List -
What's that? Seatbelts, you say?
In the early days of auto racing, safety belts were thought to increase
the likelihood of injury or death! Besides, manly men wouldn't deign to wear
them, they merely leaped from the car to escape serious injury!
How many of us have seen old b&w clips of Offy powered sprinters going out
of control & just before the racecar slams into the fence, the driver leaps
from the seat, rolls across the dirt, and scrambles quickly off the track?
Heck, in a recent Nat. Speed Sport News I remember reading that seatbelts
weren't even required at Indy until 1974! I'd like to see a driver try to jump
from a late model Indy or Champ car - it would probably take 10 seconds at the
very least.
Let's not forget seatbelts in passenger cars, shall we? When Ford began
offering to install seatbelts in the late Fifties (one of Iacocca's better
ideas), GM & Chrysler taunted them in the press, saying that Ford's cars must
be less safe in an accident if they needed seatbelts!
I think Tucker offered belts, too - didn't he? The industry crucified him
for trying to build a safer auto.
End of rant..................
Chris Pile aka aircap
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