RIP Dan Wheldon -- Indycar Season Finale in Vegas

Naming the chassis after Dan is a nice start, GoDaddy should payout the $5mil he was going after;

1/2 to Dan's wife/kid's for a college fund
1/2 to Dan's charities

It would be a class move by them on a lot of different levels.

RIP Dan and keep racing Oval's as I don't think he'd want to be the "reason" they stopped, especially as a 2 time winner of Indy.

People die on all forms of race tracks as you can't make racing 100% safe plain and simple and anyone that participates knows it.

 

This Saturday, Oct 22nd from 10 am to Noon, Indianapolis Cars & Coffee will be passing a bucket for donations to the trust fund being set-up for Dan Wheldon's family.

If you are in the area and would like to contribute, please stop by.

You can find more details on the Indy C&C scene on this site.
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240098

 

A two times Indy winner needs a charity funds set up to pay for his family?

Didn't he have a life insurance?

 

Where would a race driver get life insurance that did not eliminate racing as an "approved" cause of death?

I would hope he had a gret financial advisor and set up his family for such a circumstance.

But you are correct, any fund raising should go to some charity the Wheldon family nominates. Possibly DW had a foundation?

 

His charity was Alzheimer's. Killed my father.

 

Senna's charities got lots of millions from his life insurance after he died.

Doesn't Lloyds in London insure anything? That's where soccer players insure their legs and tennis players their arms. Seriously.

 

Lloyd's of London cancelled James Garner's insurance while he was filming Grand Prix. I doubt they would touch anything racing related but I could be wrong. I doubt the Wheldon family really needs any money, but I would keep in mind that he was without a full time ride this year and that his sons are both very young. The bread winner of the family is now gone and the Indycar community wants to be sure his children are provided for. I think that's great.

 

Why? Frankly, I think it is dangerous for these drivers to have the top of their head sticking out at 200+ MPH. Can anyone do the math for the amount of damage a pebble at 200 mph can do to a helmet?

Dale

 

from what I've heard, it's pretty easy to get life insurance that includes racing-related deaths (remember, it's pretty rare for a driver to die these days); but the disability insurance is remarkably expensive.

 

yes serious injuries (bolt) and fatalities bouncing tire to the helmet in F1 in recent years.

 

All you need to do is watch that vid of the tire coming at you. Now imagine you can't move or duck.

Dale

 

I like the romance/history/tradition of open wheel/open cockpit.

but damn, it's dangerous.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjd5p8dDQdU[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgE24ZhcIfQ[/ame]

 

I didn't find that to be the case, LTD was not that expensive despite declared racing. Life insurance is definitely more expensive with it, but not absurd, and much less than being a private pilot. They do ask what type of car you race, and I imagine open wheel/open cockpit would have a bigger impact than closed coupe. I only race closed cars, so didn't find out the difference.

 

I can't recall my source exactly, something I read or heard, but it pertained to top level pro guys...with multi-million $$ paychecks from racing, and higher risk of injury than death. may have been specific to F1 or Indy, not sure.

lots of variables, for sure. but I thought it was interesting that LTD was more expensive than Life.

and yes, I've never seen a life insurance contract that didn't ask about private pilot's licenses.

 

This from NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson:

"I don't know how they can really do it. Myself, I have a lot of friends that race in that series, and I'd just rather see them on street circuits and road courses. No more ovals."

"Their average was 225? I've never been 225 mph in my life -- and that's their average around an oval. They are brave men and women that drive those things," Johnson said. "There's very little crumple zone around the driver, it's an open cockpit and then you add open wheels -- it's just creating situations to get the car off the ground at a high rate of speed. And you can't control the car when it's off the ground."


By all accounts Dan Wheldon was a great guy and this is a horrible kick in the gut that he lost his life on the track. There is absolutely zero reason for these open wheel cars to be on an oval. Even Indy is pretty pointless in my opinion but at least there's no banking and they can't go flat out.

 

Very interesting, clearly there is a big difference being an entrepreneur racing occasionally in pro-races and being a pro-racer. I've always found LTD to be a bargain compared to life

 

It is, but at lower public speeds far more likely than death.

R.I.P. Dan.

I gave his signature away to a friend that was also sponsored by Jim Beam.
He really liked the cap......

 

Or in the case of Cristiano da Matta - a deer. Nearly killed him.

 

Yes it is dangerous, but that's part of the allure.

As is the open cockpit, the open wheels and everything else.

I don't want IRL or F1 turn into NASCAR or touring car racing. Seeing the driver with his head/helmet exposed in the air is part of the fun of this sport. Once you put a roof over their heads you won't see the drivers anymore.

The FIA is already experimenting with canopies. Another serious head injury to a F1 driver and we'll be there. And once we have canopies we're just one roll hoop away from roofs.

 

Periodically the sport reasses what level of safety is appropriate. With every increase in safety measures some of the purity of the sport is compromised.
I would leave it to those who put their lives on the line to make that determination. I only hope that we don't see a quick reaction driven by the opinions of non racers. Or worse, from the general public "outraged" by mass media sensationalism.

 

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/7119000/more-data-needed-dan-wheldon-death-safety-designer-says

 

Truer words have rarely been spoken.

And just to be clear on this: I'm not blood thirsty at all. I'm all for "hidden" safety improvements like crash testing monocoques, super strong carbon fibre chassis, valves that prevent fuel spills etc. But I absolutely do not want to see the cornerstones of the "openwheel single seater" definition be compromised in any shape or form. I know it doesn't say anything about "open cockpits" but that is normally a given in the definition of the monoposto openwheel formula.

About the only concession to safety would be some metal bars behind the rear wheels and (integrated into the front wing) in front of the front wheels to prevent cars from getting airborne. Although that starts to look like bumper cars, it still leaves us with open wheels.

Anything with closed cockpits and covered wheels smells of endurance racing/NASCAR and would be the end for me as a fan to follow the sport.

 

Open cockpits and wheels will always be less safe. The question is where will the sport (re) write the safety standards.
I agree with you. Previous measures haven't changed the nature of the cars in such a basic way.
In the end it's up to the drivers as to what and where they will race and up to the fans what they will and won't watch.

 

Ultimately it is what the fans want to see and I'm sure the majority prefers open wheel (and open cockpit) racing in the long run.

Right now everybody is in shock, but lets not toss the baby out with the water.

And I hate to say it in a thread dedicated to somebody who just paid the ultimate price, but the cold hard truth is, that risk is part of the allure. If we all knew that nobody could ever get hurt in this sport, the adolation for the "kings of speed" would be less and hence the following and the paychecks.

 

This tragedy clobbered me over the head again today when I dropped a Quarter and an Indy Car was staring up at me from the floor... even as a racing fan, it had never occurred to me that Indy Racing is reflected right there on our currency...