First at all, I think that the Fontana track management is to blame. C'mon, a concrete wall without any kind of protection with old tires or a sand/stones area between the wall and the track itself? These are actually the worst accidents, when you hit a solid barrier like a stone wall or tree. Chances to survive are very thin. I'm sorry to say that but Ben and Corey probably would have been much better off if they would have hit the Ferrari in front of them.
Of course at that speed, there would have been the risk of heavy injuries and the Ferrari driver would have been hurt seriously too. But all of them would probably have survived.
Of course this is plain theory, don't take it for a fact.
I also heard somebody mentioning a blown tire on Ben's car, does anybody have any info on that?
How can such a horrible accident be avoided? It is now easy for us to speculate, in real life situations, a lot of things can go wrong. And at high speeds, a fraction of a second can decide between life and dead. We should never forget that. One look to the co-pilot, a ringing phone, whatever can cause distraction. Calculate how far you travel in one second at a speed of 150 mph.
1. know the car and most important know yourself and your driving skills.
2. never drive at the limit, NEVER. It can work a few times but like my old army weapons instructor told us: a weapon always shoots by itself once in a lifetime.
3. track racing should be fun. If you start to worry about track times and others being faster, you have to be careful. You may want to decide if you do it professionally with an appropiate car which has been prepared for REAL racing or if track racing is just a hobby to enjoy yourself. Competition is a nice thing but there will be always somebody who can driver better than you can drive. So don't try to achieve record times, unless you really want to become a professional driver.
4. don't play around with technical setups, tire pressures, etc. unless you REALLY REALLY know what you're doing.
Some setups are very specific to the track, car and driver, you just can't use them for your car. Don't use street tires for the track if you really want to race your car because you need to lower the tire pressure and sooner or later you damage the tires. Buy a second set of semi-slicks for example and if you have a favorite track, just leave the tire set there or nearby to be able to exchange the wheels quickly when you need it.
5. don't experiment with brake system fluids or brake lines.
You HAVE to know what you're doing if you're using a racing brake fluid. And most important: you have to replace it after racing.
6. drive a few warm-up rounds, even if you know the track very well, especially if you lowered the tire pressure.
7. if you get a weird feeling in the stomach during driving or you feel fear, even if you have the urge NOT to slow down, you're TOO FAST, slow down!
8. if you want to learn how to drive, DO NOT try to learn it by competing against others to achieve record times.
This is very dangerous. Try to learn during DE events, there are also specialized sports car driving schools with very skilled instructors. Those schools who let the drivers do what they want, are BAD schools. It helps most if you have an instructor driving in front of you and/or explaining certain situations through a wireless radio.
9. there are a lot of hotshots on the track who try to be the fastest, the meanest or the "coolest" persons. They may even tell stories about their accidents, etc. These guys are usually nuts and have to be avoided during driving. Don't try to keep up with them, sooner or later, they'll crash...even if it happens after a month or a year. You don't want to be near them when this happens.
10. drift training is something nice but actually worthless. A good driver actually learns how to AVOID a drift at the limit or near the limit because any drift would cause a time loss. Such events are fun and people love them but they don't really train you how to drive.
People who did such "training" sometimes get the wrong feeling that they learned how to control their car at the limit. This is NOT true and can be a deadly false assumption.
11. before using a track at full speed, drive the first round very slowly and try to find out if you feel safe on this track. Also try to evaluate the dangerous curves, escape routes, etc..
12. NEVER take somebody with you when racing but if you have to (or want to), keep a cool head and don't try to prove anything. It is my experience that with a co-pilot, people seem to drive more reckless on the track because they want to leave a good impression. You don't need to do that, somebody who is brave enough to join you as a co-pilot, thinks you CAN drive. No need to show him any special "tricks".
13. when your vision is compromised (heat, sweat, tireness, etc.) or if you feel dizzy or if you have your stomach turned upside down, slow down and forget about being the fastest. When you want to achieve record times, you have to have the feeling that you're in a PERFECT physical and mental condition. Otherwise the risk is too high.
14. always be sure your car is in PERFECT (101%) technical status, including the tires. If you have ANY doubts about the technical condition (noise, certain feel, steering/wheel shimmering, whatever), DO NOT drive at the limit or even better: forget about track racing.
15. the tires are your best friend and the only part of the car which actually physically connects the car to the pavement. DO NOT try to save money on tires, DO NOT play around with tire pressures if you don't REALLY know what you're doing and NEVER EVER drive through potholes or over boardwalks if you want to track race these tires. Also forget about buying USED track tires like semi-slicks from strangers, track buddies or even friends because you never know how they "treated" the tires.
Sorry if I sound like a smart.ss to you but people who already know this stuff, should ignore it. Unfortunately there are a lot of drivers out there who don't have a clue about it and just take the risk, maybe even without knowing it.
Ben's death was in my opinion one of those horrible situations of unfortunate fate nobody can really avoid.
It can happen to anybody, this is probably one of the reasons why people who knew him are so moved by his tragic accident.
But I still don't understand why that concrete wall was there, without any protection for the drivers. In the future, I would really try to alert the track management of such situations and if they play it down, talk to the other drivers and put pressure on the track management.
Nobody is perfect and a lot of drivers loose control/leave the track, even during the most serious and well organized DE event. But this shouldn't result in something more serious than blown tires, scraped rims, some raw metal damages or undercarriage damage. With a certified helmet, the right seating position, certified seat belts and maybe even a certified roll cage, nothing bad can really happen. Well...maybe a little pride hurt...
All critical driving situations I have had, happened in the city. Stupid pedestrians, drivers not looking what is next to them, housewifes kicking my cars in the b.tt on a parking lot, etc. Never had a critical situation on the Autobahn because I anticipate what can be anticipated. Of course I can't anticipate a UFO crashing on the Autobahn or some crazy guy who has to run naked over the lanes 
