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RIP Dan Weldon

Huckleberry Finn

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I'm not a huge Indy fan, but I do enjoy watching the races. Met a couple of the guys last year at Mid-Ohio, including Dan Wheldon. Got his signature on a flag that's hanging in my room.

[video=youtube;jaXGLrotBBs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXGLrotBBs[/video]

Very good driver
 

Jackalope

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Watched it on youtube a couple minutes ago. I don't watch indy car so i had no clue who he was... Didn't hear what the extent of his injuries were but he went cockpit side in along the catch fence.. They pronounced him dead at the hospital within like an hour of the crash. My guess is he was dead on the track.. Shame. Hate to see racers die.. Maybe indy will start racing actual cars with roofs instead of open cockpit where the top of your helmet is the roof.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
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He was probably dead before leaving the track.... sorry too see this happen.... you see so many horrific wrecks and the drivers walk away from them you kinda get thrown for a loop when one actually gets hurt or passes away because of it..... not a big Indy car fan but my son watches them and he came down stairs and said you gotta see this wreck.... yeah not pretty.....
 

hickslawns

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Hate to hear about any fatalities in racing or other professional (or not professional) sporting events. It is a chance you take though. I know for a fact when I was racing motorcycles my disability and life insurance did not cover racing. Still didn't hold me back, but it is a chance you take when you race. Very sad day for all involved.
 

jagermeister

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Wow that is pretty sad. I don't watch Indy but it seems like the terrible wrecks are all too common in Indy racing. The wrecks are big and the cars just explode into a million pieces. It wasn't too long ago that a tire flew up into the grandstands at MIS during an Indy race and killed a spectator. I know there's a lot of tradition in Indy, and fatalities are rare, but sometimes it just makes me scratch my head. I wonder if Indy puts forth a safety planning effort as much as NASCAR.
 

Jackalope

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Wow that is pretty sad. I don't watch Indy but it seems like the terrible wrecks are all too common in Indy racing. The wrecks are big and the cars just explode into a million pieces. It wasn't too long ago that a tire flew up into the grandstands at MIS during an Indy race and killed a spectator. I know there's a lot of tradition in Indy, and fatalities are rare, but sometimes it just makes me scratch my head. I wonder if Indy puts forth a safety planning effort as much as NASCAR.


They do.. And they don't.. NASCAR has spent a ton investing in technology and research to keep their cars on the ground.. When air gets under an indy car they take off like a glider.. His car was in the air for like 100+ yards.. Plus the exposed wheels lead to a shit ton of wrecks. If you touch someone from behind wheel to wheel it lifts the front of the car.. The back of their wheel is spinning upward, the front of yours downward.. Like a gear it causes the rear car to rise and get air under it.. Plus they are open wheel so everything is a ramp.. Combine that with an open cockpit and thise "Cars" if you wanna call them that have no business doing 225 mph.. But then again, the last Indy car fatality was 5 years ago.. And NASCAR has one on average every 2 years..

It's why ole Danica gets pissy with nascar.. In indy bumping and rubbing is a giant no no cause of the wheels.. In Nascar it's the way to race. She gets pissy saying how rude and everything it is.. lmao.
 
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jagermeister

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They do.. And they don't.. NASCAR has spent a ton investing in technology and research to keep their cars on the ground.. When air gets under an indy car they take off like a glider.. His car was in the air for like 100+ yards.. Plus the exposed wheels lead to a shit ton of wrecks. If you touch someone from behind wheel to wheel it lifts the front of the car.. The back of their wheel is spinning upward, the front of yours downward.. Like a gear it causes the rear car to rise and get air under it.. Plus they are open wheel so everything is a ramp.. Combine that with an open cockpit and thise "Cars" if you wanna call them that have no business doing 225 mph.. But then again, the last Indy car fatality was 5 years ago.. And NASCAR has one on average every 2 years..

It's why ole Danica gets pissy with nascar.. In indy bumping and rubbing is a giant no no cause of the wheels.. In Nascar it's the way to race. She gets pissy saying how rude and everything it is.. lmao.

lol. It's no wonder most of the Indy guys (or gals) have a hard time when they make the switch to NASCAR.
 

Huckleberry Finn

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That is a good observation, and one that I hadn't thought of, but that does make a lot of sense.

This is completely subjective, but I think some of the factors between Indy and Nascar is the type of cars (seems like there's more money into INDY) and better drivers (Europeans and Euro training). Can't believe I just said that, but I guess that's why I follow Indy and not Nascar!
 

Jackalope

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That is a good observation, and one that I hadn't thought of, but that does make a lot of sense.

This is completely subjective, but I think some of the factors between Indy and Nascar is the type of cars (seems like there's more money into INDY) and better drivers (Europeans and Euro training). Can't believe I just said that, but I guess that's why I follow Indy and not Nascar!

You would be wrong.. There aren't better "drivers" in Indy... Look at any driver that's came from indy to nascar, they always have major trouble racing.. They don't understand anything about the dance of the race.. Danica was a pretty decent Indy car racer.. She spent the first year in nascar watching the race out of her windshield. Then when she tried she ended up wrecking herself and many others. Now she's somewhat getting in the groove and LOVES nascar racing.. Look at Borris Said when he raced nascar recently, he was so pissed at Biffle after the race he threatened to go to Biffles house and kick his ass.. Said it was the dirtiest, trickery, dishonorable racing he's ever seen... Sorry Borris, that's fuggin Nascar... Those boys don't drive in circles like they're going to a funeral, they came to race, and they'll let you know it when they trade some paint with you. But you take those nascar boys, many of them race sprint, nationwide, truck, and even some still race dirt for fun.. Indy to me is like a race where everyone is going to church.. All nice an pleasant, quaint and well mannered. Nascar, is racing, and racing like it should be done, bump, grind, draft, slingshot, or put em in the wall...
 

Huckleberry Finn

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You would be wrong.. There aren't better "drivers" in Indy... Look at any driver that's came from indy to nascar, they always have major trouble racing.. They don't understand anything about the dance of the race.. Danica was a pretty decent Indy car racer.. She spent the first year in nascar watching the race out of her windshield. Then when she tried she ended up wrecking herself and many others. Now she's somewhat getting in the groove and LOVES nascar racing.. Look at Borris Said when he raced nascar recently, he was so pissed at Biffle after the race he threatened to go to Biffles house and kick his ass.. Said it was the dirtiest, trickery, dishonorable racing he's ever seen... Sorry Borris, that's fuggin Nascar... Those boys don't drive in circles like they're going to a funeral, they came to race, and they'll let you know it when they trade some paint with you. But you take those nascar boys, many of them race sprint, nationwide, truck, and even some still race dirt for fun.. Indy to me is like a race where everyone is going to church.. All nice an pleasant, quaint and well mannered. Nascar, is racing, and racing like it should be done, bump, grind, draft, slingshot, or put em in the wall...

I didn't expect you to agree with this! Are there any NASCAR drivers that have gone Indy?

They do drive in circles though! Other than Watkins and Sonoma they are all oval or close to oval tracks...look at some of the Indy tracks and there's no way that those boys could zip those turns!
 

Jackalope

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I didn't expect you to agree with this! Are there any NASCAR drivers that have gone Indy?

They do drive in circles though! Other than Watkins and Sonoma they are all oval or close to oval tracks...look at some of the Indy tracks and there's no way that those boys could zip those turns!


Uhm.... Nascar has road races on tracks that also race Indy street.. Furthermore that would be a limitation of the car itself, not the driver.. That's like saying a gocart is better cause it can fly around a gocart track better than a stock car.

Montoya and a couple other have started in Nascar and raced a few indy races... But many many racers started in indy and then jumped to nascar. It's usually the good or great indy car racers that make the switch to nascar. While it is usually the suckey nascar racers that try their hand at indy. Nascar is a step up in racing bub, no matter how you slice the pie... Look at Tony stewart. Started in Indy, won an Indy car championship. Then moved to nascar..

You would also be wrong about the money.. Tony Ranked 1st in IRL indy car racing and made 1.09 million... Five years later he finished the Nascar season ranked number 1 and made 4.9 million.. Almost 5 times what he made in Indy when ranked number 1.

Another damming fact is Tony won his first indy car championship his 2nd year in an indy car... It took him 5 years in nascar before he won first championship. Seems like nascar was a little harder on the ole boy... Just like it is for any frenchey car racer that moves to Nascar..
 
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Jackalope

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Oh, and Indy goes faster :D

Hardly homeslice. "Goes faster" or "can go faster" Indy is tingling the 225 MPH barrier.. Nascar broke that barrier 6 years ago when Rusty Wallice did 228 down the back straight away at Talladega. Nascar now runs restrictor plates to keep the cars at about 190 mph and 430 HP... Without the restrictor plate the cars put out about 750 hp.. These cars you see today with plates go 190 mph have their horsepower cut to 53% peak. After this death you'll see indy cut back their speeds too... The same as nascar did.. Before the Race Dan Weldon was even saying the cars were way too fast.. He knew something bad was gonna happen..
 

epe

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Sorry to hear. Can't stand to watch either one honestly. A whole lot of circle tracks. I used to watch ama superbike racing before they ruined it. Crazy watching them guys fly around midohio on 200hp motorcycles.