TBK-Light.com

I would stick to the channel if after F1 they show any motorsport programming and then the IndyCar broadcast. But that's me the die hard fan talking.

But, maybe more people would actually know of the existence of the NBC Sports Network.

RIP Dan Wheldon. Exactly one year ago today.

RIP

We've got a special header logo and text as an act of remembrance.

RIP Dan.

RIP Dan. What an awful day it was.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

So it's about exactly 1 year ago I was sitting here at work and looked on facebook to see a post by Mitch Evans saying there had been a really bad crash in the Indycar race at Vegas, it's amazing how clear I can still remember that day... I naturally immediately jumped onto here because I knew I would get a running commentry of what was happening, at first things looked bad.... but not too bad so I carried on and did some work, but I had a desire to keep tabs on what was happening, it was quite an intense hour or two and very much a roller coaster of emotions... but then the posts of seeing the drivers crying started to come through and finally the announcement of Dan's death... it was heartbreaking... I had absolutely no desire to carry on working but it was good I did because it took my mind of things although only briefly. The following days were hard, I'd never really had a driver I had watched race a lot die and it took a long time to come to terms with it but now all we can do is keep his memory alive and honour him in the best way, here's some artwork I've just finished, I'm sending a copy on canvas to Dan's sister Holly Wheldon which hopefully will bring a smile to Dan's family 1 year on....

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


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

Pretty much the same here, like it happened yesterday. Was supposed to be a great day with great racing in Zandvoort (including seing a big pileup right infront with everyone getting out of the car ok...) and the rushing home to make sure to catch the race everyone was looking forward to, and this day pretty much ended with the announcement of his death and me throwing my headset across the room in disbelief...

Really, one year already?

I remember turning on the stream about 2 laps into the race and telling Fabs on Facebook: "holy shit indycar, so much fatalz incoming"

Wish it didn't happen THAT way though...

Around at my GFs house, asked her if I could borrow her laptop while she went in the shower "because Indycar's starting"

By the time she came down from the shower racing had begun and the accident was mere moments away and we both ended up sitting there stunned at what we're seeing, firstly from her "bloody hell, that's a big crash, are they always as big as that...." to her picking up on my muted responses that this was very serious indeed.

She thought I watched racing for the crashes, then saw how withdrawn and shocked I got when that occured, at least it's not something she thinks now.

(Ironically the only other time she had watched any other race was back in May for the Indy 500, we'd convinced the local pub to put it on for us as we were there already and they had no football on that day. The race was pretty much background fodder due to being a bit dull that year as we socialised with some friends but the final lap got EVERYONE in the pub to shut up and pay attention. "Oh, and that guy who DID win, he's British...you know"...)

RIP Dan

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

I still remember talking to him at Long Beach during the car unveil. Still have the William Rast shirt in my closet.

I still remember meeting Dan at Silverstone in 1999 along with Marc Hynes.

That day a year ago I had been out all day so the race was DVR'd and I was looking forward to watching it once my kid was in bed. A one point in the evening my wife was on Facebook and asked me "Who is Dan Wheldon?", without thinking I snapped "don't tell me anything about the race". After a while I started wondering why she asked, something didn't seem right. I waited for a couple of hours but in the end gave in and logged in to a forum to see "RIP Dan Wheldon". My heart sank.

Miss you Dan.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Great stories from all of you on this page.

I also can remember it like it was the yesterday. I had really horrible autumn, had broke my leg and was recovering at the time and the Vegas race was going to be my highlight of that time. I was really rooting for Dan as I wanted to see another great underdog story he gave to us at Indy earlier in May. The onboard interview on the warm up lap from Dan was great new feature, although my focus was on the race already and I wasn't really paying that much attention on the interview at first. Then I heared the words "great way to go out", which started to echo in my mind. Did he really say that? I instantly got this gut feeling that something bad might be coming up, but I shook it off, the race was on. The race was mental all the way from the start. Huge pack of cars going well over 200mph, banging wheels and only inches away from each other at best. I said out aloud in finnish to my screen something like "calm down guys, calm down. It's only the start, we've got hundreds of laps, cautions and pitstops coming up. This is insanely dangerous!" Then came the accident, which seemed to be endlessly multiplying in every tenth of a second by the scale of IRL Atlanta 2001. My initial reactions were that I was very concerned of the drivers, then I hoped that Dan's not involved, as I wanted to see him on the victory lane. Then when it was obvious that he was involved and it was him who's seriously injured, I kept saying to myself that he's gonna be all right, maybe giving a funny interview few days later, the helicopter is just for the precautions. The reality hit me hard that day.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

I met him at Daytona in 2006 for the 24. I was in the media centre talking to some drivers and he happily joined in. And then I took photos of him in victory lane when he won, which I've sadly lost.

Wow Dave, that sounds like it was an awesome experience, although that's too bad that you lost the photos.

I still remember that I didn't watch the race, but was about to go to bed when I caught it on the news headlines and couldn't believe the ferocity of the accident.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

He was a popular man in the paddock. Long Beach 06 I mentioned to a driver I'd spotted Dan and he immediately said "Oh Danny boy is here? I'll need to go find him!" He hasn't become more popular because of his death - he was genuinely liked before it, which is a nice thing.

Oh, and Daytona 06 I remember I was in the garage and he was standing at the back chatting to some mechanics, having a good laugh. Then some random mechanic came and threw me out lol. I had a higher pass than him (highest possible, actually) and I got booted out because IndyCar and NASCAR mechanics (Ganassi Grand Am team was made up of part timers) weren't used to allowing anyone in their working area. Shame, as I wanted to speak to Dan. Every other driver (except Danica funnily enough) was so helpful.

FOUND THEM, on an old CD of work from Daytona.

Wow, that's awesome. Why were you over there?

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I was doing work for a couple of games, which were never even close to finished or released lol.

Kinda funny really because Dan became a SimRaceWay sponsored driver, who are direct competition to the company I work for now lol.