Gatchamania.net - Print: Indy driver Dan Wheldon has died of injuries

Gatchamania.net (http://www.gatchamania.net/index.php)
- [Speak Up!] (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=500)
-- General Discussion (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=2)
--- Indy driver Dan Wheldon has died of injuries (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=3821)

Posted by Becky Rock on 16-10-2011 at 22:09:

Indy driver Dan Wheldon has died of injuries

I know we kid around a lot about Jason being a race car driver, but racing is a dangerous sport. Dan Wheldon, the winner of this year's Indianopolis 500, has died of injuries received in a 15 car accident during the Las Vegas Indy race about 2 hours ago.

My thoughts are with his wife and two small children.

Update - three other drivers are in the hospital with serious injuries from the crash.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by lborgia88 on 16-10-2011 at 22:46:

Oh no, what a terrible tragedy!

On a race day, if I'm outside I can faintly hear the sound of the cars' engines from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the sound carries a long distance, and I remember hearing all about Dan Wheldon on the news back in May.

Yes, the Condor's sport is a dangerous one.

Posted by Becky Rock on 16-10-2011 at 23:20:

Dan won the 2011 Indy race by accident. literally. J.R. Hildebrand, a rookie, was leading and came around turn 4 to win but crashed into the wall before the finish line. Dan got past him before the yellow light came on and won.

He was only 33.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by amethyst on 16-10-2011 at 23:53:

Always sad news to hear.

It's strange, I'd have thought that Indy would have had more deaths than NASCAR, because of the style of car, but NASCAR as three times as many.

If we add Indy, CART, and F1 then they just barely inch ahead.

__________________
Perspective Alters Reality

Posted by clouddancer on 17-10-2011 at 00:10:

iagree

Very sad new.

__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Posted by Becky Rock on 17-10-2011 at 00:17:

The engineers have designed very safe race cars and many of their designs make it into regular cars. The good news is that the other 14 drivers involved survived the crash.

I'd often wondered why Anderson would allow Jason to race, considering how dangerous it is. Actually, Rally Racing is even more dangerous - I recently watched a show about it and was horrified by the number of Rally drivers missing limbs.

What if Jason was severely injured in a race? It would affect G-Force.

But the real world outweighs these speculations.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by Transmute Jun on 17-10-2011 at 03:08:

I would think that compared to what he does with G-Force, car racing is nothing in terms of danger. It just goes to show how good a driver G2 is.

__________________

Posted by Dragonsbain on 17-10-2011 at 06:23:

Death is never good. At least he went doing what he wanted to do.

__________________
Health and Happiness

Posted by Becky Rock on 17-10-2011 at 21:25:

But I could hear Anderon telling Jason - if you get hurt racing, where will that leave the team?

It's okay to get hurt while on G-Force business, though.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by Garnet on 18-10-2011 at 20:47:

Wheldon's death was one of the saddest moments I can remember as an IndyCar fan. I'm too young to remember the 1964 accident at the start of the 500, I was only 16 months old, but there have been other deaths in the sport that have been heartbreaking. We lost a great one on Sunday and his passing leaves an emptiness in a lot of hearts. Drivers know the risks but they still have a need to do what they do that few people can understand. Lessons will be learned from this and the cars made even safer. That will be Dan's legacy.

Sorry I just got into this topic. Was off-line yesterday. lb, I know what you mean about living so close to the track you can hear the cars. We used to be able to hear the PA from our condo when the cars were on the other end of the track. We could walk to the track from our condo. Kind of miss that.

Posted by Becky Rock on 18-10-2011 at 23:31:

My earliest racing memory was of watching the 1973 Indy 500 on TV and seeing he accident that killed driver Swede Savage. I was also at Indy when Stan Fox crashed in the 1st turn on the 1st lap. His car shattered and only the cockpit survived and the on the replay, you could see him in the cockpit planr as day. I thought he was dead, but he somehow survived.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by Garnet on 19-10-2011 at 00:27:

'73 was just aweful. I remember it way too well. In fact we were just talking about it on Friday. That wreck in '95 was very scary. I was impressed he survived that one at all. The biggest irony of it was that several years later, Stan died in a traffic accident.

The first race I have any memory of was 1968, but the first one I have clear memories of is 1972. Both of those were fairly safe.

The worst crashes I ever actually saw were pretty much all practice or qualifying. There were several in races I was at, but none were that serious except in 1987 when the wheel flew up in the stands. I think that happened again in the '90s, I just don't remember which year.

IndyCar racing is definitely a sport where you have to have respect for the machines involved. Anything can happen at any time and no one can get too complacent. Certainly not the drivers, and not even the fans for that matter. One good thing about Sunday was that there were no grandstands at that point along the track or things could have been a whole lot worse.

Posted by AllentownDarkWater on 19-10-2011 at 02:23:

I've never heard of him, but that really sucks. Frown

__________________
Banned

Posted by Becky Rock on 19-10-2011 at 22:16:

Our seats are close enough to the fence and the outside of turn 4 that accidents happen in front of us every year. We have to stay vigilante. I'm sure there wil be some ceremony at Indy in 2012 for Dan.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by Garnet on 19-10-2011 at 22:49:

There probably will be. I know they're doing a memorial this Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse. I'd like to go but Sunday is not a good day for me to go places. I thought I heard tonight that they are going to broadcast it on local TV.