RIP Dan Wheldon
 

Indy car driver Dan Wheldon died in a crash this after noon in Las Vegas. He is a 2 time Indy 500 winner and a fantastic driver. I can honestly say is was one of the worst crashes I've seen in auto racing. R.I.P.

Wow, bad crash indeed :(

[Replay] Horrific 15 Car Crash 2011 IndyCar World Championships in Las Vegas 300 - YouTube

Holy *****!

Looks like somebody's fuel cell failed. I don't get why open wheel racers don't use a canopy.

R.I.P. Mr. Wheldon.

X 2.

The cars are getting safer and safer but in this case his car was damaged by the initial crash and another car looked to have punched through the damaged side pod.

I imagine he had no chance to survive.

I doubt a canopy would have helped, though it is a good idea. I think they resist it because of being able to get out faster.

RIP Dan.

I tuned in late to the race, to see the aftermath. The yellow tarps, told me it wasn't good. Initial reports were that everyone was alive, but some critical. They finally got one of the drivers to talk. Not really much was said. I went out and did some work. I came back, and there was a picture of Dan Weldon with dates underneath. -2011.
Not good. You could tell, this really shook the other drivers. One said he was retiring. He had been in a serious wreck some years back, and getting up in age. There have been other cars that went up in the air, and the driver survived. You can say open cockpit, but that did save Dale Ernhart. Some like Dale, and a few Indy crashes, didn't look like much. But how they hit etc. the driver must have recieved the full impact.
I remeber a wreck in the Busch races. It was Michale Waltrip. Darrel was co-announcing the race. Michealhit the entrance cement structure. It about flattened the car on the sides. Darrel, you could hear was in tears. The other announcer, didn't have many words. It looked like Mike would be mash. They pulled him out and put him on a gurney. He told his crew chief 'not to woory, they could rebuild the car.' So you just never know.
Tom

R.I.P.

Just a freakin' brutal wreck. Condolences to his wife and two young boys. :(

Nor do I. The coroner said blunt force trauma to the head. Having hit the retaining fence, just about square-on, topside first and dragging along the fence for a bit, I can't help but put (my version of) 2+2 together...

I saw on twitter that the drivers were questioning running the race on such a track.They were hitting speeds of 225 MPH.

I believe they were actually averaging those speeds so top speeds were probably higher. I think the bigger problem was 34 cars on the track with everybody and their brother and sister driving every car including the kitchen sink. Too many cars, too much disparity in driver skill and a narrow high banked track spelled disaster.

They can wreck 20 cars in Nascar and not kill anybody but it is just a matter of time until they kill someone else. I thought when Earnhardt got killed by restrictor plates maybe they would do something but no....

What needs doing is all these high bank tracks need to be flattened down and widened so they have room to race without hitting each other or the walls.

I agree with your first paragraph, couldn't of said it better.

As for a canopy, there is a series that uses that, modified.

D.E. Sr. re-routed the seat belt set up in his car, it failed.

Dale sr was unwilling to concede any edge to his racing for mere safety. His total commitment to winning is reflected in his record.....and in his death.

I never cared for his ruthless approach to racing but it is too bad he died.

I like jr but he does not have the commitment his dad did.