13/11/2003
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
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A regular reader, Jim Woodward, raises a point about an episode in the TV series, CSI Miami. Part of the plot centred on a member of a motor racing pit crew who was engulfed by flames and died at the circuit, though it was given out that he died on his way to hospital. Jim asks whether this is a regular occurrence.
Not having seen the programme, I can only guess that the mechanic's death was postponed through considerations of insurance or of local law. It has certainly happened in Formula One and I am not speaking of current allegations surrounding two doctors who attended the marshal, Graham Beveridge, who died during the 2001 Australian GP.
In that case, it would appear that two professionals are being made scapegoats. As pitpass has pointed out, the moment of death is not always clear. My own father-in-law had a massive heart attack and 'died'. At the time he was visiting a hospital for a check-up, jump leads were applied and he is still alive, ten years after his 'death'.
Jochen Rindt was killed immediately when his Lotus 72 crashed at Monza during practice for the 1970 Italian GP. The ambulance which picked him up drove right by the circuit's medical unit to a local hospital and he apparently died in the ambulance after it had left Monza.
Had he been declared dead at Monza, the holding of the race would have been put in jeopardy. It was not the only time that a driver's death was postponed until the ambulance was clear of the circuit.
While driving in the Mille Miglia, Alberto Ascari had a torch shone into his face by some lunatic. Ascari hit some spectators and killed a popular local doctor. Charges of manslaughter hovered over him for some time.
When 'Fon' de Portago's Ferrari crashed in the 1957 Mille Miglia, there were twelve deaths: de Portago, his passenger and nine spectators, five of them children. It was alleged that de Portago's tyres, made by the Belgian company, Engelbert, were not up to the job and charges of manslaughter hovered over Enzo Ferrari himself for five years. They were dropped in 1962 soon after Ferrari had brought back the World Championship to Italy, though that must be coincidental.
It is generally accepted that there were deaths in the Mille Miglia during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini but they were hushed up in contravention to Italian law. The exception was an accident in 1938, again involving child fatalities, which led to the traditional Mille Miglia format being banned, though it was revived post-war.
The year following Rindt's death a Monza saw no entry from Team Lotus Ltd., and though there was a works Lotus 56B (the gas turbine car) for Emerson Fittipaldi it was entered by an outfit called World Wide Racing. The subterfuge was necessary because the magistrate charged with investigating Jochen's death could have impounded any car entered by Team Lotus.
Also in 1971, the Ferrari F1 and sports car driver, Ignazio Giunti, was killed during the Buenos Aires 1000 Kms. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was pushing his Matra back to the pits, which was against the rules, and Giunti's Ferrari ploughed into it. Beltoise was blamed by the Argentine authorities, who had ignored his infringement for laps, and had his licence suspended by the French authorities for three months and then it all blew over.
It is nearly ten years since Ayrton Senna died at Imola and I believe that the case has still not been finally closed. Italy follows the French pattern in having an investigating magistrate, but it is noticeable that charges are more often threatened than are ever brought to court.
Riccardo Patrese was blamed for starting the accident which led to the death of Ronnie Peterson at Monza in 1978 and was suspended for one race. Patrese was a newcomer whose forceful driving had ruffled a few feathers, but he was an innocent party in the pile-up which was actually caused by James Hunt, as James later admitted. Patrese was no more than a convenient scapegoat.
In the UK it appears that the local police force has executive powers in the case of an accident. I have been present at a meeting when an accident occurred during practice and the police moved in and commandeered the circuit as though it was a crime scene. All activity stopped on the track for the rest of the day. I have been present at another circuit, in a different county, where a fatality occurred during a race and the police force in that area did not intervene.
In the UK it is accepted that the Motor Racing Is Dangerous disclaimer which is displayed at the entrance to every circuit, and around the site, on every ticket, every pass and in every programme, absolves liability. Everyone issued with a pass, be it marshal, journalist or photographer, has to sign a declaration, known widely as the 'death chit', which absolves the circuit owners and organisers of any responsibility.
I believe that this would not preclude a civil action if it was possible to prove that the organisers had been in breach of their own regulations concerning safety.
Any death on a circuit is subject to a coroner's inquest, which also is the case in a number of countries. To the best of my knowledge, no inquest has recorded a verdict other than 'death by misadventure'. I cannot recall any other person being charged although drivers have had lengthy suspensions for dangerous driving on a track. There have also been cases of drivers losing their competition licences when they have lost their regular driving licences.
This once happened to Stirling Moss in his hey-day, but Stirling had taken the precaution of applying for an American competition licence and competed in several events on that.
The widow of Peter Revson, who was killed while testing at Kyalami in 1974, took action against Goodyear, whom she accused of supplying a faulty tyre, the move was not applauded in the motor racing community since it threatened the very existence of the sport. The action dragged on for a long time and was eventually settled without going to court.
There have been a few other similar cases, Mike Taylor achieved the rare feat of extracting money from Colin Chapman when his budding F1 career was ended during practice for the 1960 GP when his steering wheel came off in his hands. Again, it was not a case which came to court.
I'd be very interested indeed to hear of any case, anywhere, which has been tried in court.
People in motor racing tend to take a grown-up attitude to the risks they volunteer to face. No doubt if a driver was engaged in a road accident which could be attributed to a faulty tyre, or an incorrectly made component, it would be a different matter. The driver would then be, as it were, a civilian.
There are times when some people in motor racing seem to be intent on bring it into disrepute through trivial squabbles. When it comes to the crunch, however, when we are talking of injury and death, people in motor racing tend to act like adults.
Motor racing is dangerous and that's an end to it.
The widow of Graham Beveridge, the marshal who was killed in Melbourne in 2001, summed it up for me when she said that though people had said that Graham was in the wrong place at the wrong time, she reckoned that, knowing Graham, he was in the right place at the wrong time.
To check out Mike's previous articles for pitpass... click here