British IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon has died after being involved in a multiple car crash today - one of the worst the sport has seen. Footage of the crash can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn08nh7zoto RIP Dan.
He seemed like a great guy, very nice very humble loved what he did. I'm not a race fan by any means but I watch the Indy 500 every now and then and it was exciting to see him win this time. But things like this are a reality in racing and Racing doesn't get enough respect it takes alot to drive those cars for as long as you do with no bathroom breaks. Sad day for racing indeed.
Man, that was a nasty crash But as GOH said, this is expected in motor racing. It's fortunate that not more people were killed. yakumo
Maybe Danica Patrick made the right choice moving to NASCAR. Thing is NASCAR isn't as awesome as Indy racing
Well, you do expect crashes, yes. Having said that, Formula 1 is a lot safer. I really don't understand IndyCar. Until recently, they only raced around oval tracks - boring! Formula 1 has a lot more skill involved, and you have a better chance of walking away from a crash. Dan was the third IndyCar driver to die this century. There were two in 1999 and two in 1996. The last deaths in Formula 1 were Ratzenberger and Senna in 1994. Why should this be taken as an inevitable consequence of the sport?
A terrible crash and very sad accident. With their terrible safety record it's a miracle more drivers haven't been killed, you can't run open wheel cars that close to each other on ovals yet they've been flirting with disaster for years, and unfortunately it was just inevitable something like this would happen.
Holy shit, that's a massive crash! I've liked racing but never really followed it, and I'm still saddened by this event. RIP Dan.
This is such a sad news. He was a great guy, i remember when he came to brazil to participate on a kart endurance race with Barrichello, Kanaan and many others. All i can say is that this is the worst race crash i ever saw. Will Power car's flying is almost unbelievable. To make things even worse, Dan wasn' t even racing the full championship (he was helping the development of next year's car). He was on the track just because he got invited for this race, as the race was going to have a huge prize for the winner. R.I.P Dan...
I was 51 seconds into that video link before I even noticed the crash... WTF! Anyhow at least he died with his boots on - it is the best way to go IMO, especially given as he died doing something he loved. I would take my hat off to him (if I ever wore one) and hope I am lucky/unlucky enough to go out in a similar manner. Have a beer for the next life on me... (now where is that smiley...)
I was flipping through the channels and landed on FOX right when that happened. Man, talk about terrible timing for many. R.I.P.
Incredibly unfortunate. Part of the reason why I don't particuarly like watching racing. I guess he went doing something he enjoyed though (one of the best ways to go). RIP Mr Wheldon!
Link no longer works, thanks ESPN although a search for Dan Wheldon crash will bring up others. That did look like a horrible smash, although the Indycar tracks are not really built for safety. I think they do need to look at reducing speeds and making the walls a bit more crash resistant. Although the banking does mean cars are more likely to flip and fly.
Yeah, its unfortunate that Indy isn't more popular, so they really cant afford the cost of tailoring the tracks to the cars, but obviously something has to be done. The fences in particular are obviously an issue. They need to do something with the design of the cars, to prevent the flying issue and to limit the speeds without doing it with restrictor plates, since I dont think they want packs of cars. It's a tough situation to be in.
they need to get rif of the oval tracks, and use more normal racetracks. but they should atleast keep indy........ i sometimes watch the recodrings of the races, when they are on normal racetracks/streets circuits on youtube, ovals are deadboring. i even would welcome them to race in germany but not on the lausitzring(crap track) like the champ-cars, but the problem would be the then ongoing comparsion to the forumula one. without the high-banked ovals this wouldnt have happend.
Sorry, but if you think a racing accident is not a bad way to go, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8t_QzZJn7M Roger Williamson was trapped under his burning car. David Purley attempted to get his friend out as he screamed. He was burnt to death.
I'm not a big fan of oval tracks myself, but i don't think they're the problem. Open wheel cars weren't created or "designed" to go fast so close to each other. On Nascar, touring cars and so on, the cars can bump each other without much problem. Open wheels on the other hand can't. Touching the tyres of another car makes you go airborne. Indy cars recently have too much downforce, making them super fast and kept everybody close to each other. This makes something that is already dangerous, even worse. Also, Indycars + high banked ovals were never a good combination. I remember some years ago that a race in Texas got cancelled because of the drivers complains. More in wiki: "The Firestone Firehawk 600, a CART race, was to be held on April 29, 2001. During practice and qualifying, however, 21 of 25 drivers [2] complained of dizziness and disorientation during two days of practice. Drivers experienced sustained G forces over 5 Gs, more than the typical human tolerance. With their powerful turbocharged engines and superspeedway downforce packages, the Champ Cars were averaging speeds well in excess of 230 mph. Much faster than the speeds seen regularly by Sprint Cup cars, and faster still than IRL machinery of the time. With the possibility of drivers blacking out on the track, CART cancelled the race two hours before the scheduled start." Anyway, "what if" is all we can do right now. If the race went smoothly and nobody got hurt, no one would be talking about the car's and track safety. Still, no matter how safe a car and a racetrack is, motorsport still is a dangerous sport.
