The following is taken directly from an article which appeared in the 
Monday, May 2nd issue of the "Columbus Dispatch". The article was written 
by  Tim May and is used here without permission.

Headline:
            "Senna may have lived in Indy car, Rahal says"

...
    "The one thing you always fear as a driver is something breaking on
your car or something happening over which you have no control," Rahal 
said. "I don't know the details yet of what happened to Senna, but I have 
to think it was some kind of tire or mechanical failure.
    "For whatever reason, it's a real tragedy."
...
    "The guy was considered to be one of the greatest ever," said Rahal, 
a three-time IndyCar season champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner. 
"I considered him to be a very good driver. How great he was was hard to 
say because he always seemed to be fortunate to be with the right team,
with the right engine or the right car, at the right time throughout his
career."
    Then again, last year, Senna suffered through a season with a lesser-
powered McLaren-Ford.
    "But then you look at what he did in the European Grand Prix at
Donnington Park in England last year," Rahal said. "He dominated in the
rain. And in the rain, there is a belief that's where the best drivers
usually show.
    "I don't know if he was the greatest ever, when you have guys like 
Jim Clark and Juan Fangio and some of those great names of the past. But 
you would have to say he was one of the best."
    The thought of which made his death that much tougher to take, Rahal
said, because had Senna been driving an Indy car in that crash, there's
a good chance he would have survived, maybe even walked away.
    Though they might appear similar, Formula One cars are roughly 400-500
pounds lighter than Indy cars. Much of that extra weight in a 1550-lb Indy
car is dedicated to driver protection.
    While the helmets of Indy drivers seem to barely pop above the rim of
the open cockpit, the rim of the cockpit in F1 cars is roughly at shoulder
level. That means in a side swipe crash like Senna's, there is much more of 
a chance of a driver's head striking the wall, which apparently happened to
Senna. And apparently that's the same type of injury suffered by F1 rookie
Roland Ratzenberger, who died Saturday after a crash at the same track.
...
    There has been only one driver killed in the IndyCar series since [Jim
Hickman was killed at Milwaukee], rookie Jovy Marcelo dying in a crash
during practice at Indianapolis two years ago. Rahal said it was because
Indy car designers have worked diligently to strengthen the safety of the
cockpit for the drivers, adding bulk and crushable components to the car
body to absorb some of the impact of a crash. The cockpit also has been 
moved farther back in the chassis.
    "An Indy car is designed based in the fact there is a chance you are
going to hit the wall," Rahal said. "I think you can look at the cars and
see there is more of a margin of safety built into an Indy car.... The way
a Formula One driver sticks up out of the cockpit, he is going to be a lot
more vulnerable, especially in an accident like Senna had."
...

-- 
		 	      - Mike Holthouse -
	  		(holthous@cis.ohio-state.edu)
	    "Racing is a sport... everything else is just a game!"