Ever since I was a kid, I loved watching Bobsled. They’re just so 
! Can’t wait to watch.
Luge is weird. I watch it, and I like watching it, but it just seems weird going down the hill on one’s back. Maybe I should go to the water slides this Summer.
To me, luge wouldn’t look too bad if the sleds had a headrest. I don’t know if I’d want to lie on one of those and try to keep my head up for 45 seconds; add in the helmet and the g-forces and my neck would have to look like my leg.
And after seeing the small sleds on those courses, the bobsleds look kinda clumsy.
I’d love to try any of them, though, if (and this is a huge if) I could start close enough to the bottom get a feel for what I was doing at less than full speed.
What’s even stranger looking is the 2 man luge.
Ha! I’d forgotten about that!
Wait for skeleton, then! To me, the only thing weirder than sliding on your back is sliding face-first at 80+ mph. 
But that’s just natural! Who hasn’t sledded or tubed face-first down a snowy hill? That’s just the way it’s done!
Your post gave me an “Ah-ha!” moment. During the coverage of the Luge they showed the second place competitor exiting the track and commented on him undoing his neck strap. I didn’t think much of that at the time, but now that you mention the fact that the sleds don’t have a headrest, the neck strap must help them keep their heads up!
I can’t seem to find a close-up picture of a Luge uniform, but there’s a sentence about the neck strap on NBC’s site under “The Uniform” section:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/luge/insidethissport/equipment/newsid=258384.html
I suspect that a Luger’s brain would quickly be vibrated into a froth if his head were directly in contact with the luge. As pencil-like necks are, the do absorb a lot of vibration.