Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 12 MARCH 24, 2015 P43 recent one and I didn't know him [or know the details of his ac- cident.] But the details are kind of a moot point as far as what I'm inspired to do." So Windham decided to test the waters through social media. "I just made a quick post and it seems a lot of people agree with me; some don't," he said. But the fact of the matter today is that we don't really know where we stand because we haven't asked enough questions. I think that's the important part—that we start asking questions and we develop answers. "For instance, I can't tell you how many people died on a mo- tion to see if we can keep it from happening again. NASCAR does it, the aviation industry does it. Every industry does that. Maybe we need to do more testing or more analysis. "I'm not looking to NASCAR for our answers, but I like the fact that they had a problem and they solved it. And it doesn't seem like we've solved any problems." Windham also addressed in his Instagram post that 14-year- old Hoeft was riding a 250 four-stroke. He asked, "Would it have happened on a 200cc? A 175? A 150?" Windham ex- plains the implication behind the these guys jump these jumps on four-strokes—and some of them novices—when they come off the jumps, they just look out of control. Not all of them, but a majority of them. With the horse- power they have and the torque they have, it's making the bikes either look like a loop-out or a nose-dive, quite often. Is there something we can do to address that?" Windham's questions don't stop at major racing organiza- tions, either. He also mentioned safety issues at local practice tracks. "I think we all know of one track that potentially has a sec- tion that takes somebody out every weekend, right? Not any one specific track, but I've heard of jumps like that before. So… why are they still there?" The response Windham has already received from his Ins- tagram post has left him a little surprised, as has the fact that he may soon find himself at the forefront of a safety revolution. "I don't know how I found my- self in the middle of this, but I felt inspired to put that out there and got a lot of comments—hundreds of long comments. It's close to everybody. "I hate the feeling of being excited that my son doesn't want to race," Windham concluded. "It's a sport that's given me ev- erything. Unfortunately the sport has taken everything away from some people." Jean Turner "IT'S A SPORT THAT'S GIVEN ME EVERYTHING. UNFORTUNATELY THE SPORT'S TAKEN EVERYTHING AWAY FROM SOME PEOPLE." torcycle in competition in 2014. That's scary to me. I know it was a lot. In my head if I do the math, I'm thinking it was like 15 people. But I can't tell you that for sure, nor can anyone else in the in- dustry. That itself is a problem." Windham will be the first to admit that he doesn't have the answers, but he feels that the need to ask questions is the important first step. "Certainly each [fatal acci- dent] needs to be investigated and we need to use that informa- question. "I understand social media at its best and at its worst. When I say something like that, it's not me implying that we should get rid of four-strokes. What we need to do is ask questions. I'm not an expert in safety. I love a sport that I watch religiously, and that I've participated in for 34 years of my life. I just feel like something needs to be done. "I watched amateurs ride at the New Orleans Arenacross this weekend, and watching

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