Huge IRL wreck

What a shame.

Horrible news.

Sad, sobering reality of motorsports. RIP Dan, what a talented driver.

Discussion of the incident on Wind Tunnel right now.

Very sad. Godspeed Sam.

Prayers for the family.

I am in shock. Racing community will feel this for a while.

Godspeed, Dan Wheldon.

This was one of those instances where there was nothing that could be done. No safety measures could be done to prevent that sort of injury. Part of the risk of open wheel, open cockpit cars.

Its just a damned shame when any one from any racing community passes away in such a way, thoughts are with the friends and family.

Its a terrible day for motorsports, my prayers are with his family.

How long has it been since anything like this has happened during a major "prime time" professional race? Was it Dale Sr? If so that's a long time (still not long enough).

So tragic. I feel very sad for his family.

Scott Kalitta 2007

This is only the third major series professional racing death during a televised race that I have seen in my whole lifetime. Senna, Sr., and Wheldon. I cried over all three.

It's such a damned shame, Wheldon was a hell of a nice guy, and he will be missed.

BoostedBrandon wrote: Scott Kalitta 2007

Think of that wreck every time I see a Kalitta Air cargo plane take off from Bagram Air Field out here.

Prayers for the Wheldon family.

There have been way too many fatalities in racing lately. Can't stand to think that his kids are the same age as mine.

Prayers to the Wheldon family and team.

That wreck reminded me of the wrecks that were all too common in the late 60's early 70's. Very scarey, very sad day.

After seeing that they put a tarp over the car, I knew it was not good.

tuna55 wrote: There have been way too many fatalities in racing lately.

Having started watching racing in the early 70's when I was a mere child, I could not disagree more.

Yes, you can say one is too many. But all things being considered, the efforts that the series have made to make things safe have, literally, been life saving.

Look back at LeMans, and BOTH of the Audi drivers who survived horrific crashes. Or even yesterday- I'm certain more would have had worse, if not, fatal, crashes one car version ago.

Let alone before I watched.

IMHO, this hurts more as we have not been harded to this kind of situation. It's clearly harder on the drivers than I think it was in the past. And, based on the savings of lives, that is a good thing.

coulda, woulda, shoulda. But it coulda been a lot worse than it was, too.

alfadriver wrote:

tuna55 wrote: There have been way too many fatalities in racing lately.

Having started watching racing in the early 70's when I was a mere child, I could not disagree more. Yes, you can say one is too many. But all things being considered, the efforts that the series have made to make things safe have, literally, been life saving. Look back at LeMans, and BOTH of the Audi drivers who survived horrific crashes. Or even yesterday- I'm certain more would have had worse, if not, fatal, crashes one car version ago. Let alone before I watched. IMHO, this hurts more as we have not been harded to this kind of situation. It's clearly harder on the drivers than I think it was in the past. And, based on the savings of lives, that is a good thing. coulda, woulda, shoulda. But it coulda been a lot worse than it was, too.

Granted, but the list is far too long - especially in my favorite series, NHRA.

RIP Dan Wheldon.

A quote comes to mind when people die too young- "We're here for a good time, not a long time." I have no idea who coined the phrase, but it's true in my mind. Sorry to see it happen to anyone.

All I can say is that at least he died doing what he loved.

My condolences to his family

In this age of frame by frame slow-motion, and media saturation I was very impressed with the tribute ESPN played to Dan to lead off Sportscenter last night. They were classy and respectful, and focused on this triumphs and how much he was loved by those that knew him. ( The image of Dario weeping in his car will stay with me for a long, long time) Thankfully they refrained from showing the crash over and over again. It was a touching and fitting tribute to a champion.

R.I.P.

We were out all day, so I didn't hear the news until returning last night. Yes, totally sucks.

Honda did the media introduction for the S2000 CR during the Mid-Ohio Indy/World Challenge weekend, and Dan Wheldon was on hand. He was just a super-nice guy. I forget if I shot this before or after he took me for a lap, but either way it was really cool to watch him from the passenger seat.

Rest in Peace Dan. You will be sorely missed.

In reply to tuna55:

NHRA alone is responsible for so many new safety feature just from the 90s forward that have save people from crippling injury. Which is to say, stuff learned from them was passed onto other leagues of racing.

RIP Dan. I got to meet him a coule of times, very sad.