IndyCar Racer killed in fiery crash.

Ablazin Scar · **Posted:** October 16th, 2011, 5:03 pm

I was actually watching this when it happened, very sad. The crash was probably one of the worst I've seen, especially in this sport.

Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car pileup at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday in the Izod IndyCar Series season finale.

Wheldon was 33.

The crash started in front of Wheldon, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion and 2006 series champion, and his car launched off of a car in front of him, flipped into the catchfence and erupted in flames on Lap 12.

At one point during the crash, three cars were airborne and upside down.

Wheldon was going for a $5-million bonus for he and a fan in Sunday's race. After starting last, he had worked his way up to 24th place in the 34-car field. (The video starts on board Wheldon's car)

After announcing Wheldon's passing at 6 p.m. ET, IndyCar announced that the race would be halted and the drivers would participate in a five-lap parade in tribute to Wheldon.
[url]
http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/fro ... t-?urn=nascar-wp4538[/url]
Video is on there to ^

Adbot · **Posted:** October 16th, 2011, 5:03 pm

trekkie · **Posted:** October 16th, 2011, 8:39 pm

i heard about it over the radio.

really crazy that it was a 15 car pile up.

addiv · **Posted:** October 16th, 2011, 9:33 pm

Sad to see something like this happen.

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

I've never quite understood this "sport" (namely NASCAR, but Indy as well and even more so). You put people in really sleek, yet light and unsafe cars that go at upwards of 200 mph and never expect anything bad to happen (at least it's not at the forefront of your mind all the time). Oh ya, and if something does go wrong, everyone is typically in one big group and will probably get in trouble as well which is exactly what happened with this. The problem with Indy especially is that these cars are light and the slightest lift causes them to go flying. If I'm not mistaken, the cars for NASCAR are typically bulky, heavier, and generally safer since the driver isn't immediately exposed to outside elements. I always think of this sport as an accident waiting to happen every race.

It's very sad that this young guy died, particularly this early in the race. Just a tragedy.

Warren · **Posted:** October 17th, 2011, 11:16 am

I don't think it isn't expected that nothing bad is going to happen. I'm sure every single racer understands that it is a dangerous sport and are willing to take the risk. It's not like they're bulls thrown into a ring to be taunted and then killed, they all understand the risks and consent to whatever happens.
But you [should] do everything you can to make it as safe as possible, without changing what it is. I'm just assuming that actually happens; although, I guess there are a lot of seemingly obvious hazards with obvious solutions that don't get put into affect. Can't really think of examples since I don't know enough about sports, but like in hockey it took someone to die in a collision during an icing race in a league in Europe for them to implement no-touch icing. In the NHL where no one has died during that, it's serious injury after serious injury and they still haven't done anything about it because the race for the puck is too exciting or something as if anyone watches games for the icing races!! And even then there's hybrid icing that would kind of keep that element but not make it so dangerous... such an obvious way to make it a lot safer but it still will probably take someone dying for them to implement it.
So yeah I guess I'm wrong. Safe-as-possible-without-changing-what-it-is might not be on the minds of anyone in charge of sports leagues. But the participants consent to the danger at least, for what it matters.

Ablazin Scar · **Posted:** October 17th, 2011, 6:25 pm

NASCAR is much safer than Indycar, the Nascar car's are much heavier and are built to not go airborne. These cars are very light, and take off like an airplane easily.
But, every racer knows what could happen. Nobody's forced to race in these races, they're just people that have raced their whole lives and love to be behind the wheel, going fast. Even though IndyCars are more dangerous, the bigger pile-ups usually happen in Nascar. Indycar crashes are usually just involve one guy hitting a wall, and a caution comes out. This is definitely the worst crash I've seen in either sport, and I'm surprised it happened in an Indycar.

Adbot · **Posted:** October 17th, 2011, 6:25 pm

Pennstate315 · Runite Member 5-25-10

Lots of complaints about the style of this race before and after the actual event. Apparently, a lot of the drivers thought the track was too wide and had to steep of a bank to run Indy Cars on it. It's a real shame this had to happen with all the safety measures professional racers use these days.

Ablazin Scar · **Posted:** October 20th, 2011, 2:58 pm

This early in the race everyone was having troubles, and trying to go to wide, and to close. Lot's of drivers were saying they didn't like the track, I think.