Sunday, November 6, 2011

Anoither Death At The Race Track

From ESPN: Jim McNeil, a motorcycle rider in the FMX series, died after injuries suffered during practice for an exhibition prior to the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Boost Mobile announced Sunday.
McNeil, 32, was practicing on The Midway, a souvenir area outside the frontstretch, before it was opened to the public Sunday morning. He was taken by CareFlight to a local hospital and pronounced dead there.
McNeil, Boost said in the announcement, was part of the Boost Mobile FMX team for 9 years.
McNeil is from Phoenix, Ariz., and was a five-time XGames competitor as an extreme motorcycle stunt rider.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/story/_/id/7199717/fmx-rider-jim-mcneil-dies-exhibition-practice
The FMX riders performed at Las Vegas in late February, at the Sprint car race, and these riders were awesome. They would ride down about a 75 foot track and then up a ramp that was 30 feet tall and then ended up going 40-50 or more feet up in the air, doing twists and turns and somersaults. It's dangerous, especially in the winds that were happening that day. After they got done performing, then the riders signed autographs for the fans.
Motorsports is a dangerous profession, as we have seen in the past several weeks. Dan Wheldon, a driver died at the race track in Wisconsin and now this accident. As usual, there will calls from the nannies of the world to eliminate these kind of sports or propose rules that are so ridiculous that it takes all the fun out of the races or exhibitions. These drivers and riders know there are risks involved but they are still out there performing and if they don't do it, there will always be someone there to take their place.
So, RIP, Jim McNeil and prayers to your family, friends and fans.

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