Justin's death reignites safety debate

The sport is one of the States’ prime motor racing disciplines but has been under fire this season with concerns over the ‘brittle’ bodywork.

Regulations had to be changed mid-season after several accidents, including the opener on the street circuit in St. Petersburg in Florida when the track was littered with broken parts and pieces — including one chunk of debris which flew over a stand and struck a fan on the head.

Two weeks later, the inaugural race in New Orleans also saw the track strewn with debris and the lead-up to the showcase Indianapolis 500 was marred by three accidents in which cars went airborne plus a fourth incident in which driver James Hinchcliffe nearly bled to death when his leg was punctured by a broken piece of a crashed car.

IndyCar made a series of rule changes to fortify the many parts and pieces on its new aerodynamic body kits, although the nose that flew off of Sage Karam's car Sunday was not a tethered part.

It led to frantic rule changes to make the cars less fragile.

One month later, the rules package for Fontana in California was so aggressive that drivers openly complained the racing was too dangerous. Since then, IndyCar has implemented a conduct policy that prohibits drivers from speaking negatively about the series.

Team owner Mario Andretti, who gave Justin a drive in the latter stages of this year’s series, remains adamant that the sport is safe.

"Motor racing is never going to be 100 percent safe,” he said after the tragedy. “If it was, there would be nobody in the grandstands.

“But we've come a very, very far way in terms of safety. Now this will be looked at it and addressed appropriately."

Andretti called the crash "a perfect storm — and the thing that every driver fears: getting caught up in somebody else's mistake."

Wilson was the 12th car to pass through Karam's crash scene. As he approached, the nose section appeared to bounce several times along the track. It came down in the open cockpit of Justin’s car, then shot 30 feet back into the air, underlining the brutality of the trauma.

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