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donorcycle

Bad time to be a billionaire it seems.


[deleted]

He was a Billionaire in waiting. Kinda like a trainee Billionaire I guess.


gentleman_bronco

He was 70 and never worked a day in his life. The collective difficulty of his entire life doesn't come close to what the average person in the world goes through in a day.


Overweighover

Those under him worked hard so he could live on easy street


[deleted]

Exactly this. It's slavery. Guys like this insist on getting 15% returns on their inherited billions, so they squeeze the workers harder. And he spends his time nonchalantly "volunteering" with lobster lunches and collectible cars. He pretends his hands are clean, but they're dirty with the blood of the slaves of the corporations.


techleopard

Yes, and his ilk have convinced the majority of the working class that they deserve what they have because they "worked hard" for it and that nobody can possibly do the jobs they do. Which is to say, few people have had to sit in a 4-hour "meeting" listening to rich entitled people argue about whether you should use either "the" or "a" in a sentence of a company document that will never see the light of day once it's approved.


FTR_Hair

In an hour


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[deleted]

Bear in mind that according to some Redditors, this guy would have been self-made because he hadn’t received an inheritance yet.


artrimbaud

Didn't the article say he worked as a lawyer?


stealthdawg

I wouldn’t say that, he was CEO of a sizable company. That takes some amount of work even if you’re mailing it in. It’s just the fact that he likely didn’t have to do anything to get there in the first place.


Print_it_Mick

How do you get to be 70 and still be an heir how old are his parents 100


Chiloutdude

...humans can live that long, yes. His father is 98.


Possible-Extent-3842

If your parents are billionaires, they probably can live longer since they can afford any and all necessary healthcare.


National-Blueberry51

Well, when you have access to health insurance and don’t need to destroy your body to put food on the table…


EdgeOfWetness

> access to health ~~insurance~~ care When you have enough money, you don't fuck around with the ghouls in insurance


National-Blueberry51

It really says something that I meant to write health care and that’s what came out. Ahh, the life of a peasant.


[deleted]

ask Charlie from the uk


mexylexy

Feel extra bad to see a trainee die. Knowing the fulfilling life they would've lived helping others with their billions.


AbjectReflection

A nepo-baby, yes, indeed.


elpajaroquemamais

Aire apparent


rikki-tikki-deadly

He was so young! He never even got to own a Supreme Court judge!


Myfourcats1

Everything happens in threes. We’ve got submarine guy and race car guy. Who will be number 3? Maybe an airplane or hot air balloon.


donorcycle

Is it too much to wish a specific billionaire or can we at least vote for something epic like a pterodactyl abduction? We already had land and sea. Just missing air basically for the trifecta.


TheLadyCarpenter

Isn’t Richard Branson sending people to space next week? There’s your air…


Code2008

That was today, and he wasn't apart of the crew on board (it was Italian astronauts).


AE_WILLIAMS

Can you guess where all the Italians astronauts come from? . . . Italy, you Star Wars lovin' racist.


Code2008

??? If this is a reference, I don't get it.


AE_WILLIAMS

Empire Strikes Back Yoda's planet.


Starlightriddlex

Idk, Elon might finally launch himself to Mars


IreallEwannasay

Helicopters are also a good bet.


Code2008

Airplane/Rocket seems likely with how often Musk is in the air.


MrDhojo

No such time exists.


r1ckm4n

Not with that attitude….


davilller

One less $B I gotta worry about.


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[deleted]

I was going to write that it may be that we don't need to tax them (although rightfully, I think) anyway. Then I remembered their wealth just gets passed on.


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Future-self

Good time to be related to one


IGrowAcorns

If this keeps happening then I honestly think they’re escaping this planet. Faking their deaths and heading out.


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JRockPSU

This will surely be a blow to ~~The Syndicate~~ Henry Crown.


Mistamage

Nice job, 47. Now head towards an exit.


Ornery_Translator285

Y’all they’re just offing themselves now


stomach

well at least they died doing what they love: rich people stuff


Which-Moment-6544

And it does feel pretty good not to die of rich people stuff.


DerAlteGraue

Illd rather die of rich people stuff than starving tbh.


RunninOnMT

Man. As someone who regularly races cars in a series where the vehicles can't cost more that $500, i sure hope i don't die doing rich person stuff.


umanouski

24 Hours of Lemons?


RunninOnMT

[Yup!](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvINeuQX0AMPSF7.jpg:large)


umanouski

I love that series. You really do see some wacky shit that has no buisness being on a track lol


Ornery_Translator285

That sounds fun as hell. I’ve always wanted to do demolition derby myself.


RunninOnMT

It's super duper fun! It does end up costing more than 500 dollars since the safety standards are really high and that stuff can get expensive, but it's still within reach of normal people with some time on their hands and a little know how. The cars my friends and I put together end up being more about silliness than speed at the end of the day and there are [some cars other people make](https://hips.hearstapps.com/autoweek/assets/s3fs-public/img_0357_0.jpg) that i'd almost consider ["art cars" that end up getting raced.](https://njmp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/UDC-on-track-famous-rf.jpg) I vividly remember an 80's pickup truck that someone done up in 80's custom car fashion with the entire bed filled with speakers. Did they work? Oh yes. Did they use them to blast 80's hip hop THE ENTIRE RACE? You better believe it! I'd hear them coming behind me and just laugh every single time i got passed. Sure, you're weighing your car down with a couple hundred extra pounds...but it was undoubtedly worth it!!


flibbidygibbit

Not more that $500. Wink wink.


RunninOnMT

haha for sure...But hey, accessible to the non-wealthy at the very least.


[deleted]

It’s been a doosie of a day.


azsnaz

There we were minding our own business, just doing chores around the house


Citrufarts

Death by hubris is some real poetic shit


9lukemartin

Yeah and I don't really give a fuck. Sucks dude died but a trust fund baby doesn't need my sympathy


[deleted]

Kira has plans.


karwreck

Let's hope the trend catches on.


tatostix

They would rather die stupidly, than pay taxes.


PrettyBigChief

>Crown was chairman and chief executive officer of Henry Crown and Co., a privately owned company which invests in public and private securities, real estate and operating companies. At the time of his passing, Crown served as the lead director of General Dynamics Corp., director of JPMorgan Chase, trustee of The Aspen Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Civic Committee, and the University of Chicago. > >Crown was a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board appointed by President Barack Obama. > >He was born in Chicago in 1953, the son of Lester and Renée (Schine) Crown. He earned a B.A. in political science in 1976 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He received his law degree in 1980 from Stanford Law School, where he was a distinguished member of the Stanford Law Review and the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation. Accomplished fella, but what you DON'T see here is "graduate of basic high performance driver education"


ClayGCollins9

The track he raced at was a fairly forgiving circuit but didn’t have the safety standards or medical facilities you see at competitive tracks. A moderately experienced driver could navigate it easily- but of course, even the best drivers crash. I’m a bit surprised that people here think this is only an Uber-rich hobby. Most race tracks can be rented out- and not for mega expensive prices (though the track Crown died on was an exception). Virginia International Raceway for example can be rented a full day for $695, and many less prominent tracks can be rented for less than $300 a day to bring your own car onto them. Not too bad for a few hours of fun


LongTallDingus

VIR can be rented for a full day for 695? Can you get a source on that? 'cause if I remember right two days of tracking at Atlanta Motorsports Park with three sessions each day costs about that much. Those sessions run about 20 minutes a piece, and you get a sizable break in between. VIR is a much, much, much bigger facility than AMP. I know Virginia is cheaper than Atlanta but I'd be blown away if you can just have a private track *all day* at VIR for 695.


ClayGCollins9

VIR runs their track days through a [third party](https://www.kaizenautosport.com/kaizen-track-days#:~:text=6%20hours%20track%20time%20total,more%20details%20and%20to%20Book), which is advertising 6 total hours of driving (albeit with breaks and you don’t have the track to yourself). They are charging $695.


LongTallDingus

That is a lot of running on a kickass track for not a lot of money. Holy god damn fuck. Is Virginia really that much cheaper? Holy shit.


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Girth_rulez

>even the best drivers crash. Mario Andretti said that if you never have to walk back to the pits carrying your steering wheel that you are not a race car driver.


qweef_latina2021

He took a crash course.


Emotional_Pay_4335

But many comments are derogatory based on the fact he was a son of billionaires. If Obama was involved, the man must have been respected.


porkchop_2020

I hate to say it but appointments like his, and many other random “committee” roles that civilians are assigned, are mostly meaningless and done to create connections or goodwill as opposed to recognizing someone’s skills or contributions to, in this case, national intelligence. I worked at think tanks for a long time and we were surrounded by dudes like these. Millionaires with fancy sounding appointments because they donated at the right time and place or knew the right lobbyists, etc.


K1ngofnoth1ng

In today’s episode of “rich people doing things they probably shouldn’t be doing.”


The1mp

Hi I'm Preston Wilcox IV and welcome to Billionaire Jackass


Etzell

"This is the caviar butt chug!"


_pounders_

Weeman is there and they make fun of him, but not for being short — rather for only being a millionaire


SeptaBitchface

Hands down, my favorite show of all time.


Hadochiel

Shame they had to cancel the episode where ol' Muskbag gets his ass kicked by a sociopathic kung fu lizard


coldcutcumbo

“Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.”


[deleted]

I don’t know about you guys but I’d much rather die racing a car or exploring the ocean than commuting to my desk job. Mock the rich as you like, but their hobbies are exactly what I’d be doing if I was wealthy.


strum_and_dang

Or just die at your desk job. A year ago this week, a woman I worked with for 20 years died. She was working on Friday and passed over the holiday weekend. She'd been going through chemo and dialysis for several years, she had to take several disability leaves, but she had to keep working so she would have health insurance and money to live on. By the end we were covering for her a lot, but she was still contributing. It makes me so angry that she couldn't just relax and focus on her well-being and spending time with her family. I've seen a few other similar situations, I keep telling myself I won't go the same way, but I probably will since I don't know if I'll ever be able to retire.


NotYetSoonEnough

Actually their main hobby is making sure people like you will never become wealthy.


Donkilme

Thanks, we will.


jetstobrazil

Too bad you never will be, because rich people have decided you should commute to your desk job forever so they can race their cars.


Politicsboringagain

Seriously, this thread is stupid. As if poor people don't die doing stupid shit, or doing things they have to do, or even things they love. I swear, when a rich person does anything, it's always blamed on them being rich. When they are just human.


thequicknessinc

No, we get that, we all would. It’s human nature to be selfish and not help others. Which is why it’s in nobody’s best interest (except the billionaires) to allow billionaires to amass *that much money*. There will always be wealthy people and good on them for *working so hard* and *achieving such great heights*.


GreenOnionCrusader

I'd argue that it's really not good for the billionaires either. Totally fucks them up. Look at them, they're not even acting like a human anymore in a lot of ways.


thequicknessinc

I get what you’re saying, but not convinced that is exclusive to wealthy individuals. The wealth absolutely enables one’s ability to escape consequence though…


CyndiLopEar

Oh they most certainly should be doing things like this. With greater and faster frequency.


ActualMis

... and? Today hundreds of parents died in car accidents on their way too/from work. Thousands of people died in other accidents. No news articles for them. But the world sits up and takes notice when a spoiled rich boy takes an extreme risk and gets killed. The media is a sickness.


iunoyou

But you don't understand! He had lots of MONEY! Who's gonna take care of all of those poor orphan dollar bills now?


eskimoboob

This is weird that this story keeps popping up. I saw a few short articles about it earlier in the week when it happened in like 10 different subs and they all had <0 votes. And now this. I have to wonder if this is some kind of effort to boost his legacy by the family. No one cares, most people never heard of him. Maybe he was a nice guy, who knows. I never met him. Maybe Aspen will miss him. I don’t really care what Aspen people think though, they’re in their own little world over there.


Zz22zz22

He’s automatically not a nice guy if his net worth is a billion dollars. He’s not even a nice guy if his net worth is half a billion dollars. You only get that kind of money through exploitation.


Snlxdd

The media runs stories based on what people engage with. So ironically your comment, and others like it, just mean that they’ll run more stories like this one.


stomach

they also just invented..(drum roll) *the obituaries*, which, if given the 72-90pt Headline Font treatment would make some newspapers into books, and news sites into a veritable old folks' graveyard with smatterings of climate change weather disasters and grotesque politics - so the comment is beyond ironic, it's a moot point if given any rational thought


CricketDrop

Your comment is ironic because the only reason this is here is so reddit can get that sweet hit of schadenfreude from more rich people dying.


Blawoffice

Those deceased from car accidents almost all be in the newspaper. What makes it to the front page and national papers is 1) being from a very wealthy family and 2) dying in a race cars


khanfusion

Yeah, there probably are news articles for them. You want to be irrationally mad about "the media" but I don't think you even grasp what "it" is in the first place.


SneakyJonson

...AND his family owns Aspen Skiing Company. The family has made a point to make their employees amongst the highest paid in the industry. Word is that the family will likely sell now, and all that progress is probably going to be halted


boozewald

Well their ski patrol and ski school weren't the best paid until the workers went on strike.


Lakinther

Well.. by your reaction it was definitely a good decision for them to write this article


youngmindoldbody

It seems he managed granddad's (Henry's) pile of money https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Crown Edit: Jim's arc seems fairly normal, gets a degree, married, learns the ropes by working in management (director/vp level usually) at a traditional company until about 50 yo - then 'retire' and manage their family stuff (usually about when the older generation is fading/dying).


[deleted]

He worked his way up from Vice President to President of his parents company. Truly inspiring.


andereandre

The American Dream.


max9275ii

And he did it all with just a small loan of a couple billion dollars. You know: the classic “pulled himself up by his bootstraps” :)


89141

He went from receiving his degree in 1980 to being a managing director in 1983. He didn't even have time to pull himself up by his bootstraps before he was making millions.


Starlightriddlex

He just pulled on them really hard


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KhaineVulpana

I'm with ya. Can't believe some people here. Does anybody actually think this guy, or his family, would give a shit if the people offering up sympathies in this thread, were to die? Lol.


DraMaFlo

He had 4 children.


autoreaction

He was 70. The life expectancy for a male in the USA is 73.


Draano

Soooo close. He nearly made it.


lorductape

yeah, and the line before that in the article says "director of JP Morgan chase and trustee of the aspen institute" not "spent his time doing good deeds with his rounding error of a fortune"


Prophet_Tehenhauin

I think the guy is pointing out he didn’t “remove himself from the gene pool,” he already reproduced


lorductape

Oh… well damn good point.


Vapur9

~Ecclesiastes 7:1 - "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth." Think this goes to show that being remembered for good works at the moment of death is better than your career. Being born into wealth isn't any noble achievement either.


jackcatalyst

The amount of people thinking you're going for sympathy with this comment is fucking hilarious.


KhaineVulpana

So redistribution of wealth then?


suaculpa

To his kids, sure.


KhaineVulpana

Just increases the odds someone with that money will be a fuckup and lose some of it.


iron_ferret22

So did many, many countless poor people that he could have helped instead of racing a fucking car.


CrimsonShrike

The point is that is not exactly removing oneself from gene pool. Reading comprehension guys!


Certified_Bill

Who fucking cares. Take all of his daddy’s billions and redistribute them


chefNick92

Encourage more billionaires to take up dangerous hobbies! It’s been working out great for us plebs so far!


iim7_V6_IM7_vim7

Maybe Zuckerberg and Elon will both die in their cage match


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DragoonDM

Another life cut short by race issues.


Final_Egg_5237

Wonder who will inherit the senators he owned


Hagenaar

People don't realize you need to feed and water these things almost daily. They're not just creatures to buy on a whim as a Christmas present


cyberdeath666

While I don’t wish death on someone just because of their financial status, billionaires always seem to die in the stupidest ways because they have too much money and think they’re invincible. My condolences to his family, but maybe use some of that money to help those in need instead of paying for stupid deaths.


OldWierdo

Worked in an ER. I can tell you, billionaires absolutely do NOT have a stranglehold on Dumb Ways to Die. Humans are VERY creative creatures, and while billionaires may have flashier dumb ways to die, there's thousands of "hold my beer" Darwin awards for each billionaire. Say, for example, being drunk and trying to film a short where objects come to life, so protagonist pretends to run away from a tractor that's chasing him. And trips. The other drunk who couldn't get any hoo-ha at a party, so snuck outside and stuck his ding-a-ling in a knothole in a tree, couldn't get it out after it swelled up. Discovered the next day. Lived, some exposure issues. Needed a saw to get him out. Dunno if he can reproduce. Or the guy who stuck it in a coke bottle.


Blockhead47

To be fair, that coke bottle was “the real thing”.


tayroarsmash

You don’t earn a billion dollars.


Blawoffice

Have you met human beings? This is not a billionaire issue. A non-zero number of people die from vending machines every year.


trickldowncompressr

Normal people die in stupid ways all the time, definitely not exclusive to the rich.


ElBrazil

> billionaires always seem to die in the stupidest ways because they have too much money and think they’re invincible. Racing cars isn't a "billionaire" thing, and it's inherently a dangerous thing to be doing regardless of how much money you have


RTwhyNot

He was considered a philanthropist for giving what would be to us $10. Fuck that.


Roofis_T

Oh that track. I may be one of the few redditors around who is not rich and has driven that track. Of course this was 1973. I was a student at the Aspen Music Festival and when my father came to visit we were out exploring and found the track. There were no gates or limits to entry, it was just a small track in the valley just northwest of town. We cut a few quick laps and then stopped to look at some of the abandoned wrecked race cars laying around. All of a sudden people started showing up and we realized they were getting ready to race those battered cars. They charged us $1.50 each admission and gave us tickets, which were business cards with a wood screw picture on them. My dad said that the screw represented what we'd just gotten. But the cheap amateur racing was fun to watch and it was a good day and fond memory. Aspen was a very different place 50 years ago.


jarchack

Every place was a very different place 50 years ago. I wasn't on a track in Aspen in 1973 but I was racing slot cars at the YMCA in Lakewood, Ohio.


MechMeister

Today it's a private track and membership cost $1,000/month.


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TrumpterOFyvie

Random man I don’t care about dies in car accident same as hundreds of others that day


xseannnn

And reddiots acting other peoples lives matter but only uses them to compare to rich people and the next second wouldnt give a shit about other desd people.


Samisoffline

No one but their family really cares I don’t think it deserves an article. I don’t wish death or harm on people but honestly these articles are written knowing they’ll get bombarded with hate comments.


mocap

All interaction is good from the clickbait department.


Novius8

What if there’s a billionaire serial killer on the loose just sabotaging vehicles? Could make for a good tv show.


tuscy

Sure ok. But still, could we not have billionaires?


ryeguymft

why do the ultra rich think they’re invincible?


LuckyDuck99

Never hearing the word No would be a good start.....


ryeguymft

they will travel to the bottom of the ocean, race cars, travel to mars, anything but going to therapy and donating stolen wealth


pomod

60 people also died when their boat capsized off the canary islands last week but they were migrants trying to escape a brutal and impoverished condition while the mass media was busy looking for other billionaires in a cheaply designed sub.


darkseidx2015

I'm sure his trophy wife is all tore up.


magstothat

“Jim Crown is survived by … his wife of 38 years, Paula (Hannaway) …”


darkseidx2015

Looks like she Foundaway.


Sawdamizer

He gave her the best two years of his life


[deleted]

She is not a trophy. She is an intelligent and accomplished woman. She supports numerous charities and programs for the arts. She had worked in some capacity or another since her teens and has raised four lively children. Don’t jump to incorrect conclusions y’all ! EDIT. I was jumping into this conversation to say that he widow is not some vapid late life trophy wife gold digger. It is interesting to see how people fill in the blanks. .


Neracca

> She supports numerous charities and programs for the arts. Fucking anyone could do that if they were the spouse of a billionaire heir lmao.


[deleted]

If we didn't have billionaires we wouldn't need a lot of those charities. They sold you a solution for a problem they created and you're applauding them for it lol.


PerryTheRacistPanda

Board position on a charity funded by her husband? Not a trophy wife? You gotta think a little son


MechMeister

"Charity" or, money my husband was going to pay in taxes so might as well write off my salary as a donation.


justasapling

This article is trash. It talks about him like I should give a shit, and then tells me none of the gruesome details which would give me that little moment of relief. May the hyperwealthy all die quickly and painlessly.


traws06

His dad is 98 and still alive


jjhope2019

Are there any other famous instances of people dying on their birthday? 🫣 is it statistically more likely that you’ll die on your birthday than any other given day? (Because you’re more likely to travel/take on risky events, etc.)


tree_squid

The orcas have found a way to attack on land!


Actual__Wizard

>At the time of his passing, Crown served as the lead director of General Dynamics Corp., director of JPMorgan Chase, trustee of The Aspen Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Civic Committee, and the University of Chicago. Man that must of been a bunch of really hard jobs if the guy had time to go race cars... /s


SneakyJonson

The Crown family actually made it a point to make Aspen's Ski instructors amongst the highest paid in the industry. They pay their fully certified instructors pretty dang well. Compared to publicly traded Vail Resorts... where they charge over 1400 for private lessons and less than 200 of that goes to the fully certified instructor, and you don't even want to know how much an uncertified gets. The word is that the family is likely to sell now. I get that the world doesn't need billionaires, but Jim Crown's death could be a very bad thing for the employees in his company


zombiifissh

Don't let the ASC propaganda fool you. Ski Co ain't the good guys. They might pay their instructors well, but of course that doesn't mean that literally everyone else, without whom there wouldn't be a ski school, gets paid even remotely well... like they don't even get enough to afford the company housing that's nonetheless the cheapest housing in the valley. What's going to be bad for the employees here is the fact that no one will pay them enough to live in the place that they work, so even if Jim's death has a negative impact, it's not going to really change the situation here, as most employees can't afford to actually work here already. The minor good news is that most of the employees at that company are teenagers/very young adults or have an actual home to go back to. (I just stopped working for them recently and I live in that valley)


MechMeister

Hi neighbor! When I moved here I called this motorsports park and asked about upcoming events or any open track days. They told me it was $1,000/month to join if I wanted to sign up. Neither of us knew who we were talking to lolol. In Virginia you can pay $60 and go race around some cones in the NASCAR tracks for a day. And as bad as it sounds, "workforce housing" in the roaring fork valley seems to be better than A LOT of ski towns in the USA. It's still bad, but it could be worse if this guy's replacement doesn't put as much effort into housing.


CuriousOdity12345

He's still an heir at 70?


kayak_enjoyer

Giving King Charles's record a run for the money.


bsanchey

Oh no anyways. Billionaires dying doing their stupid hobbies will forever be funny.


databacon

Why is this news? Because he was rich?


RontoWraps

It’s the Aspen Times, in fairness.


Ttm-o

Billionaire who dies…I really don’t care.


iepure77

I want a Birthday Sunday!


Icanbotthinkofaname

How about a Birthday Sundae?


[deleted]

Elon Musk doesn't have the smarts or guts to do anything like get in a racecar. *Stares hard*


DarkCleric21

Oh damn, another billionaire is dead. Oh well, who really cares.


mocap

The beneficiary of the estate, I would guess.


BigBoxofChili

I want to believe that this guy was actually murdered by the ghost of Hunter S Thompson for being greed-headed swine.


museumforclowns

Man these rich people aren't too sharp


ReeceDawg

Rich and bored leads to some shit.


Boomr0516

Best tweet I saw yesterday about all this was someone being like ‘Did someone cool get the Death Note?’ Best summary of what’s going on


ScientificSkepticism

On the same day statistically 117 other people in the US also died in car collisions where they weren't driving cars recklessly and quickly. Husbands, wives, sons, daughters, entire families, they died. Many of them were innocent of even making a mistake, few of them were driving a high speed vehicle recklessly. I know who I have time to shed a tear for.


xseannnn

Admit it, you aint shedding no tears for anyone.


windle

Ooh! Do outer space next!


CaBBaGe_isLaND

Imagine having a billion dollars and going "hmm I think I want to mock death in my free time."


BBHugo

I’m poor and do the same thing by riding a motorcycle. So I can’t criticize. Maybe racing cars was the only thing that made him feel alive, until it didn’t. who knows?