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ausgeflippt951 · #21 10-11-2013, 09:58 AM

^Good way to put it Brian...

I didn't see it with Anisa over the weekend; she's still deciding if she wants to see it. There are so many positives from the movie such as the characters, the 70's environment, the scripting/storytelling. But on the other hand the central theme is "racing kills". The hospital scenes in particular...

In my opinion it should be seen as "Racing used to kill before we cared about safety. Look how crazy it was back then and look how far we've progressed." It's a tough pill to swallow: there aren't many other sports where if you mess up, the penalty is death.

CanAm · #22 10-11-2013, 10:18 AM

^ Though we do continue to see injuries and deaths in pro racing, and in my short time doing this I've seen injuries in DE events also, one of which was almost fatal (an instructor). I'm all for dialing back a bit in the interest of safety, especially in street cars with stock safety equipment.

good hands · #23 10-11-2013, 10:21 AM

7 years of tracking and have seen a lot more serious injury and even death from DE's than racing. Safety equipment has certainly come a long way since the era of this movie even at the club level.

ausgeflippt951 · #24 10-11-2013, 11:17 AM

[op-ed]
This is a reason why I just can't get behind Stirling Moss 100%. I have enormous respect for him as a driver and am awed by his achievements in the early days of racing. Truly a legend. BUT: to this day he has remained a staunch opponent of making racing safer. To him, the danger was why they did it, and it was a big reason why racing became as iconic as it is. But while that may have been ideal in the early days, racing needed the progress.

And this is exactly the reason why I revere Sir Jackie.

Now if we could just keep the damn costs down and bring back the age of the Privateer. Likely mutually exclusive.
[/op-ed]

BMAN · #25 10-11-2013, 11:24 AM

I am on the highways of DC and Baltimore everyday and it's scary even on dry days. Just in the last two days I've seen a lot of wrecks on the wet roads that looked ugly! I would much rather be harnessed into my race car, side by side on the track than next to someone with bald tires, on their cell phone and late for work.

CanAm · #26 10-11-2013, 05:17 PM

If you liked the movie, check out the book "Rush to Glory" by Tom Rubython. The unabridged audiobook runs 9 hours and has everything I felt was missing in the movie, and the added details paint a different picture of the characters and events in some keys ways as compared to the movie. I liked the movie, but I liked this book twice as much.

Potomac-Greg · #27 10-11-2013, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ausgeflippt951

[op-ed]

Now if we could just keep the damn costs down and bring back the age of the Privateer. Likely mutually exclusive.

[/op-ed]

People like Paul Newman and Roger Penske raced street-based cars at Summit Point in the 1960s, arriving in open trailers, hung over, and there are still people doing exactly that, but its all Club Racing. Costs are down, but nobody's watching.

It reminds my of my undergrad years at Georgetown. Students would complain that our nationally ranked basketball team was tainted because they weren't really students, and didn't get into GU on their own merits or to get a degree. But when I invited them to watch our Division III football team comprised of regular students playing for the fun of it, they'd laugh it off, "But you guys suck!" People gravitate to the glitz.