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

Bob Kravitz weighs in as well.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011111016024

 

Wow.

A fictional purse AND a dangerous race track?

Mrs. Wheldon will be lawyering up in due time.

 

Tomas Schekter, on his Twitter feed, floated the idea of a drivers' union. I don't think that will happen, but given so many drivers' anger with IndyCar's lack of regard for their safety (such as that restart in the rain in New Hampshire), I have no trouble imagining that the drivers believe Bernard, Barnhart, et al, don't feel like the current regime understands these men and women are literally putting their lives at stake for this series.

 

Good for them.

 

It's not a fictional purse. It's a purse that would be paid out by an insurance policy in the highly unlikely event of a win.

The insurance company could always cough up the $5 million out of the kindness of its heart, but I wouldn't bet on that.

 

Our former foster son, 6, was excited to watch the race with me today. I turned it on shortly after the wreck. They showed a replay and I knew right away it was fatal. I turned it off and encouraged time on the bicycle. I checked back later when Davey Hamilton was giving an interview. Davey was asked if the accident gave him second thoughts about coming back to race again. "Absolutely," Davey replied. NO hesitation.
Shame on IndyCar officials for putting 34 cars going 225 mph together on a 1.5 mile track. That's asking for trouble. If Bernard doesn't fire Brian Barnhart for this, he should resign himself.
A couple of things about Wheldon: If IndyCar had stayed all or mostly ovals, he would have been a bigger factor. As it was, he was about to be a lot more visible next year in Danica's GoDaddy car. Two-time Indy 500 winner (probably should have won in '06 as well) and former series champion in the most recognizable car in the series, driving for a famous last name? It was all lining up perfectly for Dan. Plus he had more knowledge about the new cars than anyone since he was the test driver.
RIP Dan Wheldon.

 

I'm gonna combine several random thoughts from several posts here so bear with me...

I'm just numb from it because I clicked on the race about a lap and a half before it all happened.

When the tarp comes out, and there's that much silence, it's generally bad news. Dale Sr., McDuffie at the Glen, Neil Bonnett's practice crash at Daytona '94.

NBC4 in LA's late news just showed the view from Wheldon's car as the first part of the wreck was developing ahead of him against the wall, but they cut away to the wide aerial shot just before anything happened with his car. (separately, Fred Roggin's forehead botox is so obvious)

As to all the delays and dead air between the replays of the accident and the actual announcement, perhaps another part of it is because of the need to inform family members and figuring out how to deliver the news to the public. Reminded me of when Princess Diana was killed and I always wondered how long she'd actually been dead by the time they announced it.

Using the equation of one car for every 400 feet of track, 34 cars on a mile and a half track is 14.2 cars too many. There's gonna be some serious lawsuits going on.

When drawing comparisons to other athletes, I couldn't help but think of Matt Kenseth. A past winner, consistent, if not very flashy or spectacular in victory. Plus, while he has a ride for next year, he doesn't have a flagship sponsor for the whole season, as Crown Royal's going away. Ditto for Wheldon before the GoDaddy ride appeared.

How in the hell does the IRL even stay in operation, financially, with not a lot of races on the schedule? Can the league survive something like this?

I was surprised that none of the cars hit the flat part of the apron and kicked up into the wall, ala Jimmy Johnson last night at Charlotte.

 

And in addition to that, Cheever and Goodyear did a fantastic job today.

 

Courtesy of Australian TV, here's the full video from the camera in Wheldon's car, from beginning to end.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/drivers-may-pull-out-of-gold-coast-v8s-20111017-1lsmx.html

Absolutely horrific.

 

Having seen Birdscribe's link of Wheldon's car cam, yes, ABC did in fact show that footage at least a couple of times in the immediate aftermath as cars were still on the track. The tire flying toward camera is particularly chilling.