Dan Wheldon

[Jugirl]

Only just saw the crash. All i can say is he didn't have a chance it was an awful crash. RIP Dan

Ju

[Jericoke]

Like Cos has said, the concrete walls at ovals these days are lined with SAFER barriers which are bloody good doing what they were designed to do. At any event that requires fans to be protected, including F1 road courses, it's the fence that can be the dangerous part.

Other than governing the speed down to the point where most fans wouldn't bother watching I can't think of another way to keep the cars on the track area in the event of a major crash such as we witnessed yesterday. At these speeds people will die..eventually..regardless of whatever safety policies are implemented.

The greatest irony, of course, is that Wheldon has the most experience with the new chassis IRL will be using next year.  It has a zillion safetey upgrades compared to the antiques IRL has been using.  One of them is designed to stop 'wheel interlock' launching cars into the air.

At the end of the day, we must realise that motor racing, indeed any sport that involves contact or speed, has risks.  I know we don't watch the sport hoping for death, but I know I can't help but love watching these men and women cheat death every other Sunday.

[David]

Just reminds you how dangerous motor sport really is.

RIP Dan Wheldon

[Dare]

Maybe IRL should look to F1 for the cockpit design,F1 has had
some pretty horrendous crashes with the driver walking away

[lkjohnson1950]

Indycar has no business racing at tracks that were designed for NASCAR. There were a couple drivers who said so. The tracks are actually too wide; the drivers can go 4 abreast which is asking for trouble. On top of that they are flat out and travelling at 230+, so when the accident happens (and it always does) it's always bad. Of course it's much easier for an open wheel car to get airborne and that's what happened to Dan. When CART ran at Michigan, a very similar track, they had a number of serious accidents and were lucky any number of drivers weren't killed. Let them run at Phoenix, New Hampshire, Milwaukee and leave Las Vegas, Texas etc to the tin tops.

[lobee]

Such an awful thing, he was a great driver and a good man. Prayers for his family and little sons, and may he rest in peace.

Those barriers do a good job, but there will always be that one time that such a collision can happen. To be honest looking at the footage again it's a wonder the other drivers weren't more injured. Just makes you realize how risky motor racing can be.

Just so sad, an awful loss.

[cosworth151]

One of them is designed to stop 'wheel interlock' launching cars into the air.

When that was announced, several of us on here complained that it won't be open wheel racing any more. I'm one of them. They'll be banging on each other like NASCAR.

Let them run at Phoenix, New Hampshire, Milwaukee and leave Las Vegas, Texas etc to the tin tops.

Milwaukee & New Hampshire aren't currently on the schedule for next season. Kentucky is also gone. I agree about Vegas, but there are only so many tracks. I'd love for the series to race on ovals like Rockingham and North Wilksboro, but I don't see it happening. Dover would have been a good choice, but now it's got the Baltimore street race right on top of it.

[Scott]

Wow...so sorry for his family. 

Barriers protect the drivers, while the fences protect the fans.  Almost all cases when cars are launched into the fences the cars are torn to shreds and drivers who escape are simply lucky.  Not sure what a solution is, but someone needs to look more closely at the fence design for sure.  I think strength and more tension would be good first steps (so the cars are more likely to bounce back onto the track, rather than cartwheel along the fence), but materials and more innovative designs should be looked at.

[Ian]

What gets me about this is the amount of drivers now saying they knew something bad was gonna happen. Why did'nt they take a leaf out of F1's book from way back when Jackie Stewart led a drivers revolt over safety. F1 is only so safe now because of events like this in the past.

[lkjohnson1950]

I've heard a lot of people talking about how safe F1 is. Anybody remember how long Ralf laid in his car before a medical team got to him? An Indycar driver is never more than 15-29 seconds from an emergency vehicle with paramedics. Yes they've flubbed a couple but no Indycar driver has waited that long for help. Dan died because the track is too short, too wide, and there were too many inexperienced drivers in the field. Then he had the very bad luck to be launched into the fence head first. A lot of other drivers hit the wall or got airborne without suffering serious injury. Indycar certainly needs to look into causes and perhaps remedies for what happened, but I don't think F1 is inherently safer than Indycar.

[Jericoke]

What gets me about this is the amount of drivers now saying they knew something bad was gonna happen. Why did'nt they take a leaf out of F1's book from way back when Jackie Stewart led a drivers revolt over safety. F1 is only so safe now because of events like this in the past.

CART did.  Texas is the same design as Vegas, and the CART drivers refused to race there.

I think the difference this time was the number of rookies.  If you're looking for your big break in racing, you don't 'chicken out'.

[stealthhaggis]

I've heard a lot of people talking about how safe F1 is. Anybody remember how long Ralf laid in his car before a medical team got to him? An Indycar driver is never more than 15-29 seconds from an emergency vehicle with paramedics. Yes they've flubbed a couple but no Indycar driver has waited that long for help. Dan died because the track is too short, too wide, and there were too many inexperienced drivers in the field. Then he had the very bad luck to be launched into the fence head first. A lot of other drivers hit the wall or got airborne without suffering serious injury. Indycar certainly needs to look into causes and perhaps remedies for what happened, but I don't think F1 is inherently safer than Indycar.

F1 deaths since 96 when IRl was started = 0
IRL deaths since it started = 4
Cart deaths since 96 to 08 = 3

F1 is much safer, the above statistics speak for themselves, using one example of how long Ralf was sitting in a car does not get past the countless examples of IRL accidents. That said, F1 would not race on tracks that dangerous as they understand it is a sport and does not needlessly risk drivers lives for viewing figures. Hence why in the US gp a few years back cars did not race. It was certainly bad luck he was launched but the very fact they knew it would happen, hence the new car, shows that they needed to make sure they took every precaution that it did not. They failed and worst still they failed for the sake of a few extra viewers, well they certainly got their extra viewers.

If they must race at ovals then they should build a car that can race safely at ovals, put a lid on it, put the drivers in a cage make sure they can't fly and restrict their speed... oh wait, they have that already, it's called NASCAR! It's no wonder viewers are leaving IRL in their droves, what's the point of watching that when NASCAR is much more entertaining. If IRL wants to survive they need to be the American equivalent of F1, race mainly on street circuits and only go to an oval once a year, the Indy 500, it would actually make it more interesting and special when they do and might be different enough to bring back viewers. Do it the way they do now with good access for fans but improve safety. Would be a real challenge for the drivers, one they have a real chance of walking away from.

[lkjohnson1950]

The difference in the number of deathe you cite has more to do with the nature of the tracks they race on than anything F1 has done to be safer. F1 tracks have large run off areas which are impossible for American ovals, That said, I agree they should not be racing on the high banked ovals that were designed for NASCAR. F1 has taken no action to prevent the same sort of accident. Mark Webber flew at Spain, MS got run over twice now at Korea. The launching of Wheldon's car will not be prevented by the new design, he hit the back of the car in front of him just as Webber did. I think F1 has better drivers on average, and they've been lucky.

[Jericoke]

The difference in the number of deathe you cite has more to do with the nature of the tracks they race on than anything F1 has done to be safer. F1 tracks have large run off areas which are impossible for American ovals, That said, I agree they should not be racing on the high banked ovals that were designed for NASCAR. F1 has taken no action to prevent the same sort of accident. Mark Webber flew at Spain, MS got run over twice now at Korea. The launching of Wheldon's car will not be prevented by the new design, he hit the back of the car in front of him just as Webber did. I think F1 has better drivers on average, and they've been lucky.

F1 HAS taken efforts to eliminate the sort of accident that Weldon experienced.  The injuries Dan suffereed are not far removed from Mika Salo (I think it was Salo...feel free to correct me) landing inverted in a gravel trap.  Even though her survived that quite well, F1 redesigned the 'roll hoop' so that drivers heads should never be in a position to come in contact with anything larger than a tire (tough luck Massa!).  I believe that an F1 car would have protected Dan.

With that said... F1 can afford to spend billions of dollars on safety, the IRL cannot.  There are dozens of racing formulae that are not fabulously wealthy like F1, and by that nature are far more dangerous.  All drivers take incredible risks to get to F1.  The men who make it there aren't just the best, they're lucky too.

[lkjohnson1950]

I believe Indycar does require roll hoops around the air intake above the driver's head. The catch fencing is heavy chainlink and gives on impact a bit. I would bet (speculation only) that the fence distorted enough for him to be struck by one of the poles that supports the fence; they don't give much.