Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Schmidt: Death of fans hard to accept

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

Death, or at least the threat of it, is an inescapable part of most forms of motor sports. But that doesn't make the tragic incident during last Saturday's Indy Racing League race in Charlotte any easier for Sam Schmidt to accept.

Schmidt, a Henderson resident, was running in fourth place when a three-car accident sent a wheel and suspension parts flying into the grandstands at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Three spectators were killed and eight others injured, including one critically.

"When you're a driver or a crew member or somebody involved on that side of the fence, you kind of assume the risk," Schmidt said. "It's still bad if you have a loss of life on that side of the wall, but it's not as bad because you know that person was doing it for their livelihood and that was what they loved to do.

"But when a fan buys a ticket to go enjoy a race and they don't get to walk away, that makes it doubly worse because the fans are what makes this whole thing go around."

Although there have been calls from several fronts for everything from raising the protective catch fences at tracks to banishing IRL cars from high-banked ovals such as Lowe's Motor Speedway, Schmidt said some accidents are unavoidable.

"The track, in preparation for our cars, had already raised the fences higher than most tracks," he said of Lowe's 15-foot catch fence. "They had already done the latest and greatest things from a technical level to prevent this type of thing from happening but it still happened.

"It was a freak accident and it just proves you've got to live every day for the moment."

Schmidt applauded the IRL and track officials for canceling the race after the incident, but added he would like to see the league award points to those drivers who still were running when the race was stopped.

"It's very difficult to address that issue without seeming insensitive, but we were having our best weekend of the year and everything was going well and we were in fourth (place)," Schmidt said, adding he was uncomfortable talking about the business of racing in the wake of the tragedy.

"The IRL has not released a final verdict on that whole situation, but we hope they at least give us some type of points-related award. The monetary thing is difficult because I guess they are giving back spectators' money, but I'm not as concerned about the monetary side of it as the fact that it could effect a million-dollar championship."

If points were awarded based on where the cars were running when Saturday's race was halted, Schmidt would have vaulted from a tie for 20th to the top 10 in the point standings.

"The difficult thing about awarding points for the IRL is that they have to determine a winner and it's tough to determine a winner when you have a tragedy like this," Schmidt said. "It's tough for them to determine a winner because Buddy Lazier was winning when they threw the yellow, then they had a red flag and Greg Ray was leading.

"I would not be opposed to just doing some type of pro rata points thing where they took the top 10, bunched all those people together and split up the points evenly, then take 10 through 20 and do the same thing. I think that would be fair."

* NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. formally kicked off his Winston Cup career Wednesday with a test session at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.

Earnhardt, who will make his Winston Cup debut in the May 300 Coca-Cola 600, got only three laps of practice in his backup car after his primary car succumbed to a carburetor fire in the garage area.

His best lap, however, was sixth-fastest among the Winston Cup regulars who also were testing. Earnhardt, who has no provisionals to rely on, will have to make the field for the May 30 race on speed.

* CART: Mark Blundell, who drives the Motorola PacWest Racing Mercedes in the CART FedEx Championship Series, was held overnight at an Illinois Hospital after suffering possible head injuries in a testing crash Tuesday at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.

Blundell underwent a CAT scan, which was normal, but was held overnight for observation. Blundell was the final driver on the track following a full day of testing when he backed into the Turn 3 wall. ...

Greg Moore, one of CART's most promising young drivers, is hinting that he may not return to the open-wheel series next year in favor of competing in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series.

"It's probably the most-watched form of motor sports in North America," Moore, a Canadian, said of NASCAR. "I'm really up for anything. I'm not ruling out NASCAR, but I'm not ruling out Formula One or CART, either."

* IRL: In the aftermath of last weekend's spectator deaths and injuries at Lowe's Motor Speedway, former Indy 500 champion and current CART team advisor Mario Andretti was quoted this week as saying IRL cars have no business racing on high-banked tracks in Charlotte, Atlanta and Fort Worth.

"Those high-banked tracks are impossible, the speeds too incredible," Andretti said, noting that CART has to adjust its cars to run at high-speed tracks such as Michigan and Fontana. "We have to do silly things, crazy things, stupid things just to slow the cars down. The speeds are just unreasonable."

Racing fans are being encouraged to send cards and/or gifts to Haley McGee, the 9-year-old girl who remains in critical condition as the result of Saturday's incident in Charlotte.

Cards can be sent to Haley McGee, Carolinas Medical/Children's Hospital, P.O. Box 32861, Charlotte, NC, 28232. Gifts may be sent to the hospital at 1000 Blythe Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28203.

McGee's family says Haley would appreciate cards, Beanie Babies and anything related to Tweety Bird.

A trust fund in Haley's name also has been established by the family's church. Contributions can be sent to Friendship United Methodist Church, c/o Haley McGee, P.O. Box 2732, Newton, NC, 28658. ...

Eddie Cheever, the defending Indianapolis 500 champion, is forming a NASCAR Busch team and said he plans to drive fulltime in the series next year, and eventually may move up to the Winston Cup Series.

* BACKMARKERS: NASCAR Winston Racing Series resumes at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 3/8-mile paved oval Saturday night with competition in Late Model, Grand American Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Legends. Spectator gates will open at 5 p.m., with trophy dashes slated for 7:45 and main events scheduled for 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, military and children 6-12. Children under six are admitted free.

Brian Hilderbrand'smotor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

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