Death of IRL driver today

[Ateam]

Did anyone catch that insane crash with total carnage and resulting in 33 year wheldon. His car literally had lift off and was air born and hit the top of the high barrier. After hitting all that was left was a ball of fire and no car. Wheldons body somewhere in the fire. About an hour later they pronounced him.

Apparently goin 220mph around that circuit. 15 total car pileup. Pretty sad to watch right in front of you on tv.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by Ateam

Did anyone catch that insane crash with total carnage and resulting in 33 year wheldon. His car literally had lift off and was air born and hit the top of the high barrier. After hitting all that was left was a ball of fire and no car. Wheldons body somewhere in the fire. About an hour later they pronounced him.

Apparently goin 220mph around that circuit. 15 total car pileup. Pretty sad to watch right in front of you on tv.

220mph is too much on that short track with 34 cars.

RIP DW.

[Green///Hell]

I turned to it and they kept showing stuff. Very unfortunate to see

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Waiting for it to pop up on YouTube.

[eVitO]

Wow... Just saw several vids on youtube. Just wow... RIP.

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

RIP ... so young ... so very tragic

yes it is all over the news ... here is a picture

CLICK HERS FOR POST ON TIS FORUM

[CrazyIvan]

Very tragic accident indeed. Yet another reminder that no matter how good of a driver you might be, some things are still out of control. RIP DW

[Richbot]

Sad for Wheldon's family and thankful we aren't talking about multiple fatalities. The lone "77" lit up at the top of the leaderboard pylon has to be one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Sad for Wheldon's family and thankful we aren't talking about multiple fatalities. The lone "77" lit up at the top of the leaderboard pylon has to be one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

Yes, that was one of the saddest things I've seen as well. You could see so much emotion from all of the drivers, especially Tony and Dario, before the start of the five-lap salute to Dan Wheldon.

RIP Dan Wheldon.

[BimmerM]

Watched it from the beginning and every lap was scary! The crash was horrific.

RIP Dan Wheldon

[Pointerman]

Keep the Wheldon family in your prayers. Sad day for racing when someone so young dies. Let's hope this accident results in more focus on driver safety in that series.

[JustMpwrd]

Oddly enough, I finally saw the Ayrton Senna movie the day before. I don't follow Indycar, but I knew of Dan Wheldon. Pretty sad when anyone in motorsports dies in a car.

RIP, Dan. Prayers go out to his family and friends.

[SROC3]

RIP Dan.

[feaganszhp]

RIP!!!! such a tragedy!

[JCtx]

It's a miracle it wasn't worse indeed. Thirty four cars at 225+ MPH flat out on a freaking track designed for Nascar almost HALF THE SIZE of Indy500 was an accident waiting to happen.

For starters, those cars, just like F1 (which have much more downforce), shouldn't exceed 200 mph IMO, especially on an oval track with banked turns. I see some heads rolling over this. And/or some changes too. RIP DW. At least he died doing what he loved. And am sure didn't suffer one bit. I'd like to go out like that too... but hopefully later in life . Good day gang.

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by JustMpwrd

Oddly enough, I finally saw the Ayrton Senna movie the day before. I don't follow Indycar, but I knew of Dan Wheldon. Pretty sad when anyone in motorsports dies in a car.

RIP, Dan. Prayers go out to his family and friends.

You mentioned Ayrton ... I think this is a great tribute to him he surely was one of the best there ever was ... For a GREAT clip put together by TopGear CLICK here

[Doctor J]

RIP Dan Wheldon. So tragic

[Ateam]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

It's a miracle it wasn't worse indeed. Thirty four cars at 225+ MPH flat out on a freaking track designed for Nascar almost HALF THE SIZE of Indy500 was an accident waiting to happen.

For starters, those cars, just like F1 (which have much more downforce), shouldn't exceed 200 mph IMO, especially on an oval track with banked turns. I see some heads rolling over this. And/or some changes too. RIP DW. At least he died doing what he loved. And am sure didn't suffer one bit. I'd like to go out like that too... but hopefully later in life . Good day gang.

Don't get me wrong I totally agree about the track with that number of cars but if the driver is willing to risk his life in those dangerous conditions than they are putting their life at risk by driving there. So many people and drivers were talking about how dangerous it was goin to be yet they all drove the race. There has to be some responsiblity to an individual instead of blaming the IRL or others.

Nonetheless its really sad to see those cars take flight like they were tiny toy cars. They became airborne with such ease and flipped around like they weighed an ounce. Very disturbing to see live as I did.

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by Ateam

There has to be some responsiblity to an individual instead of blaming the IRL or others.

I wasn't blaming the IRL or anybody else. Simply stating something like that is not good for anybody, and things have to change. Just look at the ton of money the IRL spent to promote itself on that last race... all down the drain. Just like Wall Street, some regulation is always needed. Remember the F1 days when drivers were dying every month? Nascar came next after Dale's death. It's IRL's turn now. It's just not safe to run those cars at over 200 mph IMO. If that speed is fast enough for F1 and Nascar, why not IRL?

[alms211]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

I wasn't blaming the IRL or anybody else. Simply stating something like that is not good for anybody, and things have to change. Just look at the ton of money the IRL spent to promote itself on that last race... all down the drain. Just like Wall Street, some regulation is always needed. Remember the F1 days when drivers were dying every month? Nascar came next after Dale's death. It's IRL's turn now. It's just not safe to run those cars at over 200 mph IMO. If that speed is fast enough for F1 and Nascar, why not IRL?

F1 cars do no run ovals and neither should ANY open wheel car where speeds approach/exceed 200 mph. Open wheel cars require much larger runoff areas to slow their speeds.....which is precisely what F1 has.

Nascar has much larger crumple zone plus (obviously) they have enclosed cockpit and full fender wheels. Huge difference.

[JustMpwrd]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

It's a miracle it wasn't worse indeed. Thirty four cars at 225+ MPH flat out on a freaking track designed for Nascar almost HALF THE SIZE of Indy500 was an accident waiting to happen.

For starters, those cars, just like F1 (which have much more downforce), shouldn't exceed 200 mph IMO, especially on an oval track with banked turns. I see some heads rolling over this. And/or some changes too. RIP DW. At least he died doing what he loved. And am sure didn't suffer one bit. I'd like to go out like that too... but hopefully later in life . Good day gang.

It wouldn't be such a bad ending to this tragedy if it caused some serious changes within IndyCar in the name of safety. F1 changed after 1994 and hasn't had a death since. IndyCar's had four deaths since 1996.

[JustMpwrd]

Originally Posted by Rolf-Dieter

You mentioned Ayrton ... I think this is a great tribute to him he surely was one of the best there ever was ... For a GREAT clip put together by TopGear CLICK here

I've seen that clip several times as a regular follow of TopGear. It was very well done. Thanks for the link, though!