Horrendous Indy car crash in Vegas -- Update: RIP Dan Wheldon

It's totally a question of whether the people calling the shots for the broadcast know the announcement is imminent. As a producer I'll be happy to sit on an empty table for two seconds. I won't do it for a half hour.

I'll put it this way: when the President is going to speak the networks are given a one minute warning. Then the President walks into the room, makes a long walk to the mic, stands there for a moment, says "good morning," then starts talking. It's set up to make it smooth on TV.

In this case, Bernard walked briskly into a small room, grabbed the mic and said "Dan Wheldon passed away." Without really solid advanced warning, you're not going to hit that cleanly.

 

There was. They were riding with him literally a split second before the race in the videos linked above. They cut away to a wide shot when it started, and then he was gone.

And thanks, lono. THAT terminology I can understand.

 

I would respectfully disagree.

There's no other shot but that shot then.

No cars on track.

No drivers giving interviews.

Plenty of advance warning that a statement from Randy was coming.

Inexcusable to miss it.

 

When they showed his car with a tarp over it, I got a bad feeling. Admittedly, I don't watch a ton of racing but I'd never seen a car shrouded like that before.

 

I think they did that to J.D. McDuffie's car too, when he died at Watkins Glen in 1991. No flames, but the interior of the car was apparently a bloodbath.

 

Lono,

If they had advance warning, it's inexcusable.

Unless you know something I don't, it appeared there was no advance warning.

And "he's gotta make a statement at some point" isn't advance warning.

 

Talked to my best friend tonight who watched Wheldon race go-karts a couple weeks ago at a small track in Indiana. Crazy.

 

Hell, I knew it from Twitter, and I was 2000 miles away.

The media was told to assemble in the conference room because Bernard was going to make a statement.

Reporters in Vegas were Tweeting me that it was about to happen.

 

If the warning was that clear, then yes, they should have done a better job.

 

I just watched Bernard's announcement (the full feed) and the tribute laps on youtube. Reid's sign-off made me cry all over again.

 

And for those of you who don't know much about Wheldon, or have never really seen him interviewed, here's his stint on Letterman after the Indy 500 this year.

That smile will be missed.

*edit*: just finished watching. He and Dave talk about the new car for next year, and they talk about the protection around the rear wheels.
Dave: Is that a safety issue, or is that aerodynamic?
Dan: The IndyCar Series are constantly looking to improve safety and I think that's more for safety but I think aerodynamically that's ...
Dave: You don't want the wheels climbing up over each other because that's when unpleasant things happen.
Dan: Exactly, and I don't want any part of that, that's for sure.