Olympic Luge Death May Have Been Prevented With NASCAR Safety Techniques

This weekend is the kickoff of two major sporting events, the Winter Olympics and NASCAR's Daytona 500. Both events involve great speed and the potential for danger and disaster. Before the Olympic flame was even lit, disaster indeed struck. Georgian Nodar Kumartashvili, age 21, lost his life in a luge training run in at the Whistler track in Vancouver. The horrifying video of the luger's crash shows him losing control, flying over the wall of the luge track, and hurtling at high speed into a steel girder. News reports indicate that Kumaritashvili was traveling at least 90 miles per hour before being thrown from the track into the metal pole. Even before the Olympic games came to town, the Vancouver track was fast gaining the reputation of ...

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