Death of racing legend
Mike Lovecchio
Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Sports
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Too many times have we seen the untimely deaths of many of today's athletes. In the auto racing community the most recent and most widely recognized fatality may be the 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt, but NASCAR fans are sure to never forget the two aviation accidents of Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki back in 1993.
On September 15, the motorsports world suffered another tragic loss when World Rally Championship driver Colin McRae's life was taken along with his 5 year-old son Johnny in a private helicopter crash just miles from his Scotland home.
For those who are not quite aware as to who McRae is, he is essentially the Dale Earnhardt of the rally racing community, claiming the 1995 World Championship and runner-up three more times. His legacy on the otherwise ignored sport is so great that Codemasters has been releasing a video game named Colin McRae Rally since 1998 and it remains available for every video game console still today.
McRae was clearly the most recognizable name in rally racing, winning 25 races in 9 years but was little known in America until 2006. In that year McRae made his American television debut competing in the rally portion of the X-Games on ESPN where he finished second despite an accident.
It's hard to put into words just how dark of a moment this is for the sport of auto racing, yet the story received little to no coverage by the majority of news outlets in the U.S. I would assume, although I'm not positive, that this case is certainly not the same in Scotland where he is a hero and a legend. His official Web site was changed following his death to a memorial page and quickly got 50,700 entries on a condolences page in its first six days.
Remember how NASCAR and non-NASCAR fans together mourned the death of Earnhardt six years ago? That's how this tragedy is being dealt in his native home of Scotland and part of me wishes that more people would be aware of the situation here. The American knowledge of this tragedy will probably not change, actually I'm positive it won't change, but that's what this column this month is for.
People need to know who Colin McRae was, people need to know how great he was and, most importantly, people need to know how great his career and legacy in the auto racing community was.
On September 15, the motorsports world suffered another tragic loss when World Rally Championship driver Colin McRae's life was taken along with his 5 year-old son Johnny in a private helicopter crash just miles from his Scotland home.
For those who are not quite aware as to who McRae is, he is essentially the Dale Earnhardt of the rally racing community, claiming the 1995 World Championship and runner-up three more times. His legacy on the otherwise ignored sport is so great that Codemasters has been releasing a video game named Colin McRae Rally since 1998 and it remains available for every video game console still today.
McRae was clearly the most recognizable name in rally racing, winning 25 races in 9 years but was little known in America until 2006. In that year McRae made his American television debut competing in the rally portion of the X-Games on ESPN where he finished second despite an accident.
It's hard to put into words just how dark of a moment this is for the sport of auto racing, yet the story received little to no coverage by the majority of news outlets in the U.S. I would assume, although I'm not positive, that this case is certainly not the same in Scotland where he is a hero and a legend. His official Web site was changed following his death to a memorial page and quickly got 50,700 entries on a condolences page in its first six days.
Remember how NASCAR and non-NASCAR fans together mourned the death of Earnhardt six years ago? That's how this tragedy is being dealt in his native home of Scotland and part of me wishes that more people would be aware of the situation here. The American knowledge of this tragedy will probably not change, actually I'm positive it won't change, but that's what this column this month is for.
People need to know who Colin McRae was, people need to know how great he was and, most importantly, people need to know how great his career and legacy in the auto racing community was.
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