The safety risks to racers outweighed the sporting value enough for CART to postpone its inaugural race Sunday on Texas Motor Speedway's ultra-fast, high banks.

Michael Andretti said having a drivers' organization gives CART drivers peace of mind.(AP)

"I feel glad that for once, the business side didn't win," two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi said Sunday.

The Champ Car drivers are adamant it isn't the speeds (more than 230 mph) that called for the rare turn of events, but the physical toll the massive G-forces were taking on their bodies. Of 25 drivers to turn laps Friday and Saturday, 21 of them admitted to periods of dizziness and/or vertigo while maneuvering the 24-degree banking of the 1.5-mile speedway.

That was enough to get the attention of CART's medical staff.

A driver blacking out at 235 mph while negotiating a turn with 20 other cars around isn't a good idea. Period.

After some lengthy, late-hour brainstorming to somehow modify the cars, CART's new president, Joseph Heitzler, called the event off until it could be made safer.

The Sunday morning move was unpopular with many fans, who had paid for their tickets and were on their way to the track if not already sitting in their seats.

It was a hard decision by CART, which already had another race (Brazil) cancelled through no fault of its own.

But it was the right thing to do, even if it happened one minute before the green flag was to fall.

Wonder what the NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers thought while recalling their first race at TMS in 1997. There were concerns that the brand new track was unsafe -- a design problem in Turn 4 and bumps in the surface elsewhere.

That show had to go on, however, and 20 cars wrecked on the first lap.

The next year, the speedway made changes to the track, but the drivers complained again -- something they rarely do. Again, the show had to go on and there was another massive pileup, this time on the second lap.

With four deaths in the last year, including seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt in the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR drivers were leery of the April 22 restrictor plate race at Talladega, Ala., but they raced anyway amid a bit more rumbling than usual.

Luckily there wasn't even a single caution flag. Luckily.

Safety has been the hot topic in Winston Cup in light of the string of tragedies. However -- amazingly -- there still remains no organized way for drivers to discuss any concerns and present their thoughts to the sanctioning body.

That's not to say there isn't feedback -- there is and NASCAR actively seeks input from its teams and competitors. But it remains somewhat taboo for drivers to speak out in opposition to something NASCAR does. It's all still an informal, incomplete way to deal with such serious issues.

"It wouldn't be bad if we had a driver representative to speak to NASCAR," said Winston Cup driver John Andretti, whose cousin Michael drives in CART. "Right now you get way too many opinions, but if you take a consensus, it's hard to argue with that. It's just communication."

Fortunately for the CART competitors -- had they felt so inclined last weekend -- there is an organization in place to express their concerns collectively. It didn't come to that and the drivers say they were fully prepared to race, had they been asked to.

But the drivers' organization would have undoubtedly discussed the situation and even if it didn't take a stand Sunday, there is great solace in knowing it could have.

It's still hard to believe that all racing series don't have some sort of drivers' organization, ready to present a united front when necessary. The various NASCAR drivers' wives and crew chief clubs are more organized than the racers themselves.

Professional baseball, football and basketball players all have active unions to look out for their interests. And not to dismiss the pain of twisted ankles, blown knees and sore arms, but in racing we're talking about life and death.

"It just give us that much more peace of mind," Michael Andretti said of the CART drivers' association. "We're the only series with medical staff actually on the payroll. ... It's things like that that make you feel more comfortable.

"I applaud CART for taking the stand it did and (Heitzler) for standing up for the drivers."