IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

[pk500]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

I just don't get why they ran the race today, makes no sense...would it be THAT bad if they held it off until next weekend??? Just seemed like the right thing to do IMO.

There is a race next weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. Then the cars must be shipped almost immediately to Japan for the race April 22 in Motegi.

As callous as it may sound, the ethos in racing always has been, "We race, then we mourn." Still, all of the drivers -- and everyone in the IndyCar Series community -- participated in the race today with leaden hearts.

Take care,
PK

[MizzouBravesFan]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

I didn't know about the Japan race, I'm not all that familiar with IRL...just not getting into it. You guys make good points, I see now where they were coming from with running the race.

[OSUG1]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

just saw the crash, what a horrible tragedy, thoughts and prayers to the family

RIP

[Kruza]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

Yeah, the spotter probably told him to go low because the crashed car was against the wall. When Paul Dana was coming around, the car slid down the track into his way, and when ur going 176 MPH, its not exactly easy to swerve out of the way

That's also what I thought. The car was initally on the wall for a few seconds, then it slowly trinkled toward the inside of the track as Dana came around. It's an unlucky and unfortunate situation that's tough to say could've been avoided.

Kruza

[jcollins28]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

R.I.P Paul Dana. Tough weekend for racing. Sad to see anyone die in racing but I admired Paul for how hard he worked. It is almost cliche to say that someone worked their tail off to get where they are but Paul really was the definition of that. He worked in just about every job one could work in to earn money and pay his own way up the ladder system.

My respect level for Dan Wheldon has gone through the roof. While some poeple at the end of that race wanted to celebrate Dan put everything in perspective. Very classy and touching to hear what Dan had to say after that race.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

Race car drivers are always fearing that next turn could be their last. The reality of someone dying in the sport would have hit them all had they post-poned the race yesterday. Sad, sad day, but if they were to not race, you have one or 2 drivers, maybe more, lose that edge. It's cliche, but it's true.

RIP Paul Dana

[forensicd]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

Ive been around racing my whole life, and have seen alot of drivers lose their lives over that time, more than I like to remember. Our driver was almost killed at Eldora a few years back while in lead, and drove it in to hard in the first turn. The number of deaths has been reduced tremendously over the years, which is a great sign, but every now in then we get a cold reminder of how a truly amazing sport can be deadly. Everytime a guy straps in he knows it could be his last, and thats a chance they will take to the very end.

Regarding this accident in particular; it has me saddened in several ways. I know Ed carpenter, as he and tony drove with us for a number of years before moving up to the IRL. I hope he is ok, and everything turns out for him. The next thing is regarding Dana. I feel so bad for him and his family, as he had finally made it to where he always wanted to be. I know the team said they had spotters, but I doubt they did not at that point in time, as he didnt even slow up a bit, while all the other teams where swerving out of the way. Everything happens in a flash at that speed, but if the spotters had been on the radio, he would have had ample time to slow down. Ed was already at a stop on the bottom of the track. The only thing I can guess is if they did have spotters, he wasnt sure where to go, and when he tried to go high, a nother car was already there. Whatever the case is, we have lost one of our own in the racing world, and it is truly a sad day for racing.

[pk500]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

There were spotters during the practice session. Quote from Bobby Rahal:

"The spotter made clear the incident," he said.

I'm not 100 percent certain, but I'm about 99.5 percent sure that the IRL won't allow a car on the track in an official session during an event without a team spotter.

As JC said, Wheldon was pure class after the race. Immediately after he crossed the line and won he had the presence to congratulate his crew over the radio and also tell them that they shouldn't celebrate the win in victory lane out of respect for Dana. That's a hell of a lot of maturity for a 27-year-old guy who has the sport in the palm of his hand.

Take care,
PK

[jcollins28]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

There were spotters during the practice session. Quote from Bobby Rahal:

"The spotter made clear the incident," he said.

I'm not 100 percent certain, but I'm about 99.5 percent sure that the IRL won't allow a car on the track in an official session during an event without a team spotter.

As JC said, Wheldon was pure class after the race. Immediately after he crossed the line and won he had the presence to congratulate his crew over the radio and also tell them that they shouldn't celebrate the win in victory lane out of respect for Dana. That's a hell of a lot of maturity for a 27-year-old guy who has the sport in the palm of his hand.

Take care,
PK

Wheldon has said he will not do any media until later this week out of respect for Paul Dana. Dan Wheldon is first class all the way!

[larrygiterdone]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

it sucks for the guy that this happened, but the truth of the matter is he should have never been in the car in the first place

he was extremely underqualified to have an IRL ride

[jcollins28]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

it sucks for the guy that this happened, but the truth of the matter is he should have never been in the car in the first place

he was extremely underqualified to have an IRL ride

I see you have read the Robin Miller piece. Robin is spot on and it is sad that most people would rather call him a no good S.O.B instead of listening to what Robin has to say. Robin for all intense and purposes was Paul Dana in the 70's. He worked every odd job in racing you can find so he could run sprints, midgets and what ever. For Robin though there was a systems of checks and balances set in place to basically save him from himself.

That system was done in by the economic landscape of today's open wheel racing in both CHAMP CAR and the IRL. With a skinny grid and racing money tough to come by who can blame a owner for throwing in a self funded driver? I do not think that Robins piece was to insult Paul Dana and his family. It was to put a glaring spotlight on a very serious issue that is facing this sport. I myself find some irony in Paul's death that is tied to these merger talks.

Let's face it if a merger happened we would be looking at a very stout grid for a open wheel series. You could make a good argument that in a merged series the Paul Dana's of the world would be forced to spend a little more time in a feeder series before moving up.

[mercalnd]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

I see you have read the Robin Miller piece. Robin is spot on and it is sad that most people would rather call him a no good S.O.B instead of listening to what Robin has to say. Robin for all intense and purposes was Paul Dana in the 70's. He worked every odd job in racing you can find so he could run sprints, midgets and what ever. For Robin though there was a systems of checks and balances set in place to basically save him from himself.

That system was done in by the economic landscape of today's open wheel racing in both CHAMP CAR and the IRL. With a skinny grid and racing money tough to come by who can blame a owner for throwing in a self funded driver? I do not think that Robins piece was to insult Paul Dana and his family. It was to put a glaring spotlight on a very serious issue that is facing this sport. I myself find some irony in Paul's death that is tied to these merger talks.

Let's face it if a merger happened we would be looking at a very stout grid for a open wheel series. You could make a good argument that in a merged series the Paul Dana's of the world would be forced to spend a little more time in a feeder series before moving up.

I've seen that piece also. People here suggest there wasn't a spotter or the spotter told him to go low and Carpenter's car drifted in the way. But there was no reason for Dana to be coming this fast on the scene. According to what I read in the paper, Dana hit Carpenter's car 8 seconds after Carpenter crashed and a full 6 seconds after the yellow lights came on. There is also on board video from Sharp, who was well infront of Dana when Carpenter lost control and had time to slow down drastically before Dana's car went by in a flash. Sharp apparently said he wondered where that guy was going like that.

It's sad that a man had to lose his life but hopefully something good can come out of all this safety wise. Whether it's tougher rules to get a license to drive these cars or something else I hope they can identify the problem and make sure this kind of incident doesn't happen again. There will always be accidents and tragedies, but there's just something strange about this one.

R.I.P. Paul Dana

[Boltman]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

R.I.P Paul Dana. Tough weekend for racing. Sad to see anyone die in racing but I admired Paul for how hard he worked. It is almost cliche to say that someone worked their tail off to get where they are but Paul really was the definition of that. He worked in just about every job one could work in to earn money and pay his own way up the ladder system.

My respect level for Dan Wheldon has gone through the roof. While some poeple at the end of that race wanted to celebrate Dan put everything in perspective. Very classy and touching to hear what Dan had to say after that race.

Agreed 100%


I was just in awe of his sportsmanship. He also ran a sweet race to boot.

Side note: I see team Rahal / Letterman will resume in Japan.

[thenbagamer]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

very sad. Just goes to show how dangerous racing is.

[pk500]

Re: IRL Driver Paul Dana dies during practice

Side note: I see team Rahal / Letterman will resume in Japan.

I'm almost certain Rahal said both Rice and Patrick would compete this weekend in St. Pete.

P.S.: Speaking of class, did anyone see Letterman's eulogy to Dana last night on "Late Night?" Touching. Pure class.

Take care,
PK