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That picture of his family BBC showed choked me up.

I guess IndyCar has been lucky for a long time. Since the last fatality, there's been some massive, massive accidents - Franchitti's two large flips in 2007, Conway's last year - that drivers have escaped from.

It's just the circumstances around the events that are so very cruel.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I thought to watch Vegas live. Didn't do it...

RIP Dan

Just horrific.

RIP Dan.

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TBK Premier League Prediction Game Champion 2010/11

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RIP Dan Wheldon.

I didn't expect to live through one of my favourite drivers passing in an accident in top level motorsport these days. This is just horrific. What a guy and what a driver, he did not deserve this. I'm glad I missed the race. And Phil you're right, the circumstances of this...

I've broken down a few times in the last hour or so

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

rip dan, always been a fan of yours and wish your family well through these horrible times. Saw it on bbc news last night before bed and came on here and waited for the outcome knowing it was going to be bad news and despite being up for work at 3am. I think indy needs to take a good hard look at itself, the tracks it uses and the driving standards shown and learn from this. I've never seen carnage like that in a race and never want to again.

I was about to go to bed about 11pm and watched the new headlines when they showed the crash and said 'A massive crash halts the IndyCar finale. British driver Dan Wheldon is seriously injured', looked at Autosport and they said he was seriously injured, but came here and saw all the 'RIP' messages and couldn't believe it I still can't.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Can't believe this. RIP Dan feel really bad for his wife and 2 kids so unfair. Stupid event should never of happened.

Hindsights a wonderful thing

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

Very sad to open teletext and read about this. Now reading this topic for an hour or so, along with watching tribute videos and so on.

RIP Dan.

No, it's fact. All of the below are true, other than at this event:

• Name me one other time in the history of IndyCar when the rule book was thrown out and FOR MARKETING REASONS the starting order of a car was predetermined. (Ok, other than Texas race#2 this year, bad enough as a 'blind' draw was, it was not a sponsor singling out one driver/one position).
• Name me another time in IndyCar history that 1 driver and 1 driver alone has been CHOSEN to be the exclusive recipient of a sponsors mega-payday for a race win ... at the behest(request) of THE SERIES CEO.
• Name me one other time in IndyCar history where the CEO has held a 'casting call' for 100% inexperienced-at-IndyCar drivers to come and "take on" the best IndyCar has to offer in a one-off wager for money ($5-million if they take the win) on a superfast oval track (and on a team not yet determined).
• Name me one other time in IndyCar history where the CEO has boasted about how dangerous IndyCar racing is compared to other forms of racing. Quote Randy Bernard IndyCar CEO:
  Quote:
  I can tell you right now there's not one F1 driver in the world that wants to come over here and get on an oval — it's too dangerous. Our drivers are more adrenalin junkies than an F1 driver.
  
  Date: June 30 2011
  link: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/moresports/sto ... rnard.html

No other drivers were 'in' for the $5million (see above quote), and whatever Bernard says his reason was not truthful.

Bike/rally driver Travis Pastrana was said to be 'signed' to do it but then busted his leg on a bike and was unable to commit so Indy 500 winner (but no regular ride) Dan Wheldon's name came up. Maybe no other IndyCar drivers on the sidelines were asked if they'd like a shot at the "chance of a lifetime" big bucks but it was a bet, and Wheldon took it., Bernard said he (as CEO) was "rolling the dice" on Vegas in a bid for publicity - and what do you know he got it.

Wheldon was not in this race because of the prize. He was in this race because he's an IndyCar driver with a part time ride. The incident had nothing to do with the prize, or the starting position. It was all about the type of racing these cars and tracks produce.

Heard about it through Adgie and a couple of others on Facebook (was at work, and the news services on the radio were only reporting about Power's injuries at the time), and found it hard to concentrate the rest of the day. Got home, saw the 5 lap tribute, and pretty much lost it.

RIP Dan Wheldon. Will be sorely missed.

Just got into work, logged on and saw the headline on the bbc news site. Can't believe it, I feel ill just reading this thread. What a tragedy. R.I.P Dan!

damn.

just saw one of the headlines on a Belgian newspaper site and the pictures that came along with it. And I've read through the whole thread. Damn, just damn. And some comments made by members were incredibly immature (morelli and beezle).

R.I.P. Dan

Sorry, I believe that to be fabrication.

1. Wheldon replaced Alex Tagliani in the #77 Sam Scmidt car. If he'd already found a Vegas ride as a freelance/part time entry, why put another full-time driver out of his seat? Tagliani agreed to move to another team for this race, but not because *he* wanted to. Someone gave him an incentive he couldn't refuse.

2. The incident had nothing to do with the Challenge or Wheldon's starting position but Wheldon being involved in it to the extent that he was was DIRECTLY attributable to it. The fatal crash could have happened to any driver at any position but it did not, it happened to him, in that car, in that position on track at that moment in time. Had he been given a chance to qualify or had the Challenge said he would start on Pole or in 10th place or 33rd (anywhere but 34th) the tragic outcome would in all probability be different.

Further point in my favour: as Wheldon didn't have to waste even 1 second on qualifying setup because of the 'starts last' rule set out in the Challenge, he focused on race setup and therefore, history will show, gained an amazing almost unheard of 10 places in 11/12 laps. Had he had to qualify, and for whatever reason (blown engine , crash, perhaps) started 34th, his car would almost certainly not have been so fast so early in the race.

Gotta go out. I just hope Dan died in peace.

Lets remember this
[youtubeidiot]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZc_u2lfOeo[/youtubeidiot]

Legend of the sport.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

courtesy of motorsportretro.com




also a nice set of photos from autosport here

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/index.php/id/2635

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

The BBC coverage has sickened and saddened me. Legard knows nothing, and only makes it harder to cope.

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"Every day on Memorial weekend, comes the chance to cross these bricks, and live forever. No votes, no politics, no thanks to the Academy. Nothing. Just driver, machine, and pursuit of immortality"

Sky News were trying to compare it to skiing and then moved on to some shameless skiing promotion... I was confused.