Tagliani's suggestions include: less downforce, which would decrease handling and force more braking thereby making it difficult for drivers to go wide-open in the corners; changes to the nose of the car; and side wheel protection for the oval races.

Paul Tracy and Oriol Servia, meanwhile, want improvements to the catch fencing. Earnhardt's death led to the installation of SAFER barriers at every NASCAR-sanctioned speedway, but the catchfencing has gone unchanged.

When Carl Edwards' sailed into the fence in 2009 at Talladega, the fence bowed but held and kept Edwards' car from sailing into the grandstand. The Las Vegas fence held for Wheldon, but it appeared the open cockpit took a direct hit. So although Tracy has called for plexiglass sheeting along the fences, it's unlikely that would have helped Wheldon. There also has been debate about developing a closed cockpit canopy, and that's certainly something that needs further exploration.

Former Formula One driver David Coulthard called on IndyCar to limit speeds.

"There is no need, in my opinion, to be racing at 225 mph, wheel-to-wheel, around mostly oval circuits," Coulthard wrote in a column in The Daily Telegraph. "You don't need to be doing that to entertain the crowds."

Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart questioned having 34 cars at Las Vegas, where the field had a mixed level of experience. A portion of the field was drivers with limited experience or veterans who only make a handful of starts each year.

"Will the caliber of driver be high enough to be able to control those cars at those kinds of speeds?" Stewart asked. "There were a good many drivers in there who were not regulars and were not full-time IndyCar drivers. I think that's a consideration that has to be looked at."

Bernard and his officials must consider all these factors and more. No matter what safety improvements are made, one thing will never change: It always will boil down to how people choose to race each other.

"We have to take care of each other," Tony Kanaan said after Sunday's accident. "We are playing with lives here."