RIP Dan Wheldon -- Indycar Season Finale in Vegas

Absolutely - I believe it was Fontana in the mid-90's where the drivers were VERY vocal that the speeds were too high.

Michael Andretti complained about the Texas race - same thing. Too fast on an oval with cars not designed for that purpose.

It's been touched on for years, but no one listened. I think it's time to rethink this seriously.

 

Don't paint with such a wide brush.

The RACING media is against Barnhart.

The MAINSTREAM media is not 'against' IndyCar, it simply doesn't give it the love it did 30-40+ years ago, mainly because all the other sports have ADVANCED while open-wheel racing did nothing and declined. Kinda like boxing.

 

calm down, bro.

 

At 2 laps I got up on the edge of my couch and thought this is too fast. 34 cars never lifting on that track. Most of the drivers thought the same.

Attached is Dan getting into the car at Mid-Ohio in 2009. I don't have the pics of him winning Indy this year with me today. Super nice guy who talked to the fans like he was there with them.

RIP
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Very sad day. Rest in peace Dan Wheldon. One of the best IRL drivers.

Regards

 

My preference would be to have them race road courses, street courses, and keep the oval of Indy as a special type of event. Sort of like Monaco for F1: totally unlike the other races but with such a history and tradition you know it will always be on the calendar.

The difficulty of course is to somehow maintain attendance figures away from oval tracks like las vegas. I'm not sure how you do that at some of the tracks around the country, most have poor facilities and are not fan-friendly.

Just ditch the ovals at Texas, Loudon, Iowa, Las Vegas, and Kentucky. Replace them with Road America, go back to Indy later in the year and use the MotoGP/F1 course, Laguna Seca, and find two other tracks (Canada F1?, Mexico?) than the cars can use safely.

 

Agreed.

 

I am a huge Indy car fan and was unable to see the race. I have it on my DVR for when I get home but will most likely delete it. This is more than enough to see: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMMHu8lnepM[/ame]

One of the good guys in racing is now gone.... We will all miss his TV commentary and his enthusiasm for the sport.

RIP Dan.......

 

Kentucky was already ditched 2 weeks ago off the 2012 calandar.

Has anyone heard the cause of death? Curious if it was track/fence or car/tube.

 

I would like to see a return to the short ovals, with low(er) speeds and no pack racing.

Loudon, Richmond, Phoenix, etc.

one problem will be Texas, which needs to go IMO but always draws a good crowd. maybe a race in Austin?

 

On a dirt track?

 

While I think that Franchitti and Kanaan may retire from full-time racing, I suspect that Tony, at least, will come back to give the Brickyard at least one more shot. Dario has been there, done that, so he may quit for good.

 

After hearing Dario speak, I can see that. Honestly, I wonder why he's still doing it beyond (of course) the passion. Nothing more to prove.

 

Exactly. The last IRL event I attended, and left quite early, was at Homestead. They were going slot car fast, surrealistic for me. I was in the top row of the grandstands, and feeling really afraid. Not for me, but for one of the drivers. I left about a third into the race. After all of the races I have witnessed, all of the accidents I have witnessed, and even the deaths, this vision at Homestead scared me the most.

That is why I have not gone to one of the banked ovals that IRL races.

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95490


AND HELLO, JEAN ALESI, HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS! TIME TO RECONSIDER GOING TO INDIANAPOLIS!!

 

Ugh...this hurts...he and his wife got matching tattoo's the night before the race RIP Dan.

http://lockerz.com/s/147979396

 

Sorry if this has been discussed but I'm not going to read through a dozen pages:

Does anybody know what injuries Wheldon sustained?

I googled but only found "severe" injuries, well duh. I found one German report which talked about internal injuries, which would point towards e.g. the monocoque/steering wheel collapsing his chest or abdomen.

Some folks speculated that his head endured severe trauma but I found a picture of him on the stretcher with his helmet and the helmet looked very normal.

Personally I think he broke his neck at the impact but that would normally indicate instant death and not a 2 hour medical emergency rescue attempts.

 

Without ovals Indycar racing will lose its USP.
Without them it's just seen as f1's slightly dumb step brother.
The speeds can be reduced and the turns flattened but Indycar needs oval tracks.

 

I watched the race yesterday with my family. We are true Indycar fans. This is so sad. Dan Wheldon was true class. RIP.

 

coroner's report: blunt head trauma.

entirely possible, given the nature of that accident, for the helmet to look "okay" but the forces to still create a fatal head injury.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/indycar/story/2011-10-17/dan-wheldon-head-injuries/50806732/1

 

Oh boy, this will start the discussions over an enclosed cockpit again. Bummer.

 

We shouldn't forget too there have been Nascar fatal crashes on road courses too.

 

True. No form of racing will ever be entirely safe.

 

They worked on Earnhardt Sr. for quite a long time also, that's what they do, what they get paid to do.

And it's doubtful it would have helped, if the airbox, rool bar and wing were ripped off.

AND: I like Jimmy Johnson, but he needs to shut up. He is saying they need to stop racing indy cars on ovals altogether.

 

The Texas race where they were running 240, yes.

How do you slow it down?

Smaller motors, tires, wings, less aero, what do you do?
Does that translate to F1 also?

We already know 'restrictor plate' racing sucks, and yes, we know they don't run carbs or plates, so what do you do, restrict the inlet sizes like they did to Jim's Ferrari?
The LAST thing we need is a field of cars that all run the SAME speed.