Wow, Paul Bertorelli's passage is excellent. I have spoken with him, and always enjoy what he writes.
One thing Paul wrote struck me:
In my view, the Galloping Ghost accident doesn't appear to be the result of willful ignorance, rather just plain ignorance.
I don't agree with this. I think it
was willful ignorance. We expect plain ignorance from a new or non aviation person, or someone with limited resources. I expect that Mr. Leeward had the experience and resources to either do it right, or know that he should not have attempted it without appropriate prior testing and validation.
A public air racing course should not also be a flight test course.