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How Old is Too Old to Race in NASCAR?
By Greg Engle, www.Examiner.com
July 21, 2009
McGriff,81, finished 13th in the 28 car field in the Camping West World Series at Portland International Raceway Sunday.
Herschel McGriff gave a lot of people a reason to smile this past weekend when he competed in the Camping West World Series at Portland International Raceway, U.S.A finishing 13th in the 28 car field. A finish made all the more surprising after McGriff was forced to start at the back of the field and make up a lost lap. It was also a surprising finish given that McGriff is 81 years old.
McGriff has been competing in NASCAR since the 1950’s. In fact he won four races in 1954 prior to any active NASCAR driver today even being born.
In 2002, McGriff established the record for the oldest driver to compete in a NASCAR sanctioned event, a record he broke this past weekend.
Another driver, James Hylton, attempted but failed to make the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 in 2007. Hylton was 72 at the time. He did return to Daytona and competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Race in 2008 starting 38th and finishing 36th.
While these men are certainly great competitors and both are proven winners in NASCAR, at their respectful ages are they a danger to themselves or others when they are racing?
Certainly in McGriff’s case racing at Portland Speedway where the pole winning speed was just a tick less than 99 miles an hour shouldn’t be too much for any experienced racer. However according to the American Medical Association when it comes to the elderly and driving a passenger car, drivers age 75 and older are involved in significantly more motor vehicle crashes per mile driven than middle-aged drivers.
The AMA also points out that older persons are much more fragile physically then younger people putting them at a greater risk for fatal crashes then their younger counterparts.
According to studies done by the AMA there are several impairment factors that put the elderly at more risk, including the deterioration of vision. Vision is the primary sense used in driving and glare, weakened contrast sensitivity, and an increase in time to adjust to changes in lightness and darkness are all problems that affect the elderly.
More importantly however, the skill most associated with auto racing is motor function, which becomes diminished as we age. Abilities such as muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, are crucial in a racecar and combined with the loss of high-level cognitive skills like memory, visual processing attention and execution are all slowed in an elderly person.
Both McGriff and Hylton are without a doubt very experienced racers. However neither is immune from the aging process and are both susceptible to the same problems all elderly drivers face. Some would argue that piloting a racecar even at around 100 miles per hour, takes spilt second decision making and reactions that someone in the their 70’s or 80’s just doesn’t have physically, no matter who they are or what their experience is. There is also the theory that what would be a minor crash to a younger racer could prove fatal to an elderly man.
What would happen if, some argue, what is basically a good PR move for the sport resulted in the death of an elderly driver who wanted to try and compete on the track?
Others say that any racecar driver knows the inherent risk associated with auto racing and no one should be barred from participating due to their age.
Mark Martin who at 50 is still winning races and very much in hunt for this year’s Sprint Cup and Ron Hornaday who just turned 51 and has won four races- the last three in a row- and is leading the Truck Series standings are definitely not too old to race, but what age is too old?
Knowing the sensitivity of NASCAR to the public perception of the sport and the consequences should any driver lose his life during a race, should NASCAR put an upper age limit on who can race?
If so what would that age be? And if not, why not?
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