This Week in Motorsport: Triskaidekaphobia

Yesterday, 7 August 2016, Bryan Clauson (1989-2016) succumbed to injuries received the day before, 6 August 2016, in a dirt-track Midget Nationals. I've never watched a dirt-track midget race in my life, never seen more than a few seconds as part of a highlights package, but I saw Clauson compete annually in the Indianapolis 500, one of the many one-off competitors who was surprisingly, consistently competitive in the great race. Clauson, a quadruple national champion in U.S.A.C. Midgets, was attempting to start two hundred races in 2016, a project dubbed the "Chasing 200 Tour: Circular Insanity." Saturday night's fateful race was Clauson's one hundred sixteenth of the year.

Bryan Clauson (1989-2016). Requiescat in pace.

It was not quite one year ago, 26 August 2015, that I wrote a first & long overdue post about death in motorsports: Wayback Machine.

Bonus! Song of the Day
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Day He Didn't Die" from Pay Attention (The Last Angry Man)

Skammentary:

"How could I forget the day that he didn't die,
The day he knew what he was up to,
He had this look in his eye,
How could I forget, there's no way,
I could forget him
Or ever forget the day…

"And how I loved how he lived,
How he was loved and admired,
A knack, a certain flair for life,
And how he had it wired!
He'd never give up, he wouldn't give in,
He had a wonderful way of living…"