Nobody ever said motor racing isn't dangerous. Yet it's much safer than it once was, so when a driver is killed we're shocked and saddened. Last weekend, Paul Dana perished in a horrendous accident while practising for the IRL race at Homestead Speedway. No one knows why he failed to lift off and then struck - at close to 200 mph - Ed Carpenter's parked racer, which had just spun. Yellow lights flashed, other drivers slowed, Dana's spotter warned him on the radio.

This reminded me of the tragic death of Vancouver's Greg Moore when he hit the inner wall during a CART race. Moore was a young star with a great future, much revered in Canada. And Paul Dana broke his back last year during Indy 500 practise, which makes one wonder if he was over his head in IRL. Dana had only competed in three IRL races. Others may disagree but in my view oval racing at 200 mph is a dangerous anachronism. I'll go so far as to say that oval racing itself, while it may be a great American tradition, is redundant. If motor racing is to have any relationship to everyday driving it needs to turn right as well as left.