Of course he is going to be under closer scrutiny, and he was (as colmbo pointed out the medical is stricter for older folks) and he passed said scrutiny. Unless you're going to claim that the MD who did his last medical faked it, and if that's true then that doctor is done. I'm sure the NTSB will look into that as well.
Like I said, unless the FAA changes it's rules, you cannot ground a private pilot based only on their age.
Others lives are at risk anytime anybody goes flying, or driving for that matter, should we not allow 74 yr olds to drive either, heck they might plow into an elementary school playground. Maybe they should raise the minimum pilot age too, I know lots of 17yr olds I don't think are mature enough to handle an airplane. I could think of excuses for why almost anybody of any age could be a dangerous flyer, young people are immature and lack experience, middle age people are having a mid-life crisis and are reckless, old people aren't as strong and forgetful... ...
As has been pointed out several times, he was subjected to 9+Gs (we know that is what is needed to drop the tailwheel) which in 1998, from the same failure, also knocked out a pilot of 41 yrs old, does that mean 41 is too old to compete as well?
Life involves risk, that's just the way it is. A life without risk would be awfully boring. Maybe you'll be content to just sit in your rocker yelling at kids on your grass in your twilight years, I would rather still be active though, and almost all activities involve some level of risk.
I used to race cars as a hobby, so I understand the stress the human body can be put under. It's a fun and expensive thing to do but the first thing that should always be on any driver's or pilot's mind is are they a risk to others. I don't care what anyone says, but your reactions are not the same as you get older nor can your body take the same kind of abuse.
Even though it's fun as hell and exciting, I really don't think I'll be climbing into a race car at age 74 even if I feel capable of doing so. Simply because I know that other peoples lives are at risk and I wouldn't want cause others harm by not being up to par physically or even mentally.
I simply think at that age he shouldn't of been competing in this kind of event, regardless if it had anything to do with the crash or not. It's one thing to hop in a car or airplane and go for a drive or a flight (still risky enough for some 70+ers) but it's a hell of a lot more stress on the body to compete in a racing event.
Also I'd hope there was more to competing in an event than just having a FAA pilot's license. I know with my racing we had to pass on track drivers tests and well as physical. To be honest though IMO the basic physical that we had to take could have easily been passed by anyone in decent shape. IMO it's really wasn't enough of a test it was just a Doc saying sure you probably arent gonna drop dead tomorrow and you can see straight.
