Quote from BlueFlame :

Well he did a **** tonne better than Justin Wilson.

That's a bit harsh on poor Justin. Not quite an oval guy, okay, but he pulled some great performances on road/street courses, despite never having the equipment he deserves.

I've been extremely lucky enough to interview Dan on two occasion. You could not meet a more friendly and approachable professional racing driver. I'm, as is everyone, devastated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMMHu8lnepM

720p replays.

Quote from Intrepid :

I've been extremely lucky enough to interview Dan on two occasion. You could not meet a more friendly and approachable professional racing driver. I'm, as is everyone, devastated.

It's a real shame to as he was close to getting an Andretti seat next year which would allow him to fight for the title.

He was a great champion, some might say it's shallow to say when a great driver dies it's a bigger tragety but the fact is it is as they left there legacy behind, It's a very dark day for motorsport.

Hopefully lessons will be learned.

Quote from Mustafur :

It's a real shame to as he was close to getting an Andretti seat next year which would allow him to fight for the title.

Hold yer horses son. With a 11 road/street courses for 5 ovals schedule, this would've been extremely unlikely.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Yeah, agreed. Make Indy a standalone event and make it a road-racing series.

Well as I said before, there's many short tracks that would do just fine. Iowa this year was pretty great, but thats the fastest track they should be going to IMO.

@Intrepid: He really freakin was one of the nicest racers I have ever met, and I've been lucky to meet more than most.

IndyCar has been running a tightrope with that chassis for a good few years. It's so so sad that the man who has been testing the new and safer 2012 car died in this way. It's not fair, just not fair.

I think because of the fact INDYcar is regarded as top flight motorsport in the US, and anywhere, an incident like this puts everyone in devastation and shock.

Quote from CSF :

IndyCar has been running a tightrope with that chassis for a good few years. It's so so sad that the man who has been testing the new and safer 2012 car died in this way. It's not fair, just not fair.

Definitely terrible irony, but he would have died just the same in the new car. Open cockpit + fence is a losing combination.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Hold yer horses son. With a 11 road/street courses for 5 ovals schedule, this would've been extremely unlikely.

Yeah, but with new chassis experience and a well funded ride, you couldn't rule it out.

Quote from BlueFlame :

I think because of the fact INDYcar is regarded as top flight motorsport in the US, and anywhere, an incident like this puts everyone in devastation and shock.

Devastation yes, shock not as much.

Most people knew crashes at super speed ways are a possible fatal scienario, and with not much done safety wise since the last fatal incident( not that there is much you can do other then removing most of the power, the only real thing you could do now is ban all super speedways entirely(except Indy, and not for the prestege but the fact it's narrow and doesn't allow 3 wide action)

Motorsport pays tribute to Dan Wheldon (Autosport)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2PMUNsuZWA

5 lap tribute for anyone who wants to see it...

the most heart wrenching part is the last 2 minutes, the description of his family and team owner at the hospital where he died, hearing the announcer crying during Jamie Little saying that, and the final goodbye...

yeah, I'm crying as I type this and watch it again.

I'm sorry, but that was the dumbest idea of a race that was ever conceived. I guess I looked at the schedule and forgot that Las Vegas had been repaved and banked. I was used to it's flater configuration, and didn't see why everybody was making a big deal about the fact that the series was racing there, but this morning as I was conducting [RN]'s little oval disaster I was listening to pre-race interviews and the drivers seemed a little frightened about the track, and I remembered that it had been banked.

At this point, I knew that I wasn't going to miss this race for the world.. I KNEW something bad was going to happen, and I was praying that it wouldn't be this. It was this.

Watching it with my girl friend I looked over to her as they took the green flag, and I told her that they shouldn't be racing there (she loves racing like myself ) and she agreed. 225 mph pack racing is not only stupid, it's reckless. How many NASCAR plate races go by without a "big one"? How fast are they going? How much lighter are Indy Cars? How much safer is a stock car than an open wheel car?

Thank god we only lost one racer today. Thank god they ended the race on lap 13. Thank god this didn't happn infront of the grandstands.

This race only happened because the Indy Car Series wanted to be as popular as what NASCAR is. "IndyCar Series rolling d ... quot; (October 12th 2011) Truly, they might have just done that... Yeah... exactly what the Series directors wanted.

I (for one) will now protest the series until they either remove Texas and Vegas from their schedule, or they do something about the speeds.

Rest in Peace Dan Wheldon. You will be missed.

Quote from Mustafur :

Devastation yes, shock not as much.

Most people knew crashes at super speed ways are a possible fatal scienario, and with not much done safety wise since the last fatal incident( not that there is much you can do other then removing most of the power, the only real thing you could do now is ban all super speedways entirely(except Indy, and not for the prestege but the fact it's narrow and doesn't allow 3 wide action)

The thing is, it's been a while since something like this happened live, on a race, with millions of people watching, the last time was in 2001 with Zanardi (he was very close to being a fatality) and 10 years for most people is enough to generate thoughts that these cars of today are fail safe and that it will take a huge catastrophe to kill a driver (not that what happened today wasn't close to a catastrophe).
But I don't know, will the new cars really keep them racing them on superspeedways, or will Wheldon's death make them decide against racing single seaters at ovals? I just hope that Indy doesn't suffer from all of this.

Wasn't the last one in 2006 or around then?

Edit: Paul Dana homestead '06 and before that: Tony renna at Indy '03

not that long ago really.

Quote from Mustafur :

Wasn't the last one in 2006 or around then?

2000

Cart was there in 2005, also prior to the repave.

100% agree with Cornys. You think they would've learned to take more precautions after the Indy 500 flips and the massive pile up at New Hampshire. I think Indy seriously needs to consider "restrictor" plates like NASCAR has and possibly limit how low and how light the cars can be.
@Rui, in no way is Las Vegas a "super" speedway. Sure it is fast but if they popped those babies out on Daytona, we could probably see faster.

Hopefully Indy addresses these safety issues with the new cars, the drivers seriously need to be lower set in the cars among other things. I believe they said that Dan Wheldon suffered from a neck injury due to a wheel that hit his helmet, obviously this is a deadly combination no matter what, but I am sure that the wind shields could be taller among other things. Hopefully they don't have to relate to putting roll cages on them, but safety is a priority.

Quote from Bmxtwins :

I think Indy seriously needs to consider "restrictor" plates like NASCAR has and possibly limit how low and how light the cars can be.

I like to shy away from power restriction, and move more towards something that would afford less grip (which would indirectly reduce speeds).

Less downforce, harder tires, more weight, in general less cornering ability, or something of the sort. Really, just slow them down without actually slowing the motors down basically. I hate the fact that NASCAR races occur on different power levels for 4 of the races on the schedule.

Well, if you look a the crash, it's caused by cars spinning, to me that indicates instability, with more downforce it could have been avoided I think.

Quote from Bmxtwins :

100% agree with Cornys. You think they would've learned to take more precautions after the Indy 500 flips and the massive pile up at New Hampshire. I think Indy seriously needs to consider "restrictor" plates like NASCAR has and possibly limit how low and how light the cars can be.
@Rui, in no way is Las Vegas a "super" speedway. Sure it is fast but if they popped those babies out on Daytona, we could probably see faster.

Hopefully Indy addresses these safety issues with the new cars, the drivers seriously need to be lower set in the cars among other things. I believe they said that Dan Wheldon suffered from a neck injury due to a wheel that hit his helmet, obviously this is a deadly combination no matter what, but I am sure that the wind shields could be taller among other things. Hopefully they don't have to relate to putting roll cages on them, but safety is a priority.

It's classed as superspeedway for Indy because it's easily flat out, where as in NASCAR most of the superspeedways in Indy are just speedways.

Restrictor plates are basically what they are on now, don't be naive.

Less downforce on these tracks means more speed, even with lowest possible wing config for the chassis ovals over 2 miles are easily flatout.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Well, if you look a the crash, it's caused by cars spinning, to me that indicates instability, with more downforce it could have been avoided I think.

Replay indicates that a car clipped another car causing the spin. Not really an instability issue on the cause. Lower speeds and more instability would reduce the size of the "pack" much as it used to at Daytona prior to Daytona's repave. Slow them down to around 215 with less cornering ability or a small ammount of power reduction, and break up that big pack somehow.

Aw shit

Between two 500 wins, an IRL Championship and his recent TV work when he was not in the car, Wheldon was in many ways the face of IndyCar. The last time such a high profile driver had a crash at such a high profile event was really when Dale Earnhardt Sr died. I'm sure this will have very much the same effect, with an even greater focus on safety being put on the already safer new car. I certainly hope that it at least has the same effect on Wheldon's legacy as i believe he was severely underestimated as a driver.

RIP Dan Wheldon, definitely one of the better IndyCar drivers of our time and definitely one of the best personalities.