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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBillionaire dies on private race track..fails to navigate turn
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12235511/Billionaire-James-Crown-vowed-make-Chicago-safest-city-America-dies.htmlJames 'Jim' Crown was celebrating his 70th birthday at the members-only Aspen Motorsports Park on Sunday when his vehicle hit an impact barrier.
'Mr. Crown was involved in a motor vehicle crash at the Woody Creek racetrack resulting in fatal injuries,' said the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office.
Chief Deputy Coroner Audra Keith said an official cause of death is pending an autopsy. However, 'multiple blunt force trauma is evident' and the manner accidental, she added.
The business magnate was the CEO of Henry Crown and Company, which oversees Aspen Skiing Company that owns and operates the mountains and ski area facilities.
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Billionaire James Crown, 70, is killed in horror car crash at private Aspen racetrack after he failed to turn and hit a barrier: Businessman vowed to make Chicago 'the safest city in America'
LiberalFighter
(52,018 posts)Aristus
(66,754 posts)What say you, billionaires? Will you yield your ill-gotten goods back to the people who earned them for you? And this avoid?
TheProle
(2,251 posts)I don't think a few isolated deaths by misadventure is going to lead to a superstitious sea change of wealth-sharing...
Aristus
(66,754 posts)I just wanted to use the opportunity to get in a Henry V reference.
TheProle
(2,251 posts)I just go with the proxy lowbrow quote from Blazing Saddles:
Bart: Cant you see thats the last act of a desperate man?
Howard Johnson: We dont care if its the first act of Henry V, were leaving!
WarGamer
(12,778 posts)$100k to FL Democratic Party recently... Fetterman, Hassan, Kelly... $100k to American Bridge 21st...
Demovictory9
(32,578 posts)okaawhatever
(9,480 posts)created something. Not a hedge fund/stock market billionaire who has added zero value to this country.
brooklynite
(95,421 posts)Pretty much anyone can drive a race car if they want to.
https://www.thextremexperience.com/supercar-track-xperience/
WarGamer
(12,778 posts)brooklynite
(95,421 posts)I meet with candidates and party leaders, not with other donors. Also, he's not from NYC.
WarGamer
(12,778 posts)No offense intended
brooklynite
(95,421 posts)BlueTsunami2018
(3,545 posts)Not on a race track, not on a city street, not on a highway. Id have a driver on call 24/7.
Thats just crazy.
MichMan
(12,052 posts)BlueTsunami2018
(3,545 posts)Id also probably be drunk most of the time.
Ocelot II
(116,472 posts)The laws of physics apply no matter how much money you have.
jmowreader
(50,680 posts)VERY long straight with a hairpin turn at the end? Who the hell even built this track?
Zeitghost
(3,943 posts)A good road course will reward power, braking and cornering.
jmowreader
(50,680 posts)It is really sharp AND it's paved all the way out to the catch fence.
At Road America the turn at the end of the straight is a sweeping turn with a big sand runoff area.
Watkins Glen doesn't have any really sharp turns.
Sonoma has sharp turns but no long straights - and there is a lot of uphill at Sonoma.
At Circuit of the Americas, the last third of a mile of the straight is a fairly substantial hill. They have a second "straight," which is curved.
The sharpest corner at Road Atlanta is at the end of a 350-foot-long straight.
Those guys at Aspen are in dire need of permanent chicanes on the backstretch. If nothing else it would make the track more fun.
bullwinkle428
(20,634 posts)the back straight, but after J.D. McDuffie died in the NASCAR Cup crash in the early 90s, they put a permanent chicane to slow all the cars down before entering that bend. Seems to work pretty well as far as action through that part of the track, as well as from a safety perspective.
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(8,423 posts)Hotler
(11,573 posts)The button hook on the end of the straight was the infamous turn-9. It was a great equalizer, no matter how fast your were down the back straight or, how much horse power you had you could only get through it so fast. 100mph± to 25± in a heart beat. I could hear my front tire chirping under hard braking. MRA (Mountain Roadracing Assoc.) used to have an annual 6-hour endurance. Back in the day instead of hay bales we hard safety boulders. Good times.
onethatcares
(16,291 posts)turned "Left" like the NASCAR drivers do
Did he really own the mountains or just think he did?
2naSalit
(87,554 posts)Had a heart attack or a seizure?
LakeArenal
(29,009 posts)Probably provided jobs to people like me.
ProfessorGAC
(65,952 posts)Very pricey memberships, and garage space on the site makes the membership look like the cost of a pack of gum
Initiation fee is $45k, and membership is $510/month.
Garage space can run as high as $4,000 per month, excluding tool & diagnostic gear rental.
Total cost could easily be $70,000 per year, for a single membership. Family plan could be closer to ninety grand.
Not a place for even upper middle class folks. Geez, you've got to have a $60,000 car to even bother.
But, there are Porsches, Lambos, Cobras, BMW M Series...
Definitely a wealthy families playground.
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(8,423 posts)restaurants, travel, clothing, etc
Mr.Bill
(24,438 posts)someone 70 years old driving a race car. The greatest race car drivers retire long before that age.
brooklynite
(95,421 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,438 posts)MichMan
(12,052 posts)He is still competing regularly and is way older than that.
I have a friend who is 72 who is still racing in a top-level professional race series. Beats a lot of 20 year olds.
GenThePerservering
(1,989 posts)right down to the nervous system.
Mr.Bill
(24,438 posts)But it's unusual. Eddie Hill, former Drag racer, Drag Boat racer and Motorcycle racer is still driving open-wheel race cars at 87. Paul Newman also race to a late age.