Danger, Spectators

It seems patently unfair that a victory at the Indianapolis 500 should be worth six figures, while the top prize in last week's East African Safari was only $3,000. Granted, the driver who wrestles a skittish racing car around a track at speeds up to 200 m.p.h. faces certain hazards -- but he doesn't have to worry about sailing off a cliff. Or colliding head-on with an elephant. Or being attacked by the spectators.

The East African Safari starts in Nairobi, Kenya, and winds up, 3,100 miles later, precisely where it started--if anyone gets back. Last week's Safari was barely under way when a Volkswagen driven by the Kenyan team of Tommy Fjastad and Bev Smith shot over a precipice, plunged 100 ft. and burst into flames. Somehow, both Fjastad and Smith escaped unhurt. Other drivers found the road blocked by elephants, giraffes, antelopes--and a whole pride of lions, which refused to budge despite blaring horns.

The worst hazard turned out to be people. Natives in Tanzania amused themselves by laying logs across the road. In Kenya, two natives hurled a rock through the windscreen of Kenyan John Greenly's Datsun, knocking him unconscious. By rally's end, only 49 out of the 91 cars were still running, and two dozen drivers were nursing injuries. The winning car: a French Peugeot 404 driven by two Tanzanians, Bert Shankland and Chris Roth well. Said Shankland, with masterly understatement: "We didn't do it for the money--we did it for the excitement."

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