KEY POINTS:
An accident that killed an 8-year-old girl at an Auckland speedway at the weekend could have happened at any other racetrack, speedway officials say.
No, it's not the latest in a run of accidents that have blighted speedway in recent weeks. It's the opening sentence in a Waikato
Times story dated January 27, 1997.
The victim, Katrina Le Seur, died in the Starship hospital after a wheel flew over a safety fence at Waikaraka Speedway, breaking the arm of her cousin Hannah Whittington before fatally striking her.
It was the second speedway accident in two weeks. In the first, six people, including three children, were injured when a fuel tank flew into the crowd at Western Springs.
Former Te Awamutu racer Ken Brough was asked for his thoughts. Speedway was "no more dangerous than fishing", he said at the time.
It's the sort of thing that's been said a lot lately by devotees of the sport.
And, despite the recent rash of serious accidents, they do seem to have a point.
Getting accurate figures on serious speedway crashes is nigh-on impossible. Speedway New Zealand keeps its own records - but isn't prepared to make them public. Besides, the organisation doesn't hold sway over the entire sport in this country, just the 23 tracks that choose to be affiliated to the national body.
Non-affiliated tracks, or black tracks as they are known, are all over the country.
The common bond is that they all race vehicles in circles on dirt tracks.
And they all share the pain over incidents such as the death of 13-year-old spectator Charlie Higgins, who was killed last month when he was struck by a car that leaped a fence in Blenheim.
"Although geographically there are miles between [the clubs], there is actually not a lot dividing them," says Speedway New Zealand chief executive Josh Cleaver. "It is still largely a club-orientated sport."
It's also a family-oriented sport. The ages of those killed or hurt in recent weeks range from 13 to late 40s. Look around at any speedway venue and there will be children of all ages playing here and there.
There's a certain contradiction at work. Speedway folk know their sport is dangerous - spectators are warned about the potential dangers before they enter an event - but they don't have a problem sitting their kiddies in the front row.
When accidents happen - as they inevitably do - they are written off as random events.
"They are freak occurrences and are so uncommon that they hit so hard when they arrive," says Mr Cleaver of the recent deaths.
"It is just so unusual, and to get a spate like this is absolutely unheard of."
And he would know. He knows precisely how many people have been injured at Speedway New Zealand-sanctioned events. The organisation keeps its own records. But they are not for public consumption.
"It's internal information. It's very hard. Information we get is done trackside. Depending on how severe [the injury] is, we don't follow up on it. It's not conclusive and, unless we gave you every single piece of information we have, you'd get a distorted picture," he says.
But Mr Cleaver is prepared to estimate the number of serious injuries in the sport.
"Barring this little spate, I would guess that we would have one or two accidents a year that require more than observation at a hospital."
Doing much better than estimating is no easy task, either.
ACC has detailed information on claims for injuries but the whole of motorsport is lumped in together. And Sport and Recreation New Zealand has information on how many people take part in motor racing but it was last updated in 2001.
Bearing in mind the limitations of the information available, it is possible to reach a couple of general conclusions.
First, in 2001 motorsport was the fifth most popular sporting activity for New Zealand men and the 15th most popular for women.
Of the other nine most popular sports, only golf cost the country less in terms of ACC payouts for injuries last year.
In the last financial year, rugby union injuries cost the country more than $31 million. Motorsport, which would probably have had a broadly similar number of participants, cost the country just over $2 million - less than tennis, touch rugby, basketball, cricket, skiing and boating.
Speedway accounts for less than 10 per cent of motor sport participation. In other words, when speedway followers say their sport is safer than rugby they are almost certainly right.
Black month on the racetracks
* March 17: Quad-bike racer Luke Zion McCrostie, 18, of Alexandra, dies after colliding with another bike and crashing into a wall at the Cromwell Speedway in Central Otago.
* March 31: 13-year-old spectator Charlie Higgins is killed in Blenheim when a sprint car somersaults over a safety barrier and hits him.
* April 6: Gisborne sidecar swinger Ben McLean goes to hospital with serious spinal injuries after coming adrift from his bike and being run over by another bike at Meeanee Speedway in Napier.
* April 8: 42-year-old George Waa is flown to hospital with serious chest injuries after hitting a wall and flipping his car at Kaikohe Speedway in Northland.
* Plus: On March 11, sidecar passenger Jack Thompson, 20, dies two days after a road-racing combination driven by his father, John, crashes in the final round of the national championships at Pukekohe.
