In furtherance to the last blog I have added the link to the pictorial record of the fatal crash of Roger Williamson in 1973, showing how nonchalant human beings can be towards death. This was the Dutch GP of 1973, and Williamson crashed owed to a deflated tire. The monocoque frame of the car was ablaze when no driver except David Purley stopped in despair to extinguish the fire. The marshals at the spot were poorly trained and it was none other then Purley who had to work on the extinguisher, only to be lead away by the race marshals. In front of Live TV racing legends like Niki Lauda and Graham Hill drove by without paying a heed to Purley's repeated plea to stop for this rookie. A fire truck reached only to find Williamson dead of asphyxiation. What is more disgusting is that the race continued with a white curtain kept on the debris with Williamson still inside.
Later Purley said:
"I just couldn't turn it over. I could see he was alive and I could hear him shouting, but I couldn't get the car over. I was trying to get people to help me, and if I could have turned the car over he would have been alright, we could have got him out."
Later, when the immediate grief had receded, he admitted, "I didn't even think about the heroism or any of that rubbish. I just did what comes naturally to a trained soldier who sees a fellow in trouble."
The photographs taken were awarded Press Photo award of the Year 1973.
http://www.planet-cutie.co.uk/zandvoort/