Darth_Lukecash: beautifulbob: Darth_Lukecash: I understand the need for speed, but there needs to be an emphasis on safety...

There is an emphasis on safety. A major one. Racing is much more focused on safety than any of the other sports. Because people die. Fairly often in comparison. That is just the way it is.

Not in this case: This course was made for NASCAR not F1. Listening to the announcers and listening to the Dan himself that there was a concerned of having 34 cars on this track and the "dirty air" that causes cars to become airborne. It should never have been run with this many cars.

One must balance safety with profit, apparently. This venue wasn't suitable for the race being held in it, but it's a venue that could seat the folks needed to make the race viable.

That goddamned Chick Hicks is a dirty driver.

coco ebert: Shadow Blasko: His legacy will be safer racing, it's just... He was already working on that (Not that those changes could have prevented the angle at which he hit the support structure for that fence. That was just... Physics, and speed, and dirty air.

I keep hearing about the dirty air contributing to the crash. Is it largely an issue of visibility?

Dirty air means turbulence. Makes the wings less effective, reduces downforce.

So sad...I wish I had waited until I got home to read this.

Darth_Lukecash: FormlessOne: One must balance safety with profit, apparently.

Oh, how silly of me! I should have realize that his death should be written off as an "reduction in staff"

Somebody needs to be royally sued.

Why do you hate job creators? Face it, more regulation will just end up getting more people killed. Better to let unfettered drive for profit be your only governing body.

Darth_Lukecash: FormlessOne: One must balance safety with profit, apparently.

Oh, how silly of me! I should have realize that his death should be written off as an "reduction in staff"

Somebody needs to be royally sued.

Nobody forced anyone into those cars dude. Nobody is going to be sued and the only thing that would accomplish would be to make a bunch lawyers some money.

Why do they go so fast?

urban.derelict: SUICIDE BY NASCAR

OR FORULA 1

or whatever... lets burn lots of finite resources while we tan our necks


STFU and GTFO

SDRR: Darth_Lukecash: FormlessOne: One must balance safety with profit, apparently.

Oh, how silly of me! I should have realize that his death should be written off as an "reduction in staff"

Somebody needs to be royally sued.

Nobody forced anyone into those cars dude. Nobody is going to be sued and the only thing that would accomplish would be to make a bunch lawyers some money.

While it sounds cruel, you're right. There most likely won't be a lawsuit. I'm sure the drivers sign a waiver which makes it impossible for family members to sue. However, I'll bet A) Wheldon had a life insurance policy and B) IRL has a pretty good fund set up for young widows and their families. So, financially, I'll bet his family will be okay. Besides financially, well

monty666: Just too farking sad.

I doubt he would want you to feel that way. Dude went out doing what he loved and chasing his passions. If I live until 75 I'll probably not be able to make the same claim. I'll just be yet another average Joe dying in a public hospital. Bored. Listless. With any luck I'll die on my Triumph Speed Triple (bike).

Anybody know how many non-regulars were going for the 5 million dollar bonus put up by the track for this race, and how many of those were directly involved in this accident?

Shadow Blasko: His legacy will be safer racing, it's just... He was already working on that (Not that those changes could have prevented the angle at which he hit the support structure for that fence. That was just... Physics, and speed, and dirty air.

actually, the changes very well could have prevented his car from going airborne in the first place

fatalvenom: or whatever... lets burn lots of finite resources while we tan our necks

STFU and GTFO



milliondollarmurray: I'm sure the drivers sign a waiver

You sign a waiver when you get your wisdom teeth extracted. "Yes I understand this could F*CKING KILL ME"

/protect the corporations at all cost

MFAWG: Anybody know how many non-regulars were going for the 5 million dollar bonus put up by the track for this race, and how many of those were directly involved in this accident?

Wade Cunningham
Davey Hamilton
Pippa Mann
Townsend Bell (I think)
Wheldon

There must be a few more, but can't recall who

Also:

Scheckter
Rice
Tracy

Were all of those involved in the wreck?


From my perspective:

There was an awful lot of 3 wide going on in the back of that pack very early in this race. The wreck looks like it starts when somebody gets sideways in the turn.

MFAWG: Were all of those involved in the wreck?


From my perspective:

There was an awful lot of 3 wide going on in the back of that pack very early in this race. The wreck looks like it starts when somebody gets sideways in the turn.

I'm not sure.

After they showed it a few times, I finally watched Wheldon specifically, it appears that he is accelerating to perhaps gain a few positions before caution is waved (because that's what drivers do) unless he completely broke traction. It just kind of looked that way, I may be wrong, but 5mil is a hell of a motivator.

He started biatch on the field and gained 10 spots in 9 or 10 laps, so he was definitely accelerating,

MFAWG: Anybody know how many non-regulars were going for the 5 million dollar bonus put up by the track for this race, and how many of those were directly involved in this accident?

The $5 million promotion was for Wheldon only, and it was IndyCar, not LVMS, that was running it. It was originally intended for drivers outside the usual guys in the IndyCar paddock but IndyCar wasn't able to attract any of the drivers they had hoped for, so they amended the challenge and offered Wheldon the opportunity since he was the sitting Indianapolis 500 winner.

Other than Wheldon's fatality, the only minimally important result of the crash was that Will Power was involved, which ended the championship battle between him and Dario Franchitti.

Soooo... restrictor plates in Indy now?

Ed_Severson: MFAWG: Anybody know how many non-regulars were going for the 5 million dollar bonus put up by the track for this race, and how many of those were directly involved in this accident?

The $5 million promotion was for Wheldon only, and it was IndyCar, not LVMS, that was running it. It was originally intended for drivers outside the usual guys in the IndyCar paddock but IndyCar wasn't able to attract any of the drivers they had hoped for, so they amended the challenge and offered Wheldon the opportunity since he was the sitting Indianapolis 500 winner.

Other than Wheldon's fatality, the only minimally important result of the crash was that Will Power was involved, which ended the championship battle between him and Dario Franchitti.

I don't think that's correct. There was alot of talk in when it was announced that JPM and a couple of other NASCAR guys might show up.

In retrospect, it's kind of telling that none of them did.

MFAWG: He started biatch on the field and gained 10 spots in 9 or 10 laps, so he was definitely accelerating,

To put it another way, I don't think he lifted until it was too late.

Ed_Severson:

The $5 million promotion was for Wheldon only, and it was IndyCar, not LVMS, that was running it. It was originally intended for drivers outside the usual guys in the IndyCar paddock but IndyCar wasn't able to attract any of the drivers they had hoped for, so they amended the challenge and offered Wheldon the opportunity since he was the sitting Indianapolis 500 winner.


Thanks. I didn't realize that.

RoosterCogburn: Let's get a sport that combines the possibility of melanoma, the high probability of horrific death, the boredom of watching paint dry, the simplicity that even toddlers can understand the rules, and the stupidity of wasting thousands of gallons of natural resources. GENIUS!

Sorry he died, but really... racing is the dumbest freaking thing ever. It's not even a sport.


You like to watch wrestling, don't you?

MFAWG: I don't think that's correct. There was alot of talk in when it was announced that JPM and a couple of other NASCAR guys might show up.

Trust me, that's right. I worked in this sport for a living ... this isn't guesswork.

The original idea was to bring in a few guys from NASCAR (or elsewhere, if the right candidates came along) who would be willing to step up and take the challenge of beating the field in an IndyCar, with a $5 million carrot at the end of the string to make it worthwhile. They were doing this because they hoped it would drive TV ratings for the season-ending event and because it was the last race for these cars, so there would be plenty of spare equipment available.

Unfortunately, they had a few guys express interest but there were only 3 that would have made much difference in the TV numbers -- Kasey Kahne, Travis Pastrana, and Alex Zanardi. Kahne only wanted to do it if he could drive for Penske, but Penske wasn't willing to run an extra car and risk distracting the team from Will Power's championship effort. Same deal with Zanardi -- only would commit to the challenge if he could drive for Chip Ganassi, but Chip had Dario in the championship fight and wouldn't run an extra car. Pastrana was set to do it, although a team was never settled on, but then he broke his leg, so that ended his chances.

After it became clear that they had no viable candidates and that they had spent six months hyping the challenge, they decided to offer the opportunity to Wheldon in an attempt to capitalize on his Indy 500 win. But, because Wheldon was a current IndyCar driver -- albeit not a full-time one -- they made
two changes. First, they required him to start from the back of the field. Second, if he won, he got $2.5 million and a fan got the other $2.5 million.

The other 33 drivers in the race were not involved in the challenge in any way.

Bet Danica Patrick wishes she hadn't said this now:

"The track is nice and smooth and we'll be three-wide out there, which will be exciting. The race is going to be crazy and the crashes will be spectacular."

And so it begins....

fatalvenom: urban.derelict: SUICIDE BY NASCAR

OR FORULA 1

or whatever... lets burn lots of finite resources while we tan our necks


STFU and GTFO

+1

BalugaJoe

Why do they go so fast?

No cops.

Ed Severson:

Thanks for clearing that up.

It just sounds to me like there was some poor execution at the IRL end. Wanting to get the car count up is fine, but not allowing a group of folks that (at the very least) need to knock some of the rust off practice with more than 5 or 6 cars on the track wasn't very smart given the track conditions.

urban.derelict: SUICIDE BY NASCAR

OR FORULA 1

or whatever... lets burn lots of finite resources while we tan our necks

8.5/10

urban.derelict: SUICIDE BY NASCAR

OR FORULA 1

or whatever... lets burn lots of finite resources while we tan our necks

Actually, the resources used aren't technically finite. It just might take a few thousand years to replenish any significant supply. But it's not finite, at least until the Earth runs out of dead things. Also, using up more of those resources sooner forces us to come up with better solutions more quickly. So in reality, racing promotes alternatives and you should be encouraging racing.

MFAWG: It just sounds to me like there was some poor execution at the IRL end. Wanting to get the car count up is fine, but not allowing a group of folks that (at the very least) need to knock some of the rust off practice with more than 5 or 6 cars on the track wasn't very smart given the track conditions.

I'm not sure where that info came from, but that's not at all how things went down. Practice was split into 2 groups of 17 cars each. There was plenty of track time for everyone, and all of the drivers are more than capable.

The big problem is that IndyCar should not be running high-banked ovals like this one at all, and especially not with a car that is aero-limited instead of power-limited. There's just no good way for anybody to get away from the pack, and when you spend 300 miles at 220 mph within inches of each other, wheel-to-wheel contact that launches a car into the air is damn near inevitable. Frankly, they're unbelievably lucky nobody got killed like this before yesterday, and hopefully the new car will eliminate racing like that altogether. That will only happen if the technical regulations are free enough to give teams a broad range of options ... otherwise the drivers are going to have to band together to put a stop to this side-by-side pack racing nonsense by refusing to participate in it.