RIP - Dan Wheldon

[boysinblue68]

Tragic accident last night in final Indycar race of the year. A real and genuine nice guy is no longer with us - Dan, you'll be missed so much. Sleep well.

[mightyWBA]

A shocking crash.
Just brings home how dangerous the sport is and how brave the drivers are.
RIP Dan
http://www.dailymail....ords--Ill-I-show.html

[BertiWooster]

There is no doubt that it must be the most dangerous form of motor sport , if you consider that these cars are racing at speeds of 200 plus , mph bumper to bumper .

I love watching Indycar racing - it's just such a tragedy when a fatal accident like this occurs .

[boysinblue68]

Not wanting to get into a debate and lose focus on remembering Dan, but.....
Indycar racing on most of the ovals they use is reasonably safe. The shorter ovals (1m or 3/4mile) provide great racing but with slightly lower speeds (160-170mph) and with fewer accidents. Any accidents that do occur are normally 1 or 2 car affairs simply because they are more spread out. The problem comes on the 1.5 mile ovals. Speeds are much higher and they run much closer together because the leaders cannot escape up the road. Look at Kentucky 2 weeks ago, they ran the last 25 laps two wide and nose to tail, but with no accidents.

Personally, I think Sunday's accident was down to several things - lack of improved safety measures for the cars (9 years old) - too many cars on too short a track (1 more than in the Indy 500 over 2.5 miles) - drivers being able to go flat out all the way round - too much emphasis on Randy Bernard wanting to "put on a show" - Las Vegas track is clearly unsafe for the speeds they were doing.

I could go on, but let's not forget Dan - a high profile superstar who was always happy to stop and talk to anyone. Unfortunately, he wasn't as well known in the UK as he was in the USA (when he was introduced at Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, someone next to me said - "who's he?"). Chip Ganassi got it right - a little bit of all of us died on Sunday.