| | I really can't think of a good way to start this entry. I'm just writing this mainly to express my thoughts and maybe make some sense of it all.
I was just informed about 20 mins ago (1:20 am) that a driver, Billy Kimmel, was killed tonight in a race at Williams Grove Speedway. This kind of hits close to home for me. I didn't know the driver personally or anything like that I just visited the track on a pretty much regular basis while in college and I still go about once every month or so. Infact I was there last Fri (Aug. 24th).
People go to races because they enjoy the speed and close competition. Drivers and fans both know that something real bad can happen at any time. It's just pushed to the back of your head. You don't think it can happen. Why? Perhaps because you can't enjoy something when you think of the possible consequences. Maybe you just sit there not thinking about it. I think I'm of the later. I go and enjoy. I know something could happen. I've never seen anything like it happen. Doesn't occur that anything horrible will happen.
I have however been at races and had a scare. I have seen some really nasty wrecks. Some (including the one that scared me the most) happened at the Grove. One wreck scared me more because the car was flying straight at me before hitting the catch fence, hit one of the light poles near me causing it to shake and luckily not fall cause it could have hit me.
In almost all sport something terrible and deadly could happen. Racing, football, hockey, and even baseball come to mind right away. Is that part of the appeal? Is there some kind of thrill in the subconscious about the danger of these sports that makes them popular? I suppose it is possible that humans do have a blood lust....it's just been disguised a bit. We're not watching lions eat Christians or Gladiator battles to the death. We just have sports now that it can happen...altough not part of regular occurance.
RIP Billy Kimmel. My thoughts and prayers are with your family and friends. I'm also keeping my thoughts with the Central PA racing community as this is going to be hard to deal with in such a tight nit community.
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| | Posted 9/3/2007 2:14 AM - 23 views - 1 comments
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