26 replies to this topic

[msweet]

Killed in a horrific crash in Las Vegas today.. the last race of the season

http://thebiglead.co...rious-injuries/

http://goo.gl/F1hoK

[Quinn01]

I was just watching this. Unbelievable.

"Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died Sunday after he was involved in a multi-car wreck at an IndyCar race in Las Vegas, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said.

The race was stopped and the remaining drivers, many of whom were visibly emotional after emerging from a meeting with IndyCar officials, will do a five-lap salute in Wheldon's honor, Bernard told reporters."

-Cnn.com

Edited by Quinn01, 16 October 2011 - 05:40 PM.

[Zubie#8]

He was my favorite IndyCar driver. Its a shame because this was only the third race this year he raced in.
RIP

Edited by Zubie#8, 16 October 2011 - 05:33 PM.

[mmajeski06]

Here's from the broadcast. What is crazy is they are on board with Wheldon at the start of the crash.

[Mayday]

The name says it all, this is an open forum for anything affecting the hockey world. Enter at your own risk!

[njdevil26]

Always some a$$hole trying to be the "forum police."
This is a pro sports tragedy and someone died. No one asked for your opinion about where this thread should go.

[Mayday]

yeah sorry.

but this gets me, as it did with steve jobs. its sad that such a famous athlete has tragically died. but it makes me think, many will mourn the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Steve Jobs.

At the same time I think this:

Every day, almost 16000 children die from hunger-related causes. That's one child every five seconds

this basically sums up what I'm thinking.
My link

[thefiestygoat]

RIP Dan Wheldon - always sad to see a driver pass away, especially so young. I don't follow Indy Car like I do NASCAR but its always something that you hope to never see as a fan of racing. That wreck was hard to watch...hopefully everyone else from it ends up being fine.

[Devilsfan118]

yeah sorry.

but this gets me, as it did with steve jobs. its sad that such a famous athlete has tragically died. but it makes me think, many will mourn the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Steve Jobs.

At the same time I think this:


this basically sums up what I'm thinking.
My link

Not a fantastic place to start this debate now.

RIP, I don't personally follow the sport or know who he was really, but apparently he had a family, some young kids. Tragic.

[NHLeBeau44]

Worst part about it was the fact that he has a 2 year old and a new born baby at home. Truly a sad day in Indy Car and in the world of sports. RIP Dan Wheldon.

[ATLL765]

Wow, it's been a while since there's been a death in open open wheel racing. Sometimes you can really forget that it can be this dangerous.

Is there anything on what exactly caused his death? I would assume some sort of traumatic head injury, as is usually the case. Hopefully this can motivate IndyCar to take a look at how they can make the cars safer. F1 hasn't had a driver death in 17 years, so maybe they could get a few tips looking at those cars.

This quite sad no matter what, but again, hopefully this will be used to better the safety of all the drivers moving forward and can be a catalyst for good instead of just a tragedy.

[Zubie#8]

Ive been watching IndyCar with my dad since 2001 and every time they race at these kind of tracks (Las Vegas, Texas, Chicago) theres always this mutual feeling between me and my dad that something like this is going to happen. In my opinion, the IndyCar series should not race at these 1 mile plus banked tracks because the speeds are too insane...this isnt like Nascar or F1, these are open wheel racecars racing at 230mph on fast banked tracks in tight groups. I had to watch my favorite driver die today, I dont want to see something like that happen again.

Edited by Zubie#8, 16 October 2011 - 08:35 PM.

[ice dog]

RIP... he went out doing what he loved to do. it's amazing just how dangerous that sport is. I'm surprised this does not happen more often, amazing talent to drive like that.

[Cachorro Louco]

Wow, it's been a while since there's been a death in open open wheel racing. Sometimes you can really forget that it can be this dangerous.

Is there anything on what exactly caused his death? I would assume some sort of traumatic head injury, as is usually the case. Hopefully this can motivate IndyCar to take a look at how they can make the cars safer. F1 hasn't had a driver death in 17 years, so maybe they could get a few tips looking at those cars.

This quite sad no matter what, but again, hopefully this will be used to better the safety of all the drivers moving forward and can be a catalyst for good instead of just a tragedy.

You simply can not compare F1 to racing Indy Cars at oval.

F1 for one rarely go over 300km/h . on the other hand Indy Cars At oval are usually Racing well above 300km/h, in some case the speed reach 362km/h ( more or less 225MP/H)

F1 they are a good dispersion btw cars, in case of accidente most driver will have some time to escape, The other hands on ovals if theres a accident there is no time to escape, because they are packed so tightly many cars will be involved.

Even if Indy Cars had the exact same safe standards as a F1, the reality is that there will be more crashes resulting in deaths, simply because the scenario they race in.


By the way the last time Indy had a fatal crash was in 2006 no that long ago.

Edited by Cachorro Louco, 17 October 2011 - 12:43 AM.

[Pepperkorn]

It's still shocking when stuff like this happens in this day and age. I guess it was pretty common place comparably when I was little and my dad was massively into cars and stuff. I remember how people would marvel at how luck and smart people felt Jackie Stewart was to have retired before he died.

[ATLL765]

You simply can not compare F1 to racing Indy Cars at oval.

F1 for one rarely go over 300km/h . on the other hand Indy Cars At oval are usually Racing well above 300km/h, in some case the speed reach 362km/h ( more or less 225MP/H)

F1 they are a good dispersion btw cars, in case of accidente most driver will have some time to escape, The other hands on ovals if theres a accident there is no time to escape, because they are packed so tightly many cars will be involved.

Even if Indy Cars had the exact same safe standards as a F1, the reality is that there will be more crashes resulting in deaths, simply because the scenario they race in.


By the way the last time Indy had a fatal crash was in 2006 no that long ago.

I wasn't trying to compare the style of racing, more so that this could be used to push for better safety as was the case after the 94 season in F1.

I actually was talking to a friend of mine about this and how I thought that oval track racing was partly to blame for multi-car crashes like this and is imo boring anyways. I don't understand the entertainment in watching cars drive in circles like that, so I though this could open up debate on whether to continue to race at venues with oval tracks. I don't really follow IndyCar racing, but I will watch the races if it's a road race, but not if it's an oval track.

As I said before, I just hope that his can be used to push for better safety in the next gen chassis, which Wheldon tested not long ago and is slated to be in use next season.

[Satans Hockey]

I haven't been on here in a few days so I didn't see this thread, so I'll just repost what I posted in the locker room section

Such a terrible tragedy, one of the worst wrecks I have ever seen. Dan won the Indy 500 this year.

R.I.P. Dan, you will always be one of my favorite drivers. I feel so bad for his young children and family.

This was taken after he won the 500

Edited by Satans Hockey, 20 October 2011 - 02:39 AM.

[Satans Hockey]

Wow, it's been a while since there's been a death in open open wheel racing. Sometimes you can really forget that it can be this dangerous.

Is there anything on what exactly caused his death? I would assume some sort of traumatic head injury, as is usually the case. Hopefully this can motivate IndyCar to take a look at how they can make the cars safer. F1 hasn't had a driver death in 17 years, so maybe they could get a few tips looking at those cars.

This quite sad no matter what, but again, hopefully this will be used to better the safety of all the drivers moving forward and can be a catalyst for good instead of just a tragedy.

They happen too often as it is, Henry Surtees was hit in the head with a tire that came lose in Formula Two a couple years back.

Wheldons head basically hit the catch fence and went along it for a few feet which is what did the majority of the damage. The other cars that went airbourne really lucked out, especially Will Power.

Wheldon was actually testing next years cars and with those new cars this accident most likely wouldn't have happened. Next years cars are designed so that when tires actually collide they won't have these problems with cars going airbourne as much.

The main issue with Vegas was there were just too many cars in the field and too many rookie drivers out there. It's all a shame but the drivers were worried about it before the race and a lot of them thought that something bad was going to happen. They should have protested and spoken up even more so.

[Satans Hockey]

I actually was talking to a friend of mine about this and how I thought that oval track racing was partly to blame for multi-car crashes like this and is imo boring anyways. I don't understand the entertainment in watching cars drive in circles like that, so I though this could open up debate on whether to continue to race at venues with oval tracks. I don't really follow IndyCar racing, but I will watch the races if it's a road race, but not if it's an oval track.

I watch all sorts of racing and enjoy them for their differences but there are a lot of people out there, especially in the states that say formula one racing is boring because there isn't a lot passing on the track and that qualifying determines the race winner more then anything else(which Vettel has backed up this year in f1)