The article Roger refers to is here: Did NASCAR go too far in promoting driver safety? NASCAR should be even safer than open-wheeled racing such as F1 and Indycar due to extra bodywork protecting the driver, and F1 is now much safer than it used to be. According to Wikipedia the last 2 deaths in F1 were Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix (one in practice, one in the race), and the last before that was 1986. Take a look back to the '50s and there were 2 or three deaths a year. Modern F1 cars have a very strong 'monocoque' driver cell made from carbon fiber and a similar HANS device to that used in NASCAR. This means we still get wheel to wheel racing and some spectacular crashes, but with far less injuries than before. I may have posted this before, but take a look at Mark Webber's crash from last year's Valencia Grand Prix: Mark Webber Crash Valencia He got away with comparatively minor injuries considering the crash. Compare this to F1 driver Robert Kubica who crashed while doing some pre-season rallying. The safety barrier pierced his footwell causing various injuries including a partially severed hand. The latest news is that 13 days after the accident he is out of intensive care and his hand has been saved, but he will likely miss the whole 2011 season. I don't think we want to go back to a time when this was the norm. I find the increased reliability of cars can make the races less exciting. Back in the '80s the cars were just delicate mechanical beasts, engineered to the limit. It wasn't unusual to have a leading car develop a fault which slowed them in to the field, only for the fault to fix itself later and create a great ending. Nowadays (at least in F1) everything is so monitored and computer controlled they can use the cars to play tunes: 
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