isaidno Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 Dan Wheldon has died today is a crash at las vegas. British driver , 2 time indianapolis 500 winner , indy car champion . Worst crash I have ever seen
anotherharboroughfox Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 Awful news. Atleast he died doing what he loved, RIP!
jonno24 Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 Just seen the crash man that was horrible. RIP Dan
Munzie Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 From Olney, Northants. One of Britain's best racing drivers
Len Finsbury Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 Sad news. RIP. Dangerous sport though and always has the potential to take lives when things go wrong.
StanSP Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 Lost for words after seeing the footage. Looks so horrible . RIP.
StanSP Posted 16 October 2011 Posted 16 October 2011 It was like a movie scene which they try to make as gnarly as possible," said Danica Patrick, making her final IndyCar start. "It was debris everywhere across the whole track, you could smell the smoke, you could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car. There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered.Drivers had been concerned about the high speeds at the track, where they were hitting nearly 225 mph during practice. Their concerns became reality when contact on Turn 2 sent cars flying through the air, crashing into each other and into the outside wall and catch fence. "I'll tell you, I've never seen anything like it," Ryan Briscoe said. "The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there's just stuff everywhere. Crazy." It was Wheldon's 134th career start, but only the third of the season for the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
MPH Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 For those who have not yet seen it... its pretty horrific stuff.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMMHu8lnepM&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_809745
Guest Basildon Fox Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 Just saw the footage on you tube. Incredibly sad. RIP
Amin Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 This is really sad. I was going to watch this race on a live stream but I fell asleep before it started. Woke up to the terrible news that Wheldon had been killed in a crash and I am truly shocked.
stix Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 RIP Dan. Thoughts are with his family. Truly horrific accident.
Jordan Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 What a sickening sight. Deep condolences to Mr. Wheldon's family, his friends and his peers. However, I wonder if IndyCar must shoulder a good deal of the blame for this. It's not nice to point fingers--no matter how soon or how late--after a tragedy, and auto racing is an inherently dangerous activity anyway, but it seems like IndyCar took a few risks in this race at the cost of safety. I don't watch much auto racing so perhaps someone else can explain this better, but it seems like racing organizations are pulled in one direction to make their races more aggressive and exciting while being pulled in the other to ensure races are as safe as possible. IndyCar has had to make several changes and gambles to attract fans because its following has dropped to minuscule numbers compared to gimmick-filled NASCAR. One change this year was the introduction of NASCAR-style double-file restarts to make racing more aggressive and tighten the pack following cautions. But IIRc twice during this year's Indy 500, there were yellow flags immediately following restarted because the close pack of drivers under the yellow flag caused crashes as soon as the green flag came out and the drivers began to accelerate and manouver. But more sad that this were the risks IndyCar took at yesterday's race, which may have all contributed to Mr. Wheldon's death. IndyCar wanted to end the season with a massive, exciting showpiece and instead they got a disaster. 1) the Las Vegas speedway's oval track's width, banks and turns are not entirely suitable for open-wheel racing, 2) IndyCar increased the field to, IIRC, 30 from the normal 27 to add more drama to the race, potentially increasing the risk for crashes. But saddest of all was a promotion by IndyCar to offer $5 million to any driver that doesn't race the circuit full-time if he started from the back and won the race. Mr. Wheldon was the only driver to take that chance, and it was a chance that cost him his life. I remember watching the Indy 500 a few times as a kid. Names like Andretti, Foyt, Fittipaldi, Luyendyk (sp ), Villeneuve, etc. are still remembered fondly by me and many others. But open-wheel racing is dying here. I thought that this year's Indy 500 was a boring race. And its finish--won by Wheldon after rookie JR Hildebrandt was home free but hit the wall after the last turn of the race--was a shame. Now, I look back at that race and appreciate that Dan Wheldon was able to win another Indy 500 in his lifetime and got to enter a special fraternity of drivers while he had the chance. I was so much underwhelmed by the Indy 500 that I thought I might not ever watch another IndyCar race. What happened on Sunday might seal that decision for me. As a post-script, the drivers and fans yesterday showed a lot of class in honoring Wheldon yesterday. World-class drivers in all circuits are united in mourning and I appreciate the great respect they all have for each other. And I hope everybody that says "I only watch NASCAR to see the crashes" are ashamed of themselves today.
I am Rod Hull Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 It takes one mistake at the front to make this happen in Indycar... Thoughts are with his family...
Salieri Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 The drivers knows the risks but it is still very shocking when someone is killed in that manner, truly horrific crash, could quite easily have been more than one fatality. R.I.P Dan Wheldon.
Guest shearfox Posted 17 October 2011 Posted 17 October 2011 This sport is far too dangerous, all the cars are always bunched together like that going at ridiculous speeds, it was only a matter of time something like this was going to happen.
isaidno Posted 17 October 2011 Author Posted 17 October 2011 Is that Wheldon's car? That's Will Power
isaidno Posted 17 October 2011 Author Posted 17 October 2011 I had an encouter with Dan when I was working at the Indy car round in Toronto this summer. I was walking through the paddock before the start of the race and someone tried to get passed us on a buggy. My mate said, oh look, it's Dan Wheldon. I quickly got my camera out but all I got was this dodgy picture. Dan's the one on the right
Amin Posted 18 October 2011 Posted 18 October 2011 What a sickening sight. Deep condolences to Mr. Wheldon's family, his friends and his peers. However, I wonder if IndyCar must shoulder a good deal of the blame for this. It's not nice to point fingers--no matter how soon or how late--after a tragedy, and auto racing is an inherently dangerous activity anyway, but it seems like IndyCar took a few risks in this race at the cost of safety. I don't watch much auto racing so perhaps someone else can explain this better, but it seems like racing organizations are pulled in one direction to make their races more aggressive and exciting while being pulled in the other to ensure races are as safe as possible. IndyCar has had to make several changes and gambles to attract fans because its following has dropped to minuscule numbers compared to gimmick-filled NASCAR. One change this year was the introduction of NASCAR-style double-file restarts to make racing more aggressive and tighten the pack following cautions. But IIRc twice during this year's Indy 500, there were yellow flags immediately following restarted because the close pack of drivers under the yellow flag caused crashes as soon as the green flag came out and the drivers began to accelerate and manouver. But more sad that this were the risks IndyCar took at yesterday's race, which may have all contributed to Mr. Wheldon's death. IndyCar wanted to end the season with a massive, exciting showpiece and instead they got a disaster. 1) the Las Vegas speedway's oval track's width, banks and turns are not entirely suitable for open-wheel racing, 2) IndyCar increased the field to, IIRC, 30 from the normal 27 to add more drama to the race, potentially increasing the risk for crashes. But saddest of all was a promotion by IndyCar to offer $5 million to any driver that doesn't race the circuit full-time if he started from the back and won the race. Mr. Wheldon was the only driver to take that chance, and it was a chance that cost him his life. I remember watching the Indy 500 a few times as a kid. Names like Andretti, Foyt, Fittipaldi, Luyendyk (sp ), Villeneuve, etc. are still remembered fondly by me and many others. But open-wheel racing is dying here. I thought that this year's Indy 500 was a boring race. And its finish--won by Wheldon after rookie JR Hildebrandt was home free but hit the wall after the last turn of the race--was a shame. Now, I look back at that race and appreciate that Dan Wheldon was able to win another Indy 500 in his lifetime and got to enter a special fraternity of drivers while he had the chance. I was so much underwhelmed by the Indy 500 that I thought I might not ever watch another IndyCar race. What happened on Sunday might seal that decision for me. As a post-script, the drivers and fans yesterday showed a lot of class in honoring Wheldon yesterday. World-class drivers in all circuits are united in mourning and I appreciate the great respect they all have for each other. And I hope everybody that says "I only watch NASCAR to see the crashes" are ashamed of themselves today. I thought the offer was that any driver who hadnt been racing in the series full-time would qualify for the prize, irrespective of where the driver started? I thought that the reason Wheldon was starting at the back was simply because he qualified there.
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