Sad Day in Las Vegas

[WuDrWu]

http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/7111712/dan-wheldon-dies-following-indycar-crash-vegas

Personally I'm not much of a racing fan, but growing up I always looked forward to the Indy 500.

A horrific crash only 12 laps into the final race of the season, I can't help but wonder, in a sport that has seen a tremendous decline in attendance and support, if this might be the end of open wheel racing in this country.

I suspect Indy will continue, but will the rest of the sport?



RIP Dan Weldon.

[_kai_]

Very sad indeed.

Not to be morbid, but here is the video.

[ShockerFever]

Very, very bad.

I agree with Doc that you have to wonder how long this will last..

[kcshocker11]

Very sad, who was the green car at the end of the video?

[WuDrWu]

The green "GoDaddy" car is driven by Danika Patrick. That was her last scheduled Indy car race as she is moving full time to Nascar. It will be interesting to see if she still races at Indy. Her record at Indy is pretty solid, but she's always had really good equipment too.

I suspect she's done with Indy, as this memory of open wheel racing is going to last a lifetime.

[wsushox1]

Las Vegas is too small, too fast of a track for these cars. I believe Tony Kanaan said before the race that he thought they should not be racing on this track. He was right.

[moshock]

I had the privilege of attending the Richard Petty School at LVMS last year. We ran old Nascars around the track for about 20 laps. We averaged 135 mph. The track seemed very narrow to me. I cannot imagine having another car next to me going almost 100 mph faster. It would take some major nads to go that fast there.

RIP Dan Wheldon. Saying a prayer for his young family.