If you drive around in circles at 200mph enough times....

... someone's bound to get hurt.

NASCAR driver Dan Wheldon died in a 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16. I am very sorry for him and his family's loss.

People race cars, jump out of airplanes, climb mountains, swim with sharks, play football, etc, in part bacause they have a deficiency of dopamine, perhaps caused by a lower density of dopamine autoreceptors in their brains[1]. Most of us have these in sufficient quantities that we don't need to actually participate in dangerous activities; watching them is enough, though I suspect those that just watch and enjoy are also supplying additonal dopamine; those like me that have no interest whatsover probably have an abundance of autoreceptors.[2]

Drugs are used to balance or enhance or inhibit chemicals in a similar way, as is cheating, lying, stealing, gambling, etc.

It would be nice if someday we could regulate chemicals in just the right amounts so we don't equate danger with validation.

Some folks would think something is missing if we ever actually got to that point (chemically satisfying the rush of danger), but I don't think so. We would probably at the same time be able to control domestic abuse, warfare, road rage, and a bunch of other bad things. And it probably won't be solved by adding chemicals to our brains, but programming our genes.[3]


[1]
Risk takers seek thrills as their brains are more easily numbed to excitement, scientists say
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1103826/Risk-takers-seek-thrills-brains-easily-numbed-excitement-scientists-say.html

'Compass Of Pleasure': Why Some Things Feel So Good
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/23/137348338/compass-of-pleasure-why-some-things-feel-so-good 


[2]
I am an anomaly even in my own family. My dad loves sports. My brother jumps out of airplanes. My sister rides motorcycles. I write. I don't just write, I have an incestuous relationship with words and sounds. If you are not a writer, you probably don't. That's okay. As a boy, I desperately wanted to be an athlete, a hunter, a builder. I wanted to come home from work with greasy hands that were so indelibly stained that I was allowed to sit down to the dinner table with dirty hands, because it meant I worked hard that day. I looked for validation and acceptance in those things and never found it. I found it in words instead.

[3]
And maybe, just maybe, you can't have your yang without your yin to make it all work. Maybe you need race car drivers to also have astronauts. I don't know. Interesting thought. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ying_and_yang