I have actually had a wheel failure at speed. But in the 30+ years I've been racing I've only seen wheel failures like the one in the picture about a half dozen times. I've seen as many stub axle failures on the rear of Z-cars and 2002s as wheel failures on everything else. For me, it happens so rarely, it's not something that would cause me to scrap a wheel based solely on age. However, you should regularly clean and eyeball your wheels, particularly at the inside base of the spokes and where the spokes meet the centers because usually these are the points of highest stress. If you see what looks like cracks then have them tested with the dye penetrant and discard them if they are indeed cracked (if they're expensive) or just replace them (if they're cheap.)
My experience was a left rear breaking out the center on my ITB Capri. Going through Turn 6 at Road Atlanta I felt a big thump and thought the following car had nailed me. But then I saw a wheel (mine!!) bounding 50 feet in the air, over the Turn 7 guardrail and down the hill. No real damage to the car, but it sure took a long time to find the remains of the wheel - about 200 feet down the hill. We checked the remainder of the set (they were ancient Ansen Sprint Mags - tells you how long ago this was) and found two others were cracked, so we retired the whole set. I became much more religious about inspecting wheels after that, but I've never seen any recurrence.
Tom Lyttle
Decatur, GA
IT7 Mazda - 2006, 2008 SARRC Champion
ITS Nissan 200SX - finally running correctly
FP Ford Capri - waiting for a comp adjustment
GT3 Dodge Daytona - what was I thinking?
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