Two for the Road is a hangout for mystery writers Tammy Kaehler and Simon Wood to chat, reminisce, gossip, speculate and argue about all things motorsport.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Hard to Believe


Over the Christmas break there was quite an amazing story in that Michael Schumacher is in a coma after a skiing accident.  It’s one of those things that I find hard to wrap my head around that the most successful F1 driver in history could possibly die from a non racing related injury.  What makes it especially tough to understand is that he was such a machine on the track and seemingly invincible and indestructible that how could something like this even happen.

I kind of feel the same way when Senna died at Monza.  I was watching the live broadcast and thinking, he’ll be fine.  He’s Senna!  The Schumacher thing is slightly different in that I keep thinking: skiing, really?

Sadly, Schumacher isn’t the first driver to be injured in an off the track incident.  Mike Hawthorn was killed driving his road car (albeit on the limit).  Mike Hailwood and his daughter were killed by a truck making an illegal turn. Colin MacRae crashed his helicopter killing everyone aboard including his son.  Graham Hill died in a plane crash.  And Alessandro "Sandro" Nannini lost a hand in a helicopter crash.  So it happens and more often than anyone would like to see.

I suppose racing doesn’t protect you from what can happen off the track.  Life is out there and anything can happen.  I wish Michael Schumacher a speedy recovery.

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