From 1955 to 1975, a staggering total of 33 American open-wheel drivers lost their lives in Indy cars, sprints and midgets. They were burned to death, bludgeoned upon impact because the cars were so unforgiving or broken and battered by the barbaric conditions of the tracks.

The most appalling thing about this era was the speak-no-evil mantra among these modern-day gladiators.

	Bobby Unser's brother Jerry died at Indy in 1959.

"In those days it wasn't macho to question the safety aspect," recalled Mario Andretti, whose unparalleled career spanned four decades and began in the deadly '60s. "Nobody wanted to hear a driver bitch about sitting in between 80 gallons of fuel.

"But, thankfully, as time went on, we got smarter."

Andretti started at the end of the roadster era, which ruled Indy cars from post World War II until Colin Chapman's rear-engine invasion rendered the massive, tube-framed monsters extinct.

Roadsters would hit the wall with a thud and suffer little exterior damage.

"The car looked fine but the driver would get beat up like he was in a pinball game," said three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser, whose older brother, Jerry, perished at Indy in 1959. "Guys literally got killed in a car that could be back out running an hour later."

The rear-engined cars were far from bulletproof, but they tended to have a little more "give" in them than the roadsters. And replacing gasoline with methanol and adding fuel cells gradually reduced the carnage.

"Drivers were dying that didn't have a broken bone in their body, it was all fire," said Andretti, who escaped a fiery crash during practice in 1969 and came back to score his lone Indy triumph.

The 1973 Indianapolis 500 was the United States Auto Club's darkest day. Art Pollard was killed in practice, Swede Savage died as the result of burns in a horrific accident and the race began with a fiery, multi-car pileup that badly burned Salt Walther and several spectators on the main straightaway.

Wally Dallenbach jumped out of his racer and helped rescue Walther and he recalls something of a turning point in the attitude toward safety.

"I don't remember anybody being safety sensitive until 1973. Up until then we drivers simply said: 'Hey, I'm glad it wasn't me,'" said Dallenbach, a 15-year veteran of Indy cars who retired in 1980 and became chief steward of Championship Auto Racing Teams.

"Drivers were cavalier about death and if one of your buddies bought the farm, you accepted it."

When CART replaced USAC as the sanctioning body for all Indy-car races (except Indianapolis) in the early '80s, it got serious about safety.

"Myself, Kirk Russell, Dr. Steve Olvey and Dr. Terry Trammell decided it was imperative to have our own safety team," continued Dallenbach, who introduced the backboard to extricate drivers from accidents.

"Steve and Terry, one of both of them, was at every race and we began to study crashes and respond to them. It became a major focus."

Among CART's contributions were building crush into the nose cones, dual bulkheads, moving the drivers back behind the centerline of the wheel and encouraging the safer, stronger carbon fiber into its car designs.

The result was that cars exploded on impact, scattering wheels and suspension pieces, but dissipating the energy and allowing the driver to survive 80, 90 or 100G crashes.

CART also wisely embraced General Motors' John Melvin, who came up with a black box that fit in every car and was downloaded after every accident.

"That was a tremendous step forward," said Olvey, who continues to serve as CART's medical director in addition to maintaining his surgeon's skills in Miami. "Not only were we able to recreate the crash, we were receiving tremendous amounts of information.

"We were able to understand the forces and the direction. Because of the crash recorder, we were able to get a lot more scientific."

	“	NASCAR has got to answer for four fatalities in nine months. If you don't learn something from a fatality, and you don't respond, you've got your head in the sand. ”
		— Wally Dallenbach

CART was also able to go from 1983 to 1995 without a single fatality. Jeff Krosnoff (1996), Gonzalo Rodrigeuz (1999) and Greg Moore (1999) jarred everyone back to the realities of racing but CART took immediate steps to try and make things safer.

The street course at Toronto (Krosnoff) was revamped to take trees and light poles out of harm's way, the infield grass was removed at Fontana, Calif. (Moore) and replaced by concrete and Olvey leaned on Dr. Robert Hubbard, co-creator of the HANS (Head and Neck Safety) Device.

"Terry and I feel like it's our obligation to look at ways to improve safety and get that information out to the drivers. That's why I invited Dr. Hubbard to speak to our drivers two years ago.

"We felt like the HANS would have saved Gonzalo's life and Scott Brayton's (killed in Indy practice in '96). And that's why CART decided to make the HANS mandatory on all ovals this season."

When the Indy Racing League formed in 1996, it picked up on the GM black box in '97 and Ford began supplying CART. Dr. Hank Bock and his IRL safety staff share data and information with CART and both American series' trade notes with Professor Sid Watkins and Formula One.

"The more information the better for everyone," said Olvey. "We've got experts and engineers working with us and we're testing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Wayne State University and the University of Miami.

"You've got to be receptive to this information."

That's the message from these open-wheel people to NASCAR.

"NASCAR has got to answer for four fatalities in nine months," said Dallenbach, whose namesake and oldest son competes in Winston Cup. "If you don't learn something from a fatality, and you don't respond, you've got your head in the sand.

"The sensor that shuts off the engine when the throttle sticks, or the composite seats or the HANS Device, these things work. Why doesn't NASCAR try a 40G or 50G airbag? They've got to come to grips with what has taken place.

"That's why I'm proud of our organization, the IRL and F1. We respond and learn from every incident to see if we can prolong everyone's life."

Andretti, still miffed why his nephew and NASCAR regular, John, isn't allowed to use an energy-absorbing seat, hopes NASCAR begins using the knowledge and sophistication that's available.

"It took a long time to perfect the HANS Device but it's there," said the 1978 F1 champion. "Michael (Andretti) uses it everywhere and says he doesn't even know he's got it on.

"With everything that's available today, full-face helmets, those good seats and the HANS Device, Dale (Earnhardt) could have survived. You can only do so much with the cars."

Dallenbach knows how delicate safety can be and admits CART is far from satisfied.

"We haven't got the soft walls figured out yet, but we're working on it," he said. "Our cars are 100 times better than they were 30 years ago. But those walls are just as tough as they were 30 years ago."