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The IRL season finale at Las Vegas on ABC is under a 1 hour, 30 minute red flag after a horrific 15-car crash. Dan Wheldon, the 2011 Indy 500 Champ, was severely injured in the crash and was airlifted to a nearby medical center in Vegas. There is no word yet on Wheldon's condition.
I've watched auto racing for about 16 years, and this was the worst crash I've ever seen. I'm feeling the same sense of dread I felt after Dale Earnhardt's crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.
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Louisiana Tech University
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
IRL officials have announced that Dan Wheldon was died as a result of injuries suffered from the crash.
The race has been called off. The drivers will do a 5-lap salute from Dan Wheldon in about 10 minutes.
Good grief, just moved it to that channel after seeing your reports ... moved it back to the Saints and looks like Payton just got dinged too. And now your report about Wheldon...very sad.
They just ran the overhead replay....yep, it's the worst I think I've seen too.
Last edited by hoppinmad; 10-16-2011 at 05:13 PM.
I'm not a race fan,but it is a very sad day!
Terrible crash. Oval tracks should be reserved to bumper cars.
Jordan Mills on choosing Tech:
“It’s a great experience seeing them play. It was a good atmosphere. The fans stood up the whole game and never sat down. They have a great fan base.”
I doubt the IndyCar series will come back to Vegas anytime soon. Since the merger of the old IRL and CART circuits, the IndyCar series was moving from mostly oval races in 2007-08 to mostly road course races in 2011. The wreck at Vegas may push IndyCar further toward the road course path or force them to employ some sort of restrictor plate technology to slow the cars down at the remaining oval tracks like NASCAR does at Daytona or Talladega.Originally Posted by Guisslapp
Indy cars should not be on oval's...
Said it from the beginning -
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
I believe I remember you saying exactly that one time on BB&B. And the only reason I do is because I dislike the sport and and wasn't totally sure what you meant at the time.I thought they ahd always raced in ovals. 225 MPH is way too fast on an oval I would think. Heck, it's way too fast to be racing period!
They are grown, adult men. He loved what he did. He knew the risk. Let them race.
It's time to close the doors to the Temple of Janus.
This may sound strange but I will say it anyway -
Racing has become so safe (basically all forms, but really NASCAR, IRL & F1) that there is a huge sense of false security out there...
Plus the IRL cars are basically ballistic missles on high banked ovals - they are much much lighter than the avg weight of a stock car -
I believe Weldon's car was air born almost the entire straight away and there is no way to keep them from getting airborn and once they do there is no mechanism to push them back down like roof flaps and deck flaps on stockcars
It's been estimated that if you put an IRL car at Dega or Dayona they could literally push 260 maybe 270 - stockcars without restrictor plates were pushing 230 in the late 80's early 90's...
A tragic tragic accident - hopefully the same advances in IRL safety will come after this that came after the deaths of Earnhardy, Petty, Irvin and Roper....
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
They do and they will -
But I think they were on their way from moving from the ovals to the road courses because they knew the issues...
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
I see where you are going with this. The drivers and the association know the problem and were working on it. "A man should not speak of what he does not know." Odysseus.
It's time to close the doors to the Temple of Janus.
That would shut down this board.
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