IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon died today 10/16/11 - RIP

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I was just watching the very last race of the IndyCar racing season today when the race was in it's 12th lap, a 15-car accident occurred with Dan Wheldon involved in it as well. He was airlifted to the Las Vegas University Medical Center. And the race was red flagged for over two hours after the accident happened. Everyone was praying and hoping that Dan Wheldon would be be okay during those two intense hours of waiting for the latest news on the condition of him. An IndyCar offcially announced that Dan Wheldon died of unsurviable injuries.

As a proper & fitting tribute, the IndyCar officials, the IndyCar drivers and teams decided to end the race and do a somber five laps around the Las Vegas Motorspeedway track in Dan's honor/memory.

May you rest in peace, Dan.

Dan Wheldon - 1978- 2011

Ironically, this very last IndyCar race was supposed to be Danica Patrick's final race before she races full-time in the Nascar Nationwide series (one class below the big-time league racing of Sprint Cup racing).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ruldra]

Holy shit, isn't he the guy who won this year's Indy 500? I don't follow the IndyCar series but I watched the Indy 500, he managed to take 1st place and win the race on the final lap. It was awesome.

Sad to see him go

[PC Engine Fan X!]

When the accident occured in real-time, I could tell that it was one of the worst open-wheel racing accidents to have happened. A total of 34 cars were participating in today's IndyCar race. At times, there was three-wide racing action going on with absolutely no place to go. Just one little mistake and all hell breaks loose, especially going at 220mph. In a split second, some drivers barely survived the "Big One" by staying low or by going towards the lower track wall section. There was talk/commentary about the the chain link fence barrier is what did most of the damage to some of the race cars when some of them went airborne into it. Just too much debris, wrecked cars everywhere, and some cars were on fire. It, honestly, looked something like out of a Hollywood racing movie but this is real life.

Yeah, Dan did win the 2011 Indy 500 race. So sad to hear that he passed away today. The racing world has lost another great one indeed. I was looking forward to a great race but wasn't expecting such mayhem, destruction and the passing of a IndyCar driver.

Here's a Youtube clip of where it all went wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn08nh7zoto Note, this ain't my YT clip anyways.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[TransatlanticFoe]

Open-wheel racing on ovals is just about the maddest thing possible. You see the advances in safety in F1 since 1994 and think how can this sort of thing still happen?

[Bloodreign]

I had heard about it on the radio, seeing it in video though, this was terrible. F1 racing looks to be a lot safer than Indy car racing, you just don't see this kind of stuff on the F1 circuit.

[Ruldra]

F1 racing looks to be a lot safer than Indy car racing, you just don't see this kind of stuff on the F1 circuit.

No F1 driver died in a long time (thank God), but some really ugly accidents happens every now and then.

Massa got a skull fracture
Webber crash in Valencia
Schumacher almost get hit by another car

F1 invests a lot in safety, but even then, it's not any less dangerous than any other kind of motorsport.

[Ruldra]

Marco Simoncelli dies after MotoGP crash in Sepang

Shit...this is a sad month for motorsport...