No disagreements here on the Vette's design or construction. I did not intend to knock anybody involved regarding any aspect of what happened, just suggested that an incident involving a well known and well liked driver may serve as a wake up call to review safety procedures.
I must respectfully disagree with your assertion that "there was nothing new to... learn here." There is always something; equipment, training, procedures, or what ever. As you suggested in the following paragraph, better equipment and preparation for emergency crews may be needed during practice sessions. Or (as you implied later) maybe drivers who do not race in this type of car on a regular basis should have more extensive safety training.
You are clearly very knowledgable on this subject and I appreciate your sharing that with us. I only ask that you keep an open mind regarding lessons learned.
quoting you ...
" I must respectfully disagree with your assertion that "there was nothing new to... learn here." There is always something; equipment, training, procedures, or what ever. As you suggested in the following paragraph, better equipment and preparation for emergency crews may be needed during practice sessions. Or (as you implied later) maybe drivers who do not race in this type of car on a regular basis should have more extensive safety training. "
I yield to your logic-- there is always something to learn, and the sport can always improve. There is always, however, the highest likelihood that an 'eager' driver with low seat time in a car or class will over-drive his talent and wreck. The differences in car handling dynamics, input and feedback - much like moving between aircraft types -- can be astounding in their impact. You need time in a car to really get the feel for it. I heartily agree with the idea that high-profile stock car drivers ought to get a lot of practice time in leading-edge road racing sports cars prior to operating them at speed near and over the limits of adhesion.
I will continue to bristle at the idea that the equipment/tires/design etc were at fault here. IT is a classic screw up for a low time driver to wreck early in a practice session. Paul Newman and Tom Cruise were famous for this in their old Nissans. I personally 'rescued' Paul Newman twice from turn-one screw ups at Road Atlanta where he over cooked the first turn on the first lap of the race. I got Boris Said out of an upside down Camaro at Turn 1 of Road Atlantra as well. Scott Pruett at turn 5. Pete Haslmer at turn 8/9 (when he put his MAzda on its roof -- hard to do on a straight area ... ;-) ).
My point is that drivers screw up in road racing. Not much to learn there.
Drivers and fans are quick to blame everything except the driver.
We can always make the cars safer.