IndyCar 2011 Dan Wheldon Las Vegas Accident Investigation

[anthonyvop]

I have posted the full report here

IndyCar

[heliocastroneves#3]

As they say on the IndyCar.com website, this was the perfect storm. It's very sad that this has happened, but a similar incident was the one during the zMax 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2001, and this kind of accidents could have happened at Homestead or Texas as well.

Now I'm just very curious if Texas will remain on the 2012 schedule or not.


I'm happy we won't return to Vegas in 2012, because if I would have to watch a race at Las Vegas right now, I can only think about Dan Wheldon and the tragedy which happened on lap 11 this season.

[MAX_THRUST]

Have to say i felt the same about Fontanna after Greg Moore's crash. I didn't wanna watch a race from there either. Its sad that Dan passed, and amazing he only suffered a serious head injury. I'm amazed he suffered no other issues. So clearly the fencing is something that needs to be looked at. Hope his family can have a happy Christmas and a good new year, but i imagine it will be tough for them. My thoughts are with them.

[rabf1]

"amazing he only suffered a serious head injury"

I'm assuming a helmet would basically be crushed hitting a pole at that speed so i don't even want to think about what "serious head injury" means in this context. I remember the safety doctor after Zanardi's accident saying he had "serious leg injuries."

[FIAT1]

Who is briliant idiot behind this release today. Why not week before or some other date? They did not provide nothing new that we did not know for years in regards to pack no lift racing. Bad pr move on same day when focus should be on new car delivery. RIP Dan.

[Chris R]

There is no good time for something like this and there is no point in delaying it either.....

I also hate to say it, but the quieter they are about the new car right now probably the better- too much information may be the biggest problem of all with the new car.....

As for the actual report - seems pretty well spot on to me - there really should not have been any surprises in the report. As with many disasters, a confluence of events made really bad things happen. Short of not racing, I am not sure any one thing THAT COULD BE CONTROLLED could have been changed to definitively make a difference.... They are pretty much addressing the only thing that they can - not racing at the track until they come up with a viable plan.... Really a very sensible approach, I think...

Also, I have to observe, this really makes CART at Texas look much wiser than anyone thought back then.... They identified an issue they could not resolve and walked away with egg on their face because it was better than the potential alternative..... I am not saying that Indycar could or should have made that choice, just that one controversial issue for the past seems a little more justifiable in hindsight now....

Last but not least, who would have thought too many racing lines (too good of a track surface??) would have been a problem? People are always asking for more ways around a track and more racing room.... It is very unfortunate that it took an incident of this magnitude to make us (myself included) see that more racing room is not always better.....

[wedge]

Have to say i felt the same about Fontanna after Greg Moore's crash. I didn't wanna watch a race from there either.

His death there brought a huge pain in me but I have no problems with open wheelers racing there. A problem was identified, rectified ie. asphalt run off - not grass mixed with service/access roads; but IMHO also important was that the purity of open wheeled race car was not affected.

Last but not least, who would have thought too many racing lines (too good of a track surface??) would have been a problem? People are always asking for more ways around a track and more racing room.... It is very unfortunate that it took an incident of this magnitude to make us (myself included) see that more racing room is not always better.....

Multiple grooves isn't really a problem but add pack racing into the equation and you create the perfect storm...

[DBell]

AUTO RACING - INDYCAR: Series Offers Some Answers, Possible Changes From Wheldon Crash

I read this article at Speed and I was bothered by this quote from Barnhart:

Barnhart said it's imperative for IndyCar to establish guidelines for the drivers to follow going future on surfaces such as Las Vegas.

"We need to create a limit," he said. "They have to understand there is a line they can't cross."

It sounds like he is saying they can pack race at Vegas as long as they instruct the drivers on what they can and can't do. WTF?

First off, why is this joker the one answering questions? After what I saw at Loudon, the last person from IndyCar I want explanations from is him. Why isn't Randy or Cotman or anybody with some credibility answering these questions?

The idea in the quote is a joke. That he or IndyCar thinks that driver instruction and the drivers understanding the instructions will prevent this from happening is unbelievable.

[jimispeed]

Just heard the audio of that press conference.........man that was hard to listen to.

[call_me_andrew]

Now I'm just very curious if Texas will remain on the 2012 schedule or not.

I don't see why not. Texas hasn't been resurfaced since it was built, it's not as easy to stay in a pack like Vegas.