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

[Pilot]

Maybe I'm missing something, but are you sure the in-car camera you get for the actual flying, crashing part there is Wheldon's and not Power's?

 

[Bubbler]

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.

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.

Pretty sure that's from Will Power's car

 

[Double J]

It is. Power drives the No. 12 car. Wheldon was in the 77 car.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Speaking of IndyCar and finances, one thing I noticed from the videos was all the empty seats in the stands during the five-lap salute. Were the stands full during the race and a lot of people ended up leaving, or was that reflective of the actual attendance?

 

[Mira]

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

Michael Andretti told ESPN.com that Dan Wheldon signed a contract to fill the seat Danica was vacating.

Dan was a classy person, great interview and talented driver. RIP.

 

[HanSenSE]

Speaking of IndyCar and finances, one thing I noticed from the videos was all the empty seats in the stands during the five-lap salute. Were the stands full during the race and a lot of people ended up leaving, or was that reflective of the actual attendance?

It looked like, from earlier shots, a lot ot trackside seats were empty. Fan safety (the ironies abound)?

 

[deskslave]

Wouldn't the trackside seats be some of the last to sell and so remain empty if there's not a sellout? I would guess that the view is probably better from slightly higher up, rather than at eye level. You see that in soccer, for example. Watching that from field level seats sucks.

 

[Layman]

Speaking of IndyCar and finances, one thing I noticed from the videos was all the empty seats in the stands during the five-lap salute. Were the stands full during the race and a lot of people ended up leaving, or was that reflective of the actual attendance?

It looked like, from earlier shots, a lot ot trackside seats were empty. Fan safety (the ironies abound)?

At the green flag, they actually had (by ICS standard) a pretty decent crowd. the upper 2/3 of the main stand was basically full. This was driven, at least in part, by a ticket give away that Indycar did in the early part of the season. I don't remember all the details, even having attended 4 ICS races this season, but if you bought a ticket to a race earlier in the season, you could send in for freebies to the Vegas race. Vegas was intended to be the big celebration / champion crowing / blow out event to cap the season & they tried to ensure a good crowd (and...full field). We gave pretty serious consideration to going, but couldn't make the scheduling work.

The crash happened on lap 15 & the red flag went for the better part of two hours. I'm guessing (unless they were part of a casino bus deal) most folks had left, by the memorial laps.

 

[derwood]

What kind of moron hires a Rodeo promoter to run a racing series?

 

[Layman]

What kind of moron hires a Rodeo promoter to run a racing series?

The kind of morons who inherit a race track??

 

[murphyc]

westcoastvol, it will be interesting to see if IndyCar can survive. Even before today, the pendulum was swinging back toward road/street courses, which are fun local shows but worthless for TV ratings, which you gotta have to get sponsor cash. As Nascar has shown, the formula is oval racing. Period. And truth be told, IndyCar IS exhilarating to watch on the banked ovals. But oval-track promoters can't make money off it because fans haven't been going, and when the Bernard-regime IndyCar tries run the show themselves and gimmicks it up ... well, they're 0 for 1.

IndyCar will survive for the same reason it survived in the early years: the Indy 500.
Also, recall the ratings spike NASCAR had post-Dale Earnhardt Sr.: people who weren't fans previously wanted to see what this whole NASCAR thing was about because the news of Earnhardt's death was everywhere. Big difference is the 2001 Daytona 500 started the season and there was a race the following week; Wheldon's death came in the finale of a series that doesn't race again for about six months.

 

[sportbook]

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, why does a two-time Indy winner not have a full-time ride? I apologize in advance for my ignorance.