: If
: you look at a starting grid for a race in
: 1964 or 1965, it is sad that so many of
: these drivers did not make it to 1974 or
: 1975. With the light cars, and the
: rudimentary fuel cells, and the absence of
: any real safety equipment, it really was a
: different calculus for the drivers.

At the US GP 1966, chosen at random, eight of the nineteen drivers were killed in a racing accident. including four of the top five:

Jim Clark
Jochen Rindt
Jo Siffert
Bruce McLaren
Mike Spence
Jo Bonnier
Lorenzo Bandini
Pedro Rodriquez

Two others died premature deaths.
Graham Hill died in a 1975 plane crash
Denis Hulme died during a 1992 touring car race, although probably of a heart attack.