[Zeke]

@Buck, I guess you missed the part about the safety of the spectators. I'm not saying the threshold is at 200 MPH, but you can postulate the risk of compromising the catch fence goes up exponentially with speeds in excess of 200. See Mike Conway's 2011 Indy crash to evaluate the theory.

Also, I have heard talk in the pits about how far one can see at 200. They are traveling 293 FPS at 200. Add a third of a second and add 100 feet. According to some eye and reaction time studies, anything stationary within 30 feet in front of the car will hit the car before the driver can notice it, much less input some evasive reaction. That is literally less than a blink of the eye. Typical reaction time to input is somewhere between double and triple recognition time. Then you have the response of the car itself, which is quick, no doubt. But it adds to the overall time factor to avoid.

Just trying to finish this up I will conjecture that a race car driver is helpless in avoiding mishap anywhere within 150-200 feet at 200 MPH.

Traveling around an oval race track at speeds like Indy Car is only successful when the driver can place the car correctly before the critical point. If he/she misses that critical point, there is no going back and no time to fix it.

At typical DE speeds for us weekend racers, we have a lot more potential for control with experience. And we won't be punching through the fence at 220.