I’d like to start this entry by giving credit to the source of facts and figures that I’m going to give my opinion on. The USA Today has again published it’s year end crash data report. It’s the kind of raw, non-opinionated data you don’t normally find from and inside the Washington beltway news source, with just the numbers themselves left to speak. The opinion I will take care of here. The first chart shows accidents and cautions per race. There was an average of 6.7 accidents per race in ’07. That’s just a .1 increase from last year. Average from 2001 to ‘07 is 6.18.It appears there is no real spike or valley in this curve. Rule changes like the chase where there are two chances to lose the championship, and the green/white/checker have not increased the accident rate. Unexplained cautions during a race has been the topic of some controversy in the past few years, but the records here show that the number of cautions per race hasn’t fluctuated to reflect this conspiracy theory. Cautions per race for ’07 are the same as ’06 at 9.6, and actually down from 2005 where there was 10.4. Average since 2001 is 8.85. There is a ton more I’d like to write about this article, and I’ll keep hammering away at it. Anyway, because of the unfortunate cancellation of the Dakar Rally, it appears Robby Gordon will test at Daytona. Fortunately, it won't be in the same session with Tony. Life is still good.