RIP Dan Wheldon -- Indycar Season Finale in Vegas

And of course magnesium pieces dragging on the pavement make a hellish sight, but they aren't likely to burn anyone.

 

regretting not waking up early enough to go meet him the day after he won the 500. was supposed to present a silver belt buckle from bohlin and company to him, instead i slept in and let the PR lady do it.


Very sad day for motorsports. Dan was very well liked. RIP

 

He said the passing of Wheldon had not made him change his mind, as he believes it is safe enough.

"Why should I? What happened at Las Vegas can't happen in Indy: the banking there is negligible and most of all you never take it flat out except in qualifying," he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

He is 100% wrong when he says that above. Any tire on tire action can send a car in the air. All some one has to do is be in your line.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4GNunKfV1o[/ame] Here is an example of a car hitting the fence. It is Ryan Hunter-Reay It is Unbelievably EERIE listening to this announcers talk about 1 this being like dan wheldons wreck before and 2 stating that he was lucky he didnt hit head first.

Of course fans lives were saved by the fence in this case which is good to know.

 

that's true with the new car, i didn't really think about that. I've seen them in person at this years 500. the wheel is still exposed. not sure how preventative it will be. I guess we will find out.

 

Absolutely not as it would be no longer open wheel racing. Don't tinker with the basic formula.

Wrong analogy. I'm not saying the status quo in auto racing is ok. It never is and there is constant development. But don't change the basic building blocks of a racing series or you destroy its very heart.

I couldn't care less whether the engine is in the front or the back. It didn't move to the rear for safety reasons btw. It moved there to improve handling and ultimately lap times.

Progress is good, but not at the cost of destroying the very nature of the formula.

 

But if you look at Wheldon's car, it appears not to be a tire to tire launch. It looks like he maintained speed and went over the top of a car that was slowing. He didn't even seem to try to stop.

The problem is the high banks at Vegas. When you lose contact with the road, you are immediately tossed out by centripetal force.

IMO, that track should not race anything at those speeds that are open cockpit racers. If you get above the "safety" foam barrier, it's just plain luck you're not going to be hurt.

This is not much to do with the car's design and a lot do do with putting the wrong design on the wrong track.

The Indycar should have never allowed this race to take place on that course AND challenged a driver to start in the back and work his way up front for $5M. On a road course with run offs -- no problem. On a high speed oval -- no way. All you have to do is watch every "big one" at Daytona each year and you can figure out starting in the back is going to get you in one big mess.

I was out at Vegas last year and they were doing the Mario Andretti tandem racer experience. They told me the cars were doing 150. Frankly, I could not believe anyone would want to do even that because the banking is extreme and a spin will put you immediately into a wall.

 

So what happens in an accident like Zanardi's, where one car spears another in the side at tremendous speed? You can't possibly design a race car that covers all of the eventualities.

To me, Zanardi's accident was just about the ultimate in horror. Worse than a fatality.

If Wheldon's death had come in a one-car accident, if he just lost control and smacked the wall a ton and sustained "unsurvivable injuries", I wonder if they would have even cancelled the race? I doubt it. But losing a popular driver AND 15 cars in the blink of an eye, that was too much.

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95499

 

I must disagree on all points. My analogy was spot on.

The "basic formula" has been changing for years, so actually there is no basic formula in motor sports, IndyCars being the center of this discussion. The only formula that should exist is one that gives the spectator a great show, demonstrates new technology, while at the same time maximizing the protection of the participants. And that formula is one that is in a constant state of change.

Maximizing the safety of the participants is not at all destroying the nature of the formula, since that formula has been in a constant change anyway. People were upset about the mid engined cars replacing the "very nature of the formula", that being front engined cars at Indianapolis, but they soon got over that. I would suggest that there are less then 5% of race fans that would want to see the front engined cars return, and they are likely all over 70 years old. The same would happen if cockpits and partial wheel enclosures were introduced, in a few years, most of us would soon be over clinging to the past.

Remember the radical change to F1 a few years ago, the cars got narrower and really ugly, but now, most do not remember that happening.

Why would it matter that the cars have cockpits? You can not see the driver anyway. Why would it matter that the cars have some sort of wheel enclosure that would prevent the possibility of a car going airborne? Only bloodlust would miss the carnage. Not the true race fan.

I would predict, that in the next 10 years, you will see partial if not total wheel enclosures not only on IndyCars, but also in F1. You will also see cockpits in that same time frame in all professional single seat motor sports.

If that means a driver surviving a serious accident 99% of the time, then I have no problem accepting the necessary changes in car design. Maybe spending time laughing with Cevert just an hour before he died tainted my perspective forever, but it is a perspective I can live with a clear conscience.

 

Hello, Delta Wing!

Half the weight, half the power, and enclosed wheels.

Too bad the Old Boyz that run IndyCar passed on this design.

 

http://www.nascar.com/news/111020/bkeselowski-behind-wheel-dwheldon-talladega/index.html

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IndyCar has also announced that the Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund has been established for the financial security of his family.

Contributions to Family Trust Fund can be made at the following address:

Fifth Third Private Bank
Attn: Dan Wheldon Family Trust
251 North Illinois St.
Suite 1000
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Those wishing to send their sympathy and condolences to the Wheldon family, can address letters to:

The Wheldons
9600 Koger Blvd N, Ste. 105
St Petersburg, FL 33702

 

Very very cool brother thanks for sharing this info.

 

For those of you in Indy, reminder Indy Cars & Coffee will be passing the bucket this Sat, 10/22/11 with all donations going to the Wheldon family trust.

 

I'm still having a tough time getting my arms around the idea that you think fans watch open-wheel racing so they can see the tip top of a driver's helmet sticking out.

Dale

 

Two buckets are being passed around.
1 goes to Dan Wheldon's Family trust
1 goes to Dan Wheldon's charity - Alzheimer's Research

You choose which is more important to you for your memorial of Dan Wheldon.

 

they already do...

Wheldon, like Cevert made their own decision with the information they had at hand and still went forward and participated in events that lead to their demise.

They chose open wheel racing for their own reasons. Cevert's death was not a cause for fenders to be put in place on an open wheel car all those years ago as I suspect neither will be Wheldon's death.

You can maybe surmise that if fenders did happen all those years ago then maybe Wheldon and Krosnoff might still be here today, you can also surmise it may have been something else that would have claimed them if it was simply their time since we don't have the reasons for why these things happen when they do.

Open wheel racing is not bloodlust, it's an exercise in risk vs. reward and a choice by each and every participant(like all sports/risky activities).

It's risky to get out of bed in the morning and face the activities of the average day, these guys days are a bit more risky but one could argue they are more prepared than any of us are should they go bad.

Advancement's march forward to improve safety, leave the canopies and full fenders for race cars with roofs and let the participants choose their own path in it all.

 

Brilliant post!

Glad to see I'm not the only one who refuses to do a knee jerk reaction which would destroy the very definition of open wheel racing.

I don't want to see fenders and canopies not because I'm blood thirsty (I'm not) but because I'm a purist for the sport. I would feel equally bad if for instance Diesel engines were suddenly chosen (as they have become a fad in endurance racing) or the cars would be powered by electric engines only (don't mind hybrids).

 

You're certainly not alone. Unless there is a rush to judgement open wheel racing will survive.

 

I understand what you are saying, but I disagree with you. I can't agree with the concept that changes should not be implemented just because the drivers may understand the risks. Racing has advanced over the years not simply with new technology, but many of the advances were an outcome of events such the death of Dale Earnhardt, Cevert (guard rail design was changed), Petersen, etc. And now Dan Wheldon.

Many drivers did not want to give up partial face helmets, they were forced to do so by new rules, now no one complains. There was much complaining when the Hans device was made mandatory, now no one complains. Go back some years, drivers did not want to wear their seatbelts at LeMans, so the starting procedure changed to the disappointment of many that enjoyed watching the running start. Wearing Nomex, wearing those bulky fire retardant gloves, the list goes on and on. Complaints at first, changes as a result of accidents, now no one complains.

Just maybe, opened wheeled racing in the form of IndyCars has met it end, especially on high speed ovals. Maybe the cure is not to race on those highbanked ovals, maybe the solution is to reduce engine size and speed. As for enclosing the wheels, they do not have to be fully enclosed by fenders, but they can use an idea that ran at Indy many many years ago. Canopies is an unknown solution, I do not think the technology is there yet for use in auto racing, but following Massa's accident, there is already much talk that the next generation of F1 will use canopies.

The red car in the photos below is a proposed future F1 car, enclosed rear wheels, partially enclose front wheels. The others are real Indianapolis 500 race cars from 40+ years ago. I do not particularily care for the car in the B&W photo, but the car on the cover of Hot Rod, possibly with rear and front end protection of the wheels such as in the F1 study, is likely the future of IndyCar. Most of all, I like the concept of the F1 study.

Sure, there will be complaining, but when the dust settles, new designs like this for safety will seem normal.
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I'm going to jump in here with some opinions of mine which (given the posts) are not likely to be too popular. They are however what I feel and appropriate to the discussion at hand.

First allow me to say that the loss of Dan Wheldon is a tragedy as is the loss of any other racing driver since the sport has begun. Whether they are good or not, any racing driver assumes a special risk that contributes to the allure of their chosen activity. Remove the risk and you have emasculated the sport thereby bringing it to the level of other stick and ball games.

Now to address 3 points:

1. A trust for the Weldon family is excessive. As a 2 time Indy 500 winner he was already a multi-millionaire in his early 30’s. His wife has plenty to live off of so a little perspective is in order here. No doubt a big life change will occur but I see no reason why the family would need financial help.

2. To those who said that Go Daddy should pay out the 5 million, you are nuts. Companies don’t just hand out that kind of money and fact is that contests like that are insured anyways. Go Daddy would have bought an insurance package against the odds of it happening so they would never be out 5 million if the contest was won.

3. Open wheel cars have inherent risks. I am all for certain safety advances but to change the basic formula is to enter into a different form of racing all together. Leave the wheels and the cockpits open, I’m sure you will have no shortage of brave souls to drive them and they will be applauded for their valour.

Lastly where there is room for improvement is in how the races are held. For years I have been watching IRL and just thought that the margin for error coupled to the speeds is so small that it is a miracle that it took as long as it did for even one driver to get killed. It is a shame that it takes a tragedy to illicit change and I hope that the change is in line with the spirit and passions of the people who pilot these cars.

 

Sounds like you would be perfect for donating to Dan's favorite charity instead, Alzheimer's Research. I'm personally giving to both since I lost my father to Alzheimer's.