Tribute to Dan Wheldon

[Rhino]

I had dealings with Indycar back in 1997. I likred the idea of trying to bring costs down, but it wasn't well thought of how they went about doing it. The gearbox casing was way to heavy, and suggesting wire mesh to protect against side impacts wasn't good. I hope the technical people who run it are a bit more clued up now.
RIP Dan.

[Chris24]

For those in the UK, Sky will be showing a 1 hour tribute programme on the life and career of Dan Wheldon, Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2HD, at 10 pm this Thursday. Look back to his early days in single seaters through to becoming Indycar Champion and winning the 500 twice.

[mal]

it was gimmicky stunt created by people desperate to attract some sort of attention to their series.  

Well they certainly achieved that - but in the worst possible way.

[nickliv]

Randy was quoted in the press over here (I can't remember which one)  :-

Last month, Bernard said the series had set out to offer fans ‘value, competition and entertainment’.
He added: ‘Putting Dan at the back of a 30-plus car field to weave his way through at speeds in excess of 215mph will certainly prove that.’

If you're familiar with the swiss cheese model of incident analysis I'm sure you  can see at least a couple of contributory factors right there. In aviation and shipping there are usually 7 'holes' which line up to cause the loss of an aircraft, and I'm sure that this will be found to be the case here, there or thereabouts.

Nothing is meant by the use of aircraft as an example, it's just my particular field of experience.

It's so sad to think that sometimes change must be driven by the loss of life, regardless of who they were, or what people think of the individual involved, but safety in F1 took a massive leap forward following Senna and Ratzebergers accidents in Imola. Hindsight's always 20/20, but maybe the series was becoming proactive just a year too late.

[Andy Zarse]

Randy was quoted in the press over here (I can't remember which one)  :-

Last month, Bernard said the series had set out to offer fans ‘value, competition and entertainment’.
He added: ‘Putting Dan at the back of a 30-plus car field to weave his way through at speeds in excess of 215mph will certainly prove that.’

If you're familiar with the swiss cheese model of incident analysis I'm sure you  can see at least a couple of contributory factors right there. In aviation and shipping there are usually 7 'holes' which line up to cause the loss of an aircraft, and I'm sure that this will be found to be the case here, there or thereabouts.

Nothing is meant by the use of aircraft as an example, it's just my particular field of experience.

It's so sad to think that sometimes change must be driven by the loss of life, regardless of who they were, or what people think of the individual involved, but safety in F1 took a massive leap forward following Senna and Ratzebergers accidents in Imola. Hindsight's always 20/20, but maybe the series was becoming proactive just a year too late.

Probably the most sensible and sober words written in this entire sorry thread.

Thank you Nick.

[jimclark]

 

Finger pointing and blame is sorry. As long as racing has drivers in the cars, it will be dangerous. If they're removed, I won't be watching.

Over and out...

[Doris]

I never followed indy or Dan Wheldon's career, but any day that a driver dies doing what he loves is a sad day.  

RIP Dan.  Thoughts go out to the family and friends you leave behind.

Dx