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

[Double J]

RIP. Absolutely horrible.

 

[MileHigh]

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.

Agree on the Marty Reid sign-off. It was powerful. For the most part, ABC/ESPN did good with this. Quibbles, yes, but you'll get that with the Mother Ship involved.

 

[terrier]

And I just started reading Michael Waltrip's book about the '01 Daytona 500 this weekend, too.
What a confluence of events: a silly $5 million stunt which puts one of the top drivers at the back (not a blown engine or crash after qualifying, an overcrowded track, inexperienced drivers in what I suspect were shirt cars in one last opportunity to race them...
It make's today's horrible event sadly inevitable, doesn't it?

 

[Clerk Typist]

I wonder if ABC knew what the news was going to be? I mean, we all suspected it, but I wonder if they had any sort of inside info?

I thought that all during the coverage.

Was there an in-car camera on Wheldon's car?

They likely knew it was bad from watching a replay of Wheldon's in-car view in the truck. They didn't put it on air. And the video would have cut off when the car hit the catch fence, because the camera is atop the roll cage. Coincidence dept.: Fox had an in-car camera with Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500, and never cut back to it after the crash.

 

[playthrough]

It is a sad confluence that this was the last race for that generation of cars, and it was Wheldon who had been testing the 2012 car this year.

 

[imjustagirl]

Hadn't seen this elsewhere, but hadn't really been looking.

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/7111348/indycar-series-dan-wheldon-death-stuns-racing-world

ESPN.com learned from team owner Michael Andretti that just hours prior to Sunday's race, Wheldon signed a multiyear deal to replace Danica Patrick in Andretti Autosport's No. 7 car sponsored by GoDaddy.com.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

From Paul Tracy's twitter account, which appears to be legit:

"Sadness turning to anger now , indycar needs to put the 5mil in a trust for dans kids !!!!"


Uggh. Really not the time for that. And it badly ignores the reality of that $5 million, which isn't exactly sitting in a briefcase in Vegas right now.

 

[imjustagirl]

Terry Blount also floated that idea in his column.

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/7111345/indycar-dan-wheldon-death-turns-celebration-sorrow

IndyCar had offered any driver who was not a 2011 series regular a chance to split a $5 million bonus with a fan if the driver won the event. Series officials were hoping some NASCAR drivers would try it. They didn't.

So Wheldon was the guy. Wheldon, the 2005 series champion, didn't have a full-time ride and had competed in only two events in 2011.

If not for the promotion, it's unlikely he would have been in a race car Sunday. Here's a thought: Give the bonus money to Wheldon's family.

 

[Bubbler]

Not that it's relevant in any way really, but can one of you guys offer me some perspective of how big Wheldon was in the sport? Is this like, say, Aaron Rodgers dying? Someone young and extremely talented who has already accomplished a ton and expected to accomplish a lot more? Or is this like Sidney Crosby dying? He's one of the few IndyCar drivers I could name, but I'm just curious what he meant to the sport. Obviously seemed like a very nice guy from what I'm reading.

Big as in a two-time winner of the biggest race in the series, the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and one of the Big Four in world racing (along with Daytona 500, Grand Prix of Monaco and the 24 Hours of LeMans).

Ok, but you need to understand that means very little to me. I'm hoping someone can help me put this into perspective (and I'm asking this respectfully) by comparing to a sport I might follow. Is this like losing Lionel Messi? Is it like LeBron James died? He was obviously a huge deal in the sport. Was he the best driver in the entire thing? Was he one of the three or four best? This obviously is different than losing Dale Earnhardt, which people said was like Michael Jordan. He was only 33. I imagine he had plenty of brilliant racing ahead of him. That's why I offered up Aaron Rodgers. Bad comparison? Good?

It's hard to compare. Since Wheldon didn't have a full-time ride this year, but had one as recently as last year, think of a veteran and good, but not all-time great QB a bit past his prime that signs up as a mid-season pick-up in the NFL, wins a must-win playoff game, and who had glory in his past.

I dunno, maybe Randall Cunningham with the Vikings in '98?

 

[Bubbler]

And I disagree with 2CM. Thirty-four cars on a banked 1 1/2-mile oval where the aero packages don't allow for separation of the field is crazy. Indy is 2 1/2 miles (and flat) and they only allow 33.

I am admittedly not knowledgeable about open-wheel. But they'd run full fields at Richmond, which is 3/4 of a mile. Obviously, the speeds aren't comparable because of that, but I guess explain why 33 on a 1.5 is ridiculous while 33 on a 2.5 isn't. I'm not doubting you, I just don't understand it.

I only talked to Wheldon a handful of times, but he was fantastic in every one of them. Treated everyone equally, and was indeed a very engaging guy. I was stunned when I heard it, even though a friend of mine and I discussed the use of "stunning" in this instance. But I was. When sponsorship fell through, he could have just walked away. But he did everything he could to help the sport. RIP to a very good man with a great smile and amazing spirit.

Aero package is different at Richmond and an "official" full-field at a small track like Richmond is in the mid-20s (the max for IndyCar is supposed to be 28, but I think its even less at a short track). Cars do not draft and bunch up at Richmond as they do on the 1 1/2-mile banked ovals. And as you mentioned, they aren't running close to 220 miles per hour at Richmond as they do at Vegas.

And 33 at the Indianapolis 500 is different because there's virtually no banking and not anywhere near as much drafting at the track and the field can spread out.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Terry Blount also floated that idea in his column.

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/7111345/indycar-dan-wheldon-death-turns-celebration-sorrow

IndyCar had offered any driver who was not a 2011 series regular a chance to split a $5 million bonus with a fan if the driver won the event. Series officials were hoping some NASCAR drivers would try it. They didn't.

So Wheldon was the guy. Wheldon, the 2005 series champion, didn't have a full-time ride and had competed in only two events in 2011.

If not for the promotion, it's unlikely he would have been in a race car Sunday. Here's a thought: Give the bonus money to Wheldon's family.

And while it's really easy to yell that IndyCar should "do the right thing," the reality is... there is no $5 million. There's an insurance policy that will pay out in the (highly unlikely) case of a win. I have no idea how much IndyCar paid for that, but it may not even be in six figures. On top of that only $2.5 million would have gone to Wheldon, and while I don't know how that was going to be paid out, I do know the fan half was in installments over (I believe) 20 years.

And not for nothing... IndyCar is in dire straits as it is. There's no money there.

 

[Clerk Typist]

Geez, on top of everything else, I can't imagine how that fan, a 51-year-old woman from out east, felt. I don't even know if she was at the race.