There happen crashes on ovals very often, and 9 of the 10 times there are no injuries. I'm sure that at Vegas Dan Wheldon was just unlucky. I mean we saw the same happen to Conway at Indy, and Conway was lucky. As I always say; I love every type of IndyCar racing, but the racing on a 1,5 mile oval is just the best in my opinion. I just watched the 2010 Chicagoland race (the highlights), and it's simply amazing. Also the Vegas race, until the horrific crash was a great race. I'm happy Texas is on the schedule, and I think Chicagoland has a chance of returning, as Bernard had talks about a return in 2011. He didn't succeed, so for now a return is not likely, but with some good promotion this can become a very successful race.
That some people say that IndyCar shouldn't race on ovals is hypocritical bull****, because if it was really THAT unsafe, we would've had at least one fatal accident every year. If you want no more injuries or no more fatalities in racing, then you have to ban motorsport, because in a bad situation a multiple car pile up can also happen on a road/street course, which can be especially on a street course have a fatal accident as a result.
NASCAR can be funny to watch, but the reason for it's popularity is because it's a show. Why it's a show? Due the much accidents and the drivers' mentality. I think we will never see in IndyCar happening that a driver will knock someone out of the race as a revenge action. This is not racing, this is called amusement.. For the fans racing IS amusument, but NASCAR has a completely different form of amusement.That's why NASCAR is popular. Sometimes it's just frustrating people (and then I'm talking about people on another forum) don't wanna see 1,5 mile ovals anymore just because of one heavy accident. It is painful we lost Dan Wheldon, but that's not a reason to ban those ovals from the sport. If it really was that unsafe we would've had fatal accidents on them every year. Maybe Vegas wasn't suitable, but Kentucky, Texas, Chicagoland, Homestead-Miami, Twin Ring Motegi, Kansas, Nashville and maybe some others ARE suitable for IndyCar racing.
Sadly they're not a financial success hehe.
I have to agree for 100% that Meira's pass at the 2008 Indy 500 was the best move ever, and three-wide racing, side by side racing and passes like this are the reason I love IndyCar oval racing. Why do you think Danica made the move to NASCAR? She's more concerned about the race attendance then about her performance... She fears road/street races are boring, well, they aren't and it's not even her case to even care about it. Another reason she moved to NASCAR is because she can't control an IndyCar with a good setup on a fast oval. She never had the idea of making a move, she always played it safe. Just because she fears the high speeds. NASCAR is slower, and she can handle it better, but I doubt if she will try to overtake more. I still think she will play it safe there.
What do you guys think about the Detroit Belle Isle race anyway? I read somewhere that it might be a very successful event as already 80% of the business suites has been sold.