It's happened twice. And, almost assuredly, it will happen again.
The business of auto racing continues although tragedy has struck treacherous Daytona International Speedway for the second time in four days.Rodney Orr, a 31-year-old racer from Palm Coast, Fla., died after crashing his Ford Thunderbird in turn two during Monday's practice. Orr's accident came the same morning NASCAR star driver and commentator Neil Bonnett was buried in Hueytown, Ala.
Bonnett died in a one-car crash Friday.
Yet NASCAR's heroes and hopefuls continued practices, qualifying and tuneups for the sport's grandest event - the Daytona 500 - in the only way they knew how - full speed.
"You're going to have accidents, you're going to have people get hurt, you're going to have people killed," Kyle Petty said. "That's just the nature of racing."
Orr, defending champion of the Goody's Dash sedan series, went out of control and flipped in turn two on the high-banked oval and smashed into a concrete wall at the top of the banking. The roof over the driver's side took the initial impact.
The driver was taken to Halifax Medical Center and pronounced dead upon arrival at 10:06 a.m. EST from massive head and upper body injuries.