Sport battling scrutiny

Published: June 22, 2013

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor

ELKHART LAKE — In a sport where you’re always trying to get the edge on the competition, trying to do the same with safety presents challenges for all levels of racing.
Is it even possible to be proactive instead of reactive?
"It’s been that way all along," said Tony Raines, who will drive the No. 70 car in today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the Johnsville Sausage 200 at Road America.
"Too many people died too quick before they addressed it and got it fixed. But sometimes you can’t fix something unless you know what’s going on."
If it isn’t broke, how do you know it’s broken?
"If nobody’s getting hurt, they kind of don’t get concerned about it, then all of a sudden somebody gets hurt and then they’re like, ‘Well, we’ve got to do something about this,’" Raines said.
The concern of safety around auto racing resurfaced June 12 when NASCAR driver Jason Leffler, 37, died in a winged sprint car crash at a New Jersey dirt track.
"I’d like to know what happened so we can make it safer," said Richfield’s Bill Prietzel, who raced with the Nationwide Series last year at Road America.
"We can’t fix what happened. But hopefully we can prevent it from happening again."
On Wednesday, more than 800 people attended Leffler’s funeral, including NASCAR Nationwide drivers Landon Cassill and Kyle Larson, who will compete today.
"It was like losing a friend," Cassill said Thursday. "It’s a time for grieving."
Cassill knew Leffler for about seven years.
"He was a good racer," Cassill said. "I had a lot of respect for how he made a living and made a career of it. He was in our sport for a long time."
According to The Associated Press, the New Jersey state police said a mechanical problem was the reason for Leffler’s crash. His cause of death was blunt-force neck injury.
Leffler leaves a 5-year-old son, Charlie.
"It’s real sad," said Tony Raines, who will drive the No. 70 car today. "I feel bad for the family. It’s a heavy loss, a hard loss."
In the days after Leffler’s death, the concern of safety has been pushed forward, especially at the short-track level.
"Some brave souls crawl into those cars," Raines said about sprint car drivers, adding that he’s been blown away by what some drivers and tracks try to get away with, only because they don’t have the money to enhance potential safety hazards.
"There’s got to be ways to address it that’s affordable," Raines added. "You can’t measure a life. But it’s a lot when it’s not there. You’d trade everything to have it back. It’s something that needs to be looked at."
The reactions to Leffler’s death mirrors the ones after two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon died in a crash at Las Vegas in 2011.
When Dale Earnhardt died in a crash in 2001 at Daytona, the head-and-neck restraint system was introduced.
"Earnhardt’s death was a tragedy," Prietzel said. "But I think a lot of people have lived because of his death."
"We all know this sport is dangerous," he added.
The HANS device doesn’t prevent side-to-side movement, which some believe is what killed Leffler.
"(Prietzel’s wife) Jan (Prietzel) and I don’t dwell on it," Prietzel said when asked if he has second thoughts about racing after a tragedy such as Leffler’s. "But we talk about it. She realizes each time I get in the car, I may not come back."
To race car drivers, it irks them when people who have little knowledge of their sport or even care to learn about it, criticize it because of its danger.
"My wife and I went to an Admirals game one year and just before the end of the period, a guy wound up and let (the puck) go, trying to get a quick goal," Prietzel said. "It went 10 rows up in the stands and you watched the guy’s head snap back and he hits the ground. There’s blood everywhere. Twenty minutes later, he’s back watching the game and you never heard a word about that."
Fans have died from incidents at other sporting events, such as baseball and hockey games, yet no push is made to outlaw those sports because of the danger element. That angers a lot of drivers.
"You’d like to be proactive, but almost everything in racing is reactive because you’ve never seen it before," Prietzel said. "I don’t know how we can more proactive. I don’t know what we do next to be proactive and stop the next fatality."