Hi Pace,
Unfortunately moving the barriers back further may indeed be the "solution" arrived at. But that won't really provide the same kind of protection from airplanes that it does from cars.
I used to go to allot of car races too. I only got to drive a few times, but worked as pit crew and track safety crew in addition to being an ordinary race fan. I don't find the experience as fun as I once did either.
No ejection seats allowed for civilian aircraft has probably kept a few pilots from jettisoning airplanes over crowded areas even when they were in serious trouble and would have if they could have. There was a guy who bailed out of his burning race plane at Phoenix back about 20 years ago. He parachuted to safety, but broke his back on the vertical stab on the way out. The plane crunched in the desert.