[Dirty Harry]

I'm not so sure that much can be done to improve the "safeness" of the car itself. You all have agreed that the weak link is the "nut behind the wheel." That's an accurate observation.

Having been a state trooper for 24 years, I have spent much more than my share of time of 100+ mph driving. So much so, in fact, that I now am less likely to do so than years ago. I've just seen so much devastation and death, more than enough to last me a lifetime.

As a driver of a home-built Cobra it has occured to me that the car is inherently not crashworthy. As an observer of traffic and crashes for millions of miles, I also realize that the motoring public contains elderly drivers, intoxicated drivers, sleepy drivers, junky cars, exuberant young cowboys, and drivers who are eating, reading, cell-phone yakking, or whatever.

As a result, your only alternative is to be at the top of your game, alertness-wise, anytime you are driving your Cobra. The strangers you are sharing the road with are capable of anything at anytime. The only controllable part of the equation is keeping yourself sharp and your car roadworthy. Let's be careful out there, and we'll see you all in June.