F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

[Happy29]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

Goodbye to a friend

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[OSUFan_88]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

Dario F just weeping uncontrollably is really damn hard to watch.

[br329]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

I see alot of people wanting Indycar to race a safer car but honestly it looks like the 2012 car is going be as safe as an Indycar can get. What needs to be fixed is the massive pack racing at 1.5 mile tracks. They need to take away some of the downforce and force the drivers to break in the corners (You know like racing is supposed to be?) and maybe bring back something like the hanford device to increase passing without the large dangerous packs. All that being said my thoughts and prayers are with Dan's family tonight. RIP Dan.

[Mo]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

Damn, according to espn and Michael Andretti, Weldon had just signed a deal(in the morning) to replace Danica in the go daddy car.

[Happy29]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

I see alot of people wanting Indycar to race a safer car but honestly it looks like the 2012 car is going be as safe as an Indycar can get. What needs to be fixed is the massive pack racing at 1.5 mile tracks. They need to take away some of the downforce and force the drivers to break in the corners (You know like racing is supposed to be?) and maybe bring back something like the hanford device to increase passing without the large dangerous packs. All that being said my thoughts and prayers are with Dan's family tonight. RIP Dan.

That's what I had said earlier the Hanford device could probably eliminate the big packs. Some people have said a restrictor plate but that will only add to the packs. It's a tough question as what to do but I'm sure that Indy Car will be on top of it and come to a solution that will be beneficial.

[gigadkc]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

R.I.P. Dan Wheldon

unfortunately death always was and always will be a part of motorsports.

[Zalf]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

To prevent the way Weldon died they need to do one thing and that is keep the cars from becoming airborne to the extent that they clear the wall. Things could have been very different if that car hits the safer barrier instead of flying into the steel beam supported catch fence. The cars being shaped like ramps will be a huge obstacle.

[Flamehead]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

Here is a well-written article that helps explain one side of the debate--some very good points raised here regarding objections raised by the drivers. My thing--if officials don't listen to the damned drivers, then they are just as much (if not more) culpable then those who assume the risk behind the wheel:

http://msn.foxsports.com/motor/story/dan-wheldon-death-indycar-fatal-wreck-las-vegas-101711?gt1=39001

"Sebastian Wheldon is never going to remember his dad. Baby Oliver will never know him. This can't happen. It shouldn't happen. But it happens in auto racing, and we want answers, clear reasons for the horrific way this sport always faces death.

Dan Wheldon, husband, father and two-time Indy 500 winner, died Sunday in a 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His car flew over another one, turned in the air and crashed into the catch fence. His head apparently smashed against a wall, though it was hard to be that specific with cars flying all over the place, and fire and parts and pieces and colors and shapes bouncing around in every direction.

Sometimes, there just isn't fault, other than the danger of the sport. But I don't want to hear anything about occupational hazards this time. Not now. Of course they exist. But that doesn't mean other real reasons don't exist, too. What these guys do is dangerous enough.

To compromise it the way desperate IndyCar leaders did with this race? Well, that seems almost criminal.

The race was always going to be too fast, too packed together at three-wide, and too crowded with 34 cars. The drivers were complaining about it beforehand.

This race had been turned into a carnival to try to save a sport. Indy racing is losing Danica Patrick to NASCAR. And IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard had said that if ratings didn't go up from this championship race, didn't beat last year's minuscule TV ratings, then he would hand in his resignation.

So he offered up a $5 million winner's prize to any driver who wasn't an Indy racer. It was a challenge to prove the talent level of Indy drivers. Five non-Indy drivers could enter.

Imagine that: Cars would be going 225 mph, side by side, packed together, and an X-Games athlete, Travis Pastrana, who has NASCAR aspirations, was going to try. He hurt his leg beforehand.

That turned out to be the luckiest day of his life.

This isn't the "Price is Right," where you can just call someone down to participate.

They couldn't get NASCAR drivers to give it a shot, partly because they knew this race was a death trap. Even top Indy racers were worried about conditions and speeds they felt were just too dangerous.

"Within five laps, people started to do crazy stuff," driver Dario Franchitti told reporters just after the accident, before Wheldon was pronounced dead. "I wanted no part of it. I love hard racing, but that, to me, is not what it's about.

"I said before: This is not a suitable track. You can't get away from anybody. One small mistake, and you have a massive wreck."

Yes, but that was the sales pitch, too.

Not a suitable track. And Dan Wheldon is dead at 33. And a wife doesn't have a husband, and two children don't have a father.

Gearheads will mourn Wheldon, but they also will say that this is part of the sport. But was this really just some unavoidable fluke?

It doesn't sound like it. It sounds as if the drivers were waiting for it to happen.

Danger equals excitement in auto racing, and they pushed this one too far. This is a sport that sells danger, and the drivers and their teams are professionals, beating death. It's the edge that creates so much of the thrill that fans pay to see.

But if you have a track where drivers will go three across, where they can't separate themselves from the pack, where they are going 225 mph, and it's all a cry out for attention? Well, that seems recklessly dangerous.

You know how sometimes you can't decide whether to be sad and to mourn, or to be angry? This is the moment to feel both at the same time.

Now, to be honest, Wheldon and the other drivers knew how dangerous this particular race was. And he entered the race anyway. He risked his life, even though he has a wife, a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old at home.

Sometimes, you just have to look at yourself, look at what you're doing and what you're risking. This was a sport that was pumping up the danger as if it were a free Big Mac when your team scores 100 points.

It turned out, Bernard didn't find five drivers from outside of Indy racing to compete for the $5 million. So after switching things around a little, officials allowed Wheldon to be the one competing for the money. He doesn't have a team this year and hasn't been racing much, which made his win at the Indy 500 all the more amazing.

Earlier this year, Bernard said this: "I would like to think every driver is going to benefit from this significantly if we can move the dial on the ratings. I've made it clear I'd be very disappointed — I think I even told someone I'd resign — if we didn't triple the ratings. I think it's very important that if we can triple the ratings, every driver will see positive momentum, every team owner will and the series will. We're here to do one thing, and that's continue to push viewership and our fan base upward."

After the race, some of the drivers were talking about getting together to have discussions about what's happening to the safety of their sport. NASCAR made changes after Dale Earnhardt died at the Daytona 500, and the races have been safer since then.

"When I came around and saw this crash, it was horrifying," driver Ryan Briscoe said. "It was like driving through a war zone. We all predicted something like this would happen. It was inevitable.

"Everyone can run so close at the moment. These open-wheel cars, there is no room for error. It's exciting and thrilling when it all goes well.”

This time, excitement and thrills meant cars in the air and on fire.

The mess started when Wade Cunningham slowed down after some contact with James Hinchliffe. And it led to an unavoidable chain reaction. TV analysts had just been saying that Wheldon was in a good spot. About five seconds later, Wheldon's car was in the air. Other cars went airborne, too. But while other drivers went to the hospital, they apparently were not hurt seriously.

After the crash, the remaining drivers had a meeting and decided to stop the race. Then they got back into their cars, formed three rows on the track and drove in a procession, five laps, to honor Wheldon while "Amazing Grace" played over the PA system.

It was a beautiful tribute, actually, from the teams and the drivers. By then, the desperation and panic were gone. Just sadness over the death of a young father, husband and champion was left."

It reminds me of that line from Titanic: "Well Mr. Ismay...I believe you may get your headlines after all."

[Brew]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

Really liked that article, Flamehead! Thanks for sharing.

Auto racing is and always will be a dangerous sport. However, NASCAR has proven that with research, an open ear to the drivers and a dedicated effort to make the cars safer that death can be avoided. Death will always be a possibility in any form of racing but, with the right precautions it can be avoided. Indycar showed its desperation by expanding the field, ignoring the drivers' concerns and dangling $2.5 mil in front of their face. Its ironic that nobody was a willing participant other than Pastrana and Wheldon. Wheldon had nothing to lose... or so he thought by taking the challenge that nobody else would. While I may be overanalyzing but I think it showed in how he tried to avoid the accident. It appeared that he didnt slow down at all before using another car as a ramp to get airborne. Showing his determination to get to the front; taking every opportunity he had to do so. That's a racers' mentality.. you cant blame him for that.

While we can keep it black and white and say its a dangerous sport and these things are going to happen; at the same time the circumstances do say otherwise. It was a desperate move by Indycar; putting out ridiculous incentives to help 'ratings'. Maybe they should look at the stands and how empty it was. I highly doubt they tripled their ratings judging by the attendance.

Hopefully, some good can come out of this and Indycar will get a wake up call and strive to make the cars and races safer.

RIP Dan Wheldon... you will be missed.

[BIG CAROLINA]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

On a positve note, Casey Stoner won his 2nd MotoGP title Sunday. He actually won the race as well as the chip on the same day and it was his birthday also.
Oh yeah, and it was his home track the beautiful Phillip Island circuit. What a birthday gift....

[Perfect Zero]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

The problem with that article is that Dan Wheldon was the defending Indy 500 Champion, twice crowned Indy 500 Champion, and former series Champion. It's not like he's never driven a car before; he knew exactly what he was doing. He even had a warmup in Kentucky, and had his future secured through a contract to replace Danica Patrick in the #7 Go Daddy car. He didn't need to go on that track, but he found a race and raced as hard as he could. Any driver racing from the back would do their best to get to the front. If not, what's the point of racing?

I don't mind different points, but throwing sensationalism out there and trying to pull for emotion is really low.

[Flamehead]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

The problem with that article is that Dan Wheldon was the defending Indy 500 Champion, twice crowned Indy 500 Champion, and former series Champion. It's not like he's never driven a car before; he knew exactly what he was doing. He even had a warmup in Kentucky, and had his future secured through a contract to replace Danica Patrick in the #7 Go Daddy car. He didn't need to go on that track, but he found a race and raced as hard as he could. Any driver racing from the back would do their best to get to the front. If not, what's the point of racing?

I don't mind different points, but throwing sensationalism out there and trying to pull for emotion is really low.

I suspect you may have missed one of the central points of the article. No one disputes that Dan Weldon didn't know what HE was doing on the track. What's in question is how well did additional non-regular series racers added to the field that day (as one example) know what THEY were doing on that track?

There were at least 10 additional drivers added, making it a very crowded field on THAT particular track, at THOSE speeds no less--non-series regulars mind you. So take a shorter, faster track (with a minimal time to react to begin with) and crowd the field with inexperienced racers, and you've got a recipe for some bad things to happen.

Now, who's to say an accident like that wouldn't have happened anyway? But you can't exponentially increase the odds of a multi-car crash, and then when it happens, say "Well, that's racing."

Yes, the drivers take calculated risks, but that doesn't give the officials license to get stupid either, whether in the name of ratings or not.

[Segagendude]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

Also on Sunday, champion off-road racer Rick Huseman, his brother and another person were killed in a plane crash in California:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011...lane-nlv-cras/


Tragic day in motorsports....

[Perfect Zero]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

I suspect you may have missed one of the central points of the article. No one disputes that Dan Weldon didn't know what HE was doing on the track. What's in question is how well did additional non-regular series racers added to the field that day (as one example) know what THEY were doing on that track?

There were at least 10 additional drivers added, making it a very crowded field on THAT particular track, at THOSE speeds no less--non-series regulars mind you. So take a shorter, faster track (with a minimal time to react to begin with) and crowd the field with inexperienced racers, and you've got a recipe for some bad things to happen.

Now, who's to say an accident like that wouldn't have happened anyway? But you can't exponentially increase the odds of a multi-car crash, and then when it happens, say "Well, that's racing."

Yes, the drivers take calculated risks, but that doesn't give the officials license to get stupid either, whether in the name of ratings or not.

I agree with the number of racers and that being too dangerous. However, there was only one person going for the $5 million prize and that was Wheldon. With half of this report being about how Wheldon's children will never know their dad, the article seems to blow that out of proportion with the whole prize thing.

[oaba09]

Re: F1/IRL/All Other Forms of motorsports Thread

I'm not afraid to admit that I shed tears during the 5 lap tribute...As a big moptorsport fan, I fel like I just lost a family member...