from ANY indycar race, my trackattendance has been pretty poor over the last couple of decades. Thinkingback, I counted Indy in 1994 and the last indycar race I saw in personbefore that was the Indy year that saw the death of Swede Savage, the lastUSAC/CART race death until Jeff Krosnoff ! A death in a indycar race wasunheard of since then...... I realized that most of today's fans had notexperienced what I had. It was more than a "generation gap". I got my start as an indycar fan in the 50's as most of you know. Irecounted those years to myself..... - 1952 Indy winner Troy Ruttman - So severely injured that he seldom raced again
- 1953/54 Indy winner Bill Vukovich - Killed in the 1954 Indy race
- Jack McGrath top runner and Indy threat - Killed racing
- Walt Faulkner top runner - Killed racing
- Chet Miller famous Novi driver of the 40's/50's - Killed practicing at Indy
- Bob Sweikert 1955 Indy winner - killed in a sprint car
- Pat Flarety Indy 1956 winner - Severely injured and never raced again
- Pat O'Conner top runner and Indy threat - Killed at Indy 1957
- Jerry Unser (Bobby and Al's older brother) - Killed practicing at Indy
- Tony Bettenhausen former AAA National Champion - Killed practicing at Indy
- Jimmy Bryan Indy '58 winner and National Champion - Killed at Langhorne
- Jimmy Daywalt - Killed racing
- Al Herman - Killed racing
- Jim Hurtebise -- severely burned and was never the same again
That was my first 10 years of Indycar and I only included the onesoff the top of my head. I'm sure that there were others. ALL of the abovewere front runners too. Winners and champions.... we lost a lot of greatdrivers in those days.I cried for each and every one of them back then. I miss them stilltoday. Those experiences, I believe, hardened me to the realities ofIndycar racing. At least to how it was back then. Thank God things havechanged. Those were the men that I rubbed shoulders with in Gasoline Alley.The ones I hunted down for autographs. These were the Michaels and Lil' Al'sof their day. My heros. Today's drivers are no different, but perhaps I'mmore distant from them as I've never been around them 'in the flesh' as manyof today's fans have. I envy those fans. I now realize that for the mostpart they haven't experienced what I went through during my passionate yearsof following Indycar and that's good. Weep for our lost ones, my fellow fans. Shed some tears for me as well.I'm with you in remorse even if I've lost some of the capacity to feel it asyou do. Let us only hope that the strides that have been made over the lasttwo decades will continue. Let us hope that our children will grow up to befans of Indycar and never have to feel this pain. |