DEATH IS NO DETERRENT.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

Dying in a race car is not something drivers think about. They can't. Once any ounce of doubt enters their minds, everyone on the race track is in danger.

That's not to say drivers don't realize the dangers of the job; every one of them does. But to think about life and death every time a driver gets into his race car would be overwhelming.

When Paul Dana, Indy Racing League driver for Rahal Letterman Racing, died in a two-car crash during the Sunday morning practice session for the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was a reminder of how dangerous the sport of auto racing is. But drivers in the series refuse to dwell on the danger.

``The day that I start thinking about those things; that's the day that I decide I need to quit doing what I'm doing,'' said Sam Hornish Jr., driver for Marlboro Team Penske, after the race in Miami. ``I don't want to be out there and be a kamikaze and run into everything. When it comes down to it, I want to think about how to win the race, not, am I going to get hurt today. Is this going to be a bad day?''

Other drivers agreed.

``It's not trying faith or things like that; it's destiny,'' said Helio Castroneves, Hornish's teammate at Team Penske. ``You're not the one that writes that; it's the guy upstairs - that if it's your time, it's your time.

``Again, we're the star of the show. We're here to be able to provide that for all the fans and for everyone. Yeah, it's hard, but at the same time we need to know how to deal with it. It's not the first time it happened, and unfortunately, I don't think it will be the last time. We're always trying to work towards being as safe as possible. Incidents and things like that happen.''

Bobby Rahal, owner of Dana's IRL team, made the decision to pull his other two drivers, Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick, out of the Miami race. It's a move at least one other owner would have made.

``Well, that's a tough decision,'' said Michael Andretti, owner of the four-car Andretti Green Racing team. ``They had a tough one to make. I think they made the decision that we probably would have made. It was a personal decision for them. Out of respect for the family and basically Paul being part of their family there, I think they made the right decision.''

Missing a race puts Rice and Patrick in a hole for the IRL championship hunt. Maybe that's not the biggest concern facing the drivers at Rahal Letterman Racing. Maybe neither driver was mentally or emotionally able to compete after what happened to Dana. Maybe neither driver's crew was prepared to work the race after the fatal crash.

``I don't know ultimately what the right answer is,'' said Valencia's Bryan Herta, driver for Andretti Green Racing. ``It's an unfortunate side effect of motor racing that happens from time to time. Bobby made the right call to withdraw his cars as a show of respect.''

The people at Rahal Letterman Racing need to have incredible resolve because the next race is Sunday, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, and they need to make up a lot of ground to get their drivers back in contention.

``It definitely is going to affect their championship,'' Andretti said. ``Losing a race in a competitive field the way it is, it's not going to help them. It was a tough decision, I'm sure, for them. I think they made the right one.''

Patrick and Rice will be entered in the St. Petersburg race, but the No. 17 car driven by Dana won't. Reports indicate that Rahal will have a driver in the No. 17 car by the end of the season, but a return date to racing has yet to be determined.

Bottom line, someone will be in that car again. Racing will continue, drivers will return and the season will proceed.

That's part of the healing process, especially for race car drivers. Some have questioned whether the race should have run as scheduled after Dana's death. The IRL has a tough decision to make in those situations, and fortunately, it doesn't have to make them very often. But in this case, the IRL made the right call. The drivers and owners have expressed their desire to continue racing. Most said that Dana would have wanted the race to go on as scheduled, as well.

``I think we all knew what we needed to do was go out there and race,'' Hornish said. ``We're going to race (this) weekend. You got to go out there eventually.''

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BY TIM HADDOCK