Posted on 10/16/2011 3:21:06 PM PDT by drewh
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died Sunday in a fiery 15-car wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his car flew over another on Lap 13 and smashed into the wall just outside turn 2.
Wheldon was 33. Drivers were told of Wheldon's death in a meeting about two hours after the fiery, smoky crash that many drivers said was the worst they had ever seen.
He won the Indianapolis 500 twice, including this year.
"IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries," IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute to in his honor."
It was like a movie scene which they try to make as gnarly as possible," said Danica Patrick, making her final IndyCar start. "It was debris everywhere across the whole track, you could smell the smoke, you could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car. There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered.
"I'll tell you, I've never seen anything like it," Ryan Briscoe said. "The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there's just stuff everywhere. Crazy."
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I agree 100%.....Those cars are just jet wings on wheels and once a front tire looses contact with the pavement, they go airborn
I didn’t see this live; I was at another race event at Laguna Seca. But a few of us got word of the crash during the lunch break yesterday. I watched the clip when I got home and couldn’t get through the entire clip.
R.I.P., Dan.
IMO, putting 34 cars on a high-banked 1.5-miler is just asking for it. With a smaller field (and maybe fewer rookie drivers) they might have been okay there.
But myself, I prefer watching them run on flat ovals; those require the driver to do something besides stand on the throttle.
There were at least 2 cars that went airborne on the clip I saw. Seems like the open wheel cars have a propensity to leave the ground if they rear end another one. It happens in F1 also..
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