P112
CN
III TRACKSIDE
BY ANDREA WILSON
T
here's that old adage—re-
member when sex was
safe and motorcycle racing
was dangerous? If you look at
racing in general, the sport has
gotten safer. And if you look at
road racing in particular, the
improvements are drastic—
thanks to things like improved
track designs with better run off,
air fence and advances in the
technology used in leathers and
helmets. It's much safer than
the days of old when racetracks
were often lined with guardrails
covered here and there with a
few hay bales.
But even with all that, it's still
not "safe." After all, it's motor-
cycle racing and it will never be
completely safe. That's part of its
appeal.
There's no greater reminder of
the dangers in racing than when
we lose someone to the sport.
It's the part that no one likes and
when you've been around the
sport for a while the odds are
greater that it will end up touch-
ing you personally when you
have friends who are injured,
or worse yet killed, partaking
in a sport they love. Even if you
don't know the person very well,
or even if you don't know them
at all, the pain still runs deep.
THE S-WORD
