| | They say goodbye in motion.
Tuesday, as the Irwin family was preparing to say goodbye to Kenny at the Abundant Life Church of Indianapolis, General Motors teams were in the same Midwest town to practice for next month's Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Business as usual.
|  | | Fans at New Hampshire International Speedway pause for a moment of silence to honor Kenny Irwin prior to Sunday's thatlook.com 300. |
Keeping busy and remaining focused, said Richard Petty after the death of grandson Adam in May, is the best way to battle the emotions of losing someone to the business of racing.
On Sunday, 43 drivers raced on the same track where one of their own lost their lives in violent crashes in turn three at New Hampshire International Speedway only two days before. The same happened in May a day after Adam Petty died in the same turn.
It is the unwritten law of racing death: The show, albeit a dreary affair of mixed emotions, must go on.
With the roar of engines serving as a mystical shield against reality in terms of mechanical dangers and the physics of objects in motion, these stock car racers keep racing.
"We have a job to do and we have to do it," said Johnny Benson. "Everybody here would gladly cancel this race if it would bring Kenny back, but that just isn't going to happen. So we have to do what we are paid to do.
"I'd rather be at home today with the family; everyone would rather be at home today. But racing is what we do even in times like this."
Even Tony Stewart, the winner at New Hampshire and racing-rival to Irwin, was ready to go on.
"We can't bring (Irwin) back," said Stewart, who found himself racing against Irwin from go-karts all the way to Winston Cup as they both made a name for themselves from their Indiana homes. "There is nothing we can do. I guarantee you I'd do anything I could to bring him back right now. It was a lot of fun racing with him.
"It was frustrating at times, but that's just because we were so competitive with each other. But I'd much rather have him here and I'd do anything I could to get him back right now.
"He worked really hard to get to this level. He was always a hands-on guy. He could probably have built a Winston Cup car from scratch if he had to; I couldn't. That shows how dedicated he was to the sport and to auto racing. He always was working on his own race cars and making decisions on what to change. He was probably one of the most focused guys at the racetrack."
"We weren't always on the best terms with each other, but we always respected each other in a race car and what each other could do in a race car. This isn't the first time I've made this quote, but he is part of the reason I got to Winston Cup, because he made me become a better race car driver because I had to beat him every week, and he was as tough as anybody around week-in and week-out no matter whether it was a sprint car, or a Silver Crown (car) or a midget.
"He was the guy that I had to beat every week to win the race. He made me a better race car driver and probably got me ready to be a Winston Cup driver, to a certain degree."
Little will ever be known of Irwin's fatal crash. Speculation does -- and always will -- center around a stuck throttle that sent his Chevrolet hurtling into the wall as his brakes were locked-up to no avail. The same theory was suggested by eyewitnesses to the Petty crash, though NASCAR later said their investigation turned up nothing to suggest mechanical failure.
Joe Nemechek lost his brother to a Truck Series crash at Homestead in 1997. He knows firsthand the agony of trying to replay the possible causes in your head.
"It's a scary deal and no one really knows why that stuff happens," said Nemechek. "It affects me more than it affects most other drivers just because I've been through it, losing a brother. It's unbelievable. I cannot figure out why this keeps happening to all these young drivers. It's strange. It's stuff that shouldn't happen, but yet it does.
"A lot of those guys working on (Irwin's) team are the same guys who worked for me. I went and talked to them right away, but it's just tough. It shows you The Lord works in mysterious ways and you never know what's going to happen.
"When you go out on the race track, you've got to be focused on what you do, but it's going to be in everybody's mind for a long time. You don't get rid of it. It's been three years since my brother got killed. I still think about it every day. There's nothing you can do about it. You've just got to figure out how you can live your life the best you can every day. You can't let life go by without taking advantage of every minute of your life and try to be a better person."
So, the racers went back to racing. They'll stop shortly on Wednesday for Irwin's funeral, then they'll set their sights on next weekend's race at Pocono.
Staying busy is the best way for them to move on.
Phil Furr, a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C., writes a weekly auto-racing column for ESPN.com.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Kenny Wallace had a tough time going back to the track on the same day as Keny Irwin's funeral.
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For Mike Bliss, it was difficult to think about Kenny Irwin while behind the wheel.
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