taken by speed
Reviewed by Mark Howell
22 april 2018 archive
To watch a pitcher killed by an errant line drive, or to see a wide receiver die in front before your eyes from a broken neck, would be nothing short of shocking. Such ghastly events, while exceedingly rare, have likely occurred throughout the long histories of these sports. To think otherwise would be erroneous.
Yet in the world of international motor sports, such gruesome mishaps are often considered part of the inherent nature of the activities. There are some who believe that motor sports are actually all about the potential of witnessing such a spectacle: the violent death of a skilled athlete while they challenge the unforgiving limits of physics, engineering, their own reflexes, and their own courage.
So what can we learn from the experiences of those skilled competitors who die while plying their chosen trade?
According to Connie Ann Kirk, in her incisive new book Taken by Speed: Fallen Heroes of Motor Sport and Their Legacies, a great deal can be derived which may affect the evolution of a particular racing series or division. Kirk, an extensively-published academic who was trained in the more-traditional discipline of literature, discovered motor sports in 1978, when she traveled to Watkins Glen and watched the legendary Mario Andretti race in the United States Grand Prix. Thirty years later, Kirk discovered the appeal of vintage or "historic" racing – once again, while visiting Watkins Glen – and soon thereafter immersed herself in the violent-yet-glorious culture of motor sports.
Connie Ann Kirk introduces her book with a rather simple premise:
… [It is] a series of chapters that look at some of the more dramatic stories in the sport within a bigger cultural framework. … The book frames the sport of motor racing within the larger setting of people giving their all in the pursuit of a passion of life, no matter what that passion might be. … What happens if one loses his or her life in the process? (xxvi)
The stories shared by Kirk encompass many of the most horrific fatal accidents in automobile racing history. From the superstitiously-coincidental deaths of Antonio (on July 26, 1925) and Alberto Ascari (on May 26, 1955), a famous Formula One father-and-son pairing, to the more recent losses of IndyCar drivers Dan Wheldon (in 2011) and Justin Wilson (in 2015), Taken by Speed explores the specifics of, the lessons learned by, and the changes that came from lives lost to the thrilling dangers of professional motor sports. Across multiple forms of automobile racing, the book explores the grim realities of high-speed competition and how tragedies ultimately reinvented motor sports for the better.
Much of Kirk's book explores "some of the more well-known individual and collective losses in the sport from 1955 to 2017", with an emphasis (to the reader, at least) on the brutally-dangerous period in Formula One competition when, as three-time F1 champion Sir Jackie Stewart suggested, drivers had a roughly 67% chance of dying during a typical racing season. (xxv) This might be construed as a limitation in Kirk's book, given that so many drivers perished in less "glamorous", but just as significant, forms of automobile racing.
For example, the death of NASCAR legend Glenn "Fireball" Roberts from injuries suffered during the 1964 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway seemed worthy of inclusion in the book, as did the fatal wreck at Riverside International Raceway in 1964 that claimed the life of two-time Grand National champion Joe Weatherly. In both tragic situations, the deaths led to major changes in NASCAR competition rules (in the case of Roberts, it resulted in improved fire protection for drivers; in the case of Weatherly, it resulted in the use of improved driver restraints).
Granted, not every racing fatality could be covered by Kirk in her comprehensive work. The accidents she did address, however, were each significant in their own unique way. Kirk accordingly addresses the events and outcomes of such infamous fatal events as the horrific wreck that occurred on lap 35 during the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1955. The accident began when four race cars jockeyed for room while negotiating a narrow section of track between the pit area (where cars received service) and the main grandstands. The Mercedes of French driver Pierre Levegh, traveling at speeds approaching 150 miles per hour, climbed up the rear wheels of another car, launching Levegh into the grandstands and a concrete wall, where the Mercedes exploded into pieces and erupted into flames. Spectators were killed instantly (some decapitated by flying debris) with the exact death toll still under debate. Kirk's research determined that somewhere between 80 and 90 race fans were killed, with more than 100 suffering injuries. The 1955 spectacle at LeMans remains, as Kirk states, "by far the largest death toll at a single racing event in motor sport history anywhere in the world." (23)
This catastrophic accident, however, is often overlooked when compared to the fatalities suffered by individual and revered competitors. There are certain names in motor sports that carry great significance, and their sudden deaths often result in watershed moments wherein the sport reevaluates itself. Kirk addresses such iconic losses eloquently, bearing in mind the overarching influence of these drivers upon global popular culture – those talented and sometimes glamorous athletes who were both victorious and influential.
One chapter explores the death of Formula One legend Jim Clark, a Scottish sheep farmer-turned-racing driver who won two world titles and the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Not only did Clark's fatal wreck in Germany in 1968 sadden fans who knew the gifted competitor from his success in America, but his passing intensified the technological and legislative crusade to make Formula One racing safer.
As did the 1994 death of three-time F-1 champion Ayrton Senna, whose fatal wreck early in the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy, led to extensive changes in race car construction, racetrack design, and competition rules. While much of Kirk's chapter about Senna's life and death seemed gleaned from Asif Kapadia's award-winning 2010 documentary Senna (which Kirk erroneously stated as being from 2012), it is difficult to argue against the Brazilian driver's legacy as both a champion and a humanitarian.
Another high-profile racing fatality addressed by Kirk was that of seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series (known today as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) champion Dale Earnhardt, whose last lap accident during the 2001 Daytona 500 forever changed the landscape of big time stock car racing. Kirk's coverage of "The Intimidator's" death addressed his cultural significance as an embodiment of "The American Dream" – a second-generation stock car racer who went beyond his education, his family, and his working-class heritage to achieve the pinnacle of American motorsports. Not only did Earnhardt shape the public image of NASCAR, but his death at the age of 49 spurred wholesale changes in stock car design and construction. Kirk manages to blend the competitive with the cultural to put Dale Earnhardt's legacy into its proper contextual focus.
This is the beauty of Connie Ann Kirk's latest book: making sense out of what, at first glance, seems antithetical to our notions regarding sports. Fans and followers do not consume sport to witness horror and death; sport strives to demonstrate and celebrate all that is noble and admirable in the spirit of competition. Unfortunately, according to Kirk, motor sports sometimes result in very public spectacles of sheer tragedy.
Tragedies, as explored in Taken by Speed, which provide learning opportunities laden with importance and improvement. By never forgetting, we will never grow complacent.
Taken By Speed: Fallen Heroes of Motor Sport and Their Legacies by Connie Ann Kirk. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. 237 pages, including bibliographical information and index.
Copyright © 2018 by Mark Howell