Like most, David Letterman was devastated to hear about news of IndyCar racer Justin Wilson‘s passing. The former Late Show host is a longtime racing fan and co-owns IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, but, lately, Letterman has been forced to reevaluate his love for the sport.
After Wilson died from injuries sustained from flying debris during a race on Sunday, Letterman spoke with the Associated Press about his struggle to love the sport that has claimed the lives of so many recently, including Dan Wheldon, Dale Earnhardt, Paul Dana and Kevin Ward, Jr.
“It’s just like, ‘Whoa, is this really the sport that you can embrace entirely?’ I don’t know. It’s a real self-examination,” Letterman said.
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“I talked to a lot of people about this: Racing is fun, but people are not supposed to get killed,” Letterman said. “I am brokenhearted for his family, for his kids, and everybody says, ‘Well, this is what the guy wanted to do.’ And of course, that’s the case.
“But we’re not supposed to have people die in the middle of this competition. I think he has two children, and that just breaks my heart, that dad loves driving race cars.”
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“I’ve done quite a lot of thought, and statistically, I suppose people will tell us racing has never been safer, and maybe that’s the case,” Letterman said. “And it seems like always enough time goes by between episodes, tragedies like this, where you are lulled into thinking that, ‘OK, well, that’s not going to happen again.’
“And then it happens again. It just makes you sick to your stomach.”
You can just tell how heartbroken Letterman is in those quotes, and it’s sad to see someone forced to reconsider a true passion of theirs, but it’s also understandable, considering the number of tragedies that have surrounded the sport as of late – coupled with the fact that Letterman employs drivers.
(Via AP)
