Celebrity Sorrow

This past weekend drag racer Scott Kalitta was killed in a violent racing accident. The crash marked the first time I can remember networks televising and re-televising an event in which someone died. The fire and explosion were spectacular enough to be the product of a big-budget hollywood movie, which leads me to believe they chose to air the footage in distaste for the sake of ratings. My wife is of the opinion that the networks' desicion reflects the YouTubing of the world. It was going to be available no matter what.
My wife took the news emotionally. She has met Scott Kalitta before while out at the races and has followed his career along with many other racers since she was a little girl. Still, I used to think it was very unusual to shed tears over a celebrity. Afterall, she didn't know him on a personal level and he didn't know her at all.
I've also known people to get choked up over the passing of bigger celebrities. When Princes Diana died, the few people I knew hailing from England where very saddened.
I said I used to not understand crying over a celebrity because I do understand now. I had my own experience when one of the hosts of a weekley audio podcast passed away. The Skeptics Guide to the Universe is a weekly round table dissucusion about science and skeptisim that lost Perry DeAngelis, who I still miss from the show today. When he died I felt the void and the loss in the other hosts voices. I didn't cry, but my mind wondered to that show and that loss for quite a time after. If Jack Nicholson died tomorrow I would miss never seeing another of his films, but I wouldn't feel any personal loss like I did with Perry.
I think the two major elements that contribute to an emotional response to a public figure is the figure dying before his or her time (which is of course sad no matter who it is) and a personal connection to the celebrity. The English had that with Diana. My wife had that with Kalitta. She is a fan of a sport that many people don't follow and feels a connection to the drag racing family she visits, if just through a TV, every weekend. I likewise feel the same with the Skeptical family of my weekly show.
Rest in piece Scott Kalitta, Princess Diana, and Perry DeAngelis; you will be missed, even by those you may have never met.