On the engine, I also have a Nissan comp pan but have noticed my Accusump working in 6 and 7 before. Seems 6 loads the oil up on left side and then throwing it into 7 really pulls it out of sump. Noticed it most when my oil pump was marginal.
As far as incident, that is tragic. A little oil can make a big problem. On other hand, a couple years ago a guy left his drain plug out and oiled down entire back straight. We ran the race with no problems. BB corvette was running 180 there. My guess is something broke. Especially if he made it to the brake zone.
When I started HPDE many years ago I stuck with the priority of safety, reliability, and then speed. Hans, 5 pt harness, roll bar, and a single pc firesuit are not overkill.