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>exploding popularity (hundreds thousands of people lining the stages without the protection of normal circuit racing) and a series of deadly accidents, eventually leading to the end of the Group B category

I know next-to-nothing about rally racing, but that last photo in the article must highlight what you're talking about: a TV cameraman standing about six feet away from a speeding car on a dirt road. Yikes!

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Actually more like this: http://www.motormavens.com/emAlbum/albums/Contributors/Patri...

Portuguese rally fans especially were completely insane back then.

O dear. If my calculations are correct, those guys in the street have around eight tenths of a second to get out of the way.

Never tell me the odds

This guy is actually relatively safe, because he is in the "inside" of the turn. The most dangerous places are the "outsides" of turns, where cars out-of-control are more likely to go. I believe that it is a common security measure to place people on the insides rather than the outsides.

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