Injuries. It is probably not the best topic on the eve of the start of NASCAR and the Daytona 500. Reality, however, may take the reigns.

As tough as it may be for some, perhaps even many, in the grandstands, the famed #3 is returning to “Cup” racing. The number may technically belong to Richard Childress but to all those who keep a fading and slanted “3” on their automobile windows it will always belong to Dale Earnhardt. The seven time Champion was killed while in the sport and in the car. It was a fatal injury that changed the way NASCAR races from that day forward.

It is not a matter of whether Austin Dillon, grandson of Richard Childress, can or even should drive the number. It is a matter of injury. The drivers, whatever the number, take a risk for their ride and for the show that the fans pay the money for.

Tony Stewart was injured last year while racing. His love of racing of all kinds put him in a flipping scenerio inside the cage of a dirt track Sprint Car (not to be confused with “Sprint Cup”). He broke a leg, among other things, and it took him out of the running for the remainder of the Sprint Cup season.

Denny Hamlin, racing hard with Joey Logano, hit it hard and suffered a back injury that removed him from the seat of the FedEx #11 for enough of the season to punch a hole in his 2013 run.

Skipping away from NASCAR and looking into IndyCar the injuries there recently have been horrific and game-changing. In 2011, Champion Dan Wheldon was killed at the season finale race in Las Vegas as his car and others were involved in a big crash. In 2012, the IndyCar series saw major redesigns in the chassis and shell enclosing the rear wheels brought on, in large part, by the indications from the Wheldon crash. Last year, popular driver and 4X Champion Dario Franchitti was injured at the Houston Grand Prix. A broken back and other injuries forced him to announce his retirement from professional motor racing.

Reports of injuries off the track also hit home for some drivers across the racing spectrum. NASCAR driver and former Champion Bobby Labonte was injured in a bicycle crash. Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher was injured while skiing.

It is appropriate, as we approach Daytona, to remember the amazing and frightening crash during the opening Nationwide Series race. Kyle Larson amazingly walked away from a car that was shredded and sheared apart in the wall and fencing of the Daytona Speedway. Many race fans in the stands were not as lucky. Over 30 people were treated for injuries from flying debris.

Tony Stewart, who won that race but did not take any victory celebration, spoke of the crash upon exiting his race car.

“The important thing is what is going on on the front stretch right now. We’ve always known, and since racing started, this is a dangerous sport. But it’s hard. We assume that risk, but it’s hard when the fans get caught up in it.”

Tony’s comments may sum up the whole thing but there is more…

Earlier this year at this same race track, the newly reorganized Grand-Am/AMLS series (now the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship) ran the opening ROLEX 24. As the sun set just a few hours after starting, the #99 Corvette DP race car drove into a stalled Ferrari GT car at speed shattering the shell and put both drivers in the hospital.

These incidents are a small sample of injuries sustained by drivers and riders of recent times across all series and flavors of racing.

The point…? As we start racing for this season, it is important to note just what we pay for when we get our ticket. Are we paying for racing or are we paying for crashing? It is easy to forget, once the engines start and the wheels start turning, that there are human beings inside those machines. We stand and we look and we swing cameras around and we “Oh” and “Ah” when a spin or crash happens but it is all too easy, as fans, to sit back down and wait for the “next big moment”. It is all too easy to gloss over the tension, the training, the fear and the pressure that all come in a split-second shock to the person inside the machine. It is all too easy to forget that they can drive away, walk away or be carried away and there is little real control of that situation once the wheels go loose.

Safety in that car has improved by leaps and bounds but that should never overshadow those whose injuries, and lives, have paid for those improvements.

As fans, we want a show. We want close racing and lead changes and drama and metal on metal fighting for the spot. However, as a reminder, we must also let the drivers have their race. That means we have to try to put our desire for drama in the back seat, as much as we can, so everyone may go on to race another day.

They don’t build them to crash them. They build “race cars”. The cars can take a hit and but that is due to improvements made through hard lessons learned.

We don’t buy “crash tickets”, we buy “race tickets”. We may jump at the crash but we’re there for the challenge, the pass and the win.

Let’s go racin’! (and come home safe)