Jason Leffler

Race car drivers, and those who work and live with them, are more aware of mortality than the rest of us.  They also know to tuck that awareness deep in the recesses of their minds and forget.  If they did not, no one would return to the track after the tragic loss of a friend and colleague.  Last night, one of those moments confronted the worlds of NASCAR and IndyCar.  Jason Leffler, Lefturn as they referred to him, died while racing a sprint-car in Bridgeport Raceway in New Jersey.  In a heat race, where he apparently was in second place, Leffler's car slammed into the turn four wall.  Air-lifted to a nearby hospital, he as pronounced dead at 9:00 p.m.  Within one hour of the wreck, Twitter posts started appearing for @JasonLeffler and #Lefturn, first as requests for prayers for Leffler and then as notes of concern for his family.  NASCAR.com has stayed on top of the story and collected a sample of the posts.

Leffler had made a mark.  Coming out of California, he did not cut a familiar NASCAR swath.  For that matter, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmy Johnson, among a host of other drivers, do not come from the Southeast or the highly cultivated moonshine mystique.  But like the others, he climbed the ranks as a USAC champion and made it to the "bigs" of both NASCAR and IndyCar.  Like many others, his career stalled and though he had a  competitive spirit he lost the third car seat at Joe Gibbs Racing after 21 starts for the FedEx team, the car now driven by Denny Hamlin.  His final Sprint Cup race was last weekend at Pocono where he finished forty-third.  But along the way he had raced at the biggest venues and with the greatest drivers of his generation.  In his death, they were reminded of their fragility.

Parker Kligerman@pkligerman4
Race car drivers immortality is a way of life. 1 day we find 1 of us 2 be mortal is a day in which we struggle 2 comprehend @JasonLeffler

Kligerman's Twitter post highlights that strange place between believing oneself to be "immortal" and being reminded that one is not.  In the years since Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s death on the track at Daytona, NASCAR has worked to make the cars and raceways safer.  Drivers have continued to suffer both injuries and deaths, but more often these events have occurred at tracks like Bridgeport and off the national media radar.  Last night, one of their own died doing what they all love to do.  And through social media we all got a glimpse of that reminder of mortality and the shift to bury it once again.  With Nelson Pique, Jr., all of us who love watching cars go fast and drivers defy most odds can say:

Nelson Piquet Jr. ‏@NelsonPiquet
Racing is unfair sometimes....  Rest in peace Lefturn!