There's no protection there for me but my seat and the seat belts. Through that kind of a wreck, you just can't imagine surviving with what was left of that truck. Wrecks, like fights in hockey or bone-crushing hits in football, are inevitable in auto racing. Death is an accepted risk, though there hasn't been a Winston Cup fatality since 1994. Still, the subject is almost taboo for drivers who accept the risk but can't allow themselves to consider the consequences.
Many drivers refuse to attend funerals.
The danger is part of what will attract more than 200,000 spectators to Texas Motor Speedway for next Sunday's Winston Cup race. The majority of the crowd is not there to see the wrecks. But everybody wants to see a two-headed goat at the fair. Because of Bodine's crash, at least one fan said she is not going back to the races. As she stood up from her 28th-row seat, a piece of tire struck her in the head.