Back in 2001, the CART event at the Fort Worth Speedway was cancelled due to the enormous amount of g-force the cars developed racing on the banked track: such forces were deemed unbearable for the human body for the whole duration of a race, after some drivers complained of vertigo during practice sessions.
So, while CART waxed lyrical about " having explored the final frontier of human endurance and blah blah blah..." , the drivers decided (quite rightfully) not to race and exposed themselves to the mocking crowd (I remember a banner, exposed on the grandstands, saying "C.A.R.T.: Cowards Aren't Racing Today).

Anyway, does anyone recall any similar scenario in the history of motorsports? Was this the only example of a race cancelled for the conditions being too harsh for a human being to cope, let alone to race ? (let's rule out the rain from the list, since it's a matter of skill - or bravery - or foolishness -, and not "biological survival", to race a car under pouring rain...well, unless you have to drive underwater!)

Yeah that was something else, but its the only time I can ever recall something like this ever happening.

Unless you count the 1985 Belgian GP, when Spa's disintegrating circuit surface was deemed too perilous for F1 cars... but perfectly OK for the FIA F3000 series, which consequently took centre stage on Sunday afternoon.

The 1985 Belgian GP came to my mind too, but it was more a technical (and political) issue than a real enviromental hazard...unless they feared the drivers could end shaken to unconsciousness by the uneven surface!

Aren't most F1 GPs these days too boring for a spectating human body to remain conscious

14 cars of course did not start the American Grand Prix in 2005.....but that of course was down to some dodgy French rubber

Kind regards

Phil

And the resurfaced Indy track, of which the men at Clermont-Ferrand had no data from. But as this issue has been debated several notches beyond ad infinitum, that was still very much a failure of car design, which is a whole different premise from drivers being physically incapable of driving such a car/track combination.

Towards the end of the French Grand Prix's Clermont Ferrand run things were pretty uncomfortable for the drivers due to the speed of the cars around such an imaginative circuit, but obviously no races were abandoned because of it, and I suppose it's true that the speed of the Group B rally cars around the kind of tracks they raced on made it very difficult for drivers to control their cars with any degree of safety (tunnel vision, etc.), but nothing else immediately springs to mind, unless failing daylight counts, on account of the drivers not being owls.

I suppose you could count the first CART drivers, who reasoned to USAC that they could not possibly race safely without a significantly increased payout.

Yes, I remember the TMS CART fiasco well. Pulling the plug on the event at the 11th hour didn't help matters much. It was a PR nightmare, and the only such I can recall in the 61 years I've been following the sport.

The initial Race of Two Worlds at Monza in the latter 50s had some similar issues, but they mainly concerned the forces imposed upon the cars, as opposed to those imposed upon the drivers.

Someone with more resources and time than I possess might check the relative TMS speeds of CART in 01 and IRL there since then. I know the track has undergone 2 or 3 reconfigurations, but can't recall when those were done or if they'd enter into the equation.

So there's a parallel between the 2005 USGP and the 'apres-ski' at the 1953 French GP...

A quick google yielded the following:

25 CART drivers qualified for the 29 Apr 01 Firestone Firehawk 600 at TMS. The event was cancelled just two hours before the start. I recall much televsion palaver re G-forces downward coupled with G-forces laterally on the 24-degree bankings; a vector of 5.5 Gs seemed to be a popular number bandied about.

Kenny Brack took the pole @ 233.447 mph (PDQ for a 1.5 mile track!) -- to this day, that remains the absolute TMS track record. Of the 25 who qualified, 17 were over 230, including such currently-active names as Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti

IRL has of course run there since around 97; I don't have their speeds, but they're obviously somewhat slower. And is the current track the same configuration as it was in 01?

According to TMS' website, the IRL qualifying record is 225.979 by Billy Boat in the fall of 98. As best I can determine, the track was in the same configuration then as it was in Apr 01. Apparently that 7-8 mph increase made all the difference...

fwiw, the Cup qualifying record is 196.235 (fall 06). The place is seriously quick, no doubt about it!

Even though Dallas is my wife's hometown, I've been to just one race at TMS: IRL Oct 03. Kenny Brack somehow survived his horrendous crash, Gil deFerran won, and Scott Dixon was crowned champ for the year.