Sadly, I remember that as well. ABC is often referred to as "Always Bad Coverage", but I thought they handled this very professionally. Even though it was obvious what was going on, they waited for an official announcement to reveal the bad news...never speculating until they knew for sure.

What a sad, horrible day. Dan had tremendous enthusiasm and was a great personality on top of being a great racer. He will be missed.

IRL SUCKS! NASCAR and IRL should just go away.

IRL blows beyond belief. I know its racing but the truth behind the scenes are about the owners and greed. They could have a much better tub developed but refuse to. My brother said it from the beginning and was with CART (with multi-championship team) and then the whole IRL b.s started. For modern day racing, these current tubs are a horrible design and the IRL refuses to address the pitfalls. My brother actually quit a team when they sold out to the IRL side. Owners classic greed mentality. He did however moon-light for a few more teams taking a stab at Indy for IRL but is negative all the way. Look at the horrific incidents with drivers major back injuries this year. Poorly designed, overweight and do not implode like the champcars did. The enertia of mass goes right with or into the driver.

Blame it on the IRL owners. Big money players refusing to invest in a new tub, stupid archaic bull-ring stadiums. Lost all respect for Ganassi, Penske, Haas, as they sold out to T. George. This is not what open wheel racing was. Behind the scenes, S. Bourdais already knew it was time to move along as the split was announced. Many of the drivers in IRL don't belong in an open wheel car. Friends, this is a different game. If youv'e ever driven something as even a formula V or Ford, you know what I'm talking of. There have been so many unjust maneuvers in open wheel today with drivers thinking of no one else and they have paint scrapers. Too bad.

After Wheldon's appearance on "Wind Tunnel" a few shows ago, I thought very highly of the fellow. He was dedicated to be in a car even though he had started on a career of broadcasting. I'll miss his Graham Hill hair.

Well, I'll surely miss him. I don't mean to be flippant. Condolences to his wife and family.

Yeah that pretty much said it all.
Did we really need to see Ashely Judd that much? WTF & who the hell cares.

RIP Dan

Dan was a St. Pete resident and we ran into him often as we both shared a UPS box at the same location. My 9 year old one day told Dan all about Dad's 911 and Dan told him to stop over anytime as he would like to see it. We did and he was a gracious host and just a great guy. It was weird to see the kid come out as he climbed over the cage into my car. He really loves this stuff.

He was also a P Car guy as he bought his wife a Boxster in past year or so.

This was a tragic loss.

So sorry to hear this, Joe. Thoughts and prayers go out to you and all Dan Wheldon's friends and family.

-e.

I was completely crushed by this. Open wheel oval track racing is by far my favorite form of racing to watch, and, although I was not especially a fan of his, Dan was a star.

I thought he made a great commentator this season, and got to like him a lot more once he lost his sort of prima donna affect when he was driving full time. It was interesting how upset Danica as, given their oft-present feuds.

I thought ABC did a good job though it was obvious to me when they covered the car with the gold tarp that he was gone. We've gotten so used to guys having horrific crashes and walking away that we forget how much these guys put on the line every time they strap in.

My prayers to his wife and little boys. Daddy was on of the greats, kids.

IRL SUCKS! And one more thing to add about IRL... many of the current drivers are 'buy it rides'. I'm not talking of Wheldon, but others are not at the skill level to handle them. Up ass ego and money brought to team owners is all what the league is. Umm.. Ummm and ya know... Umm ya wanna pick a fight Danica from Crockton, Illynoise Ummm... ya know.

Don't mean to be disrespectful to Wheldon but sorry for his family.

i just tuned into the race right after the crash happen missed by a milli second.....after seeing the helicopter take off at that poin i knew it was serious....rest in peace

jimmie johnson had a crash last nite that couldve been in the same boat if it wasnt for nascar safety regulations

RIP Dan
Sad sad events today.
Condolences to his family

I miss most IRL races, including this one as I was @ turn 11 @ Laguna Serc at /Rennsport...

Is this the end of IRL?

I rarely watch IRL races unless they're on a road course, but I was flipping channels and had it on while the last of the pre-race driver interviews were taking place.

Flipped away for a bit, then came back for National Anthem, F-16's out of Nellis flyover, and Tony Hawk giving the "Drivers start your engines."

I decided to stick around for the green flag, then maybe a few laps more.

What I saw after the start left me very uncomfortable... immediately.

The speeds and the dicing and even the camera work being unable to keep up with things... it was constantly moving from one camera to the next.

Imagine trying to cover a slot car race with 10 cameras positioned around an oval and you would pretty much have it.

It looked insane. It was making me extremely nervous just watching it. I was just about to change the channel to something else because of the stress when it happened.

:(

Thats absolutely terrible.

Does anyone here know why Dan couldn't get a full time ride? Obviously he was a very talented driver.

He never brought his own money. That, and the timing and circumstances of his leaving Panther last year. He had signed with Andretti to replace Danica full time for next year before this race.

Just so very, very sad....

I hadn't heard that. He drove for Andretti a few years ago.
Thanks.

Yeah, looked like he was back on track for sure...

AUTO RACING - INDYCAR: Wheldon Set For Andretti Return In 2012

AUTO RACING - MILLER: Remembering Wheldon

"The real tragedy is that he had become complete as a person, reveling in his family, happy with life and excited about the future."-Robin Miller

Too many cars going God awful fast for that track. Something bad was going to happen. Throw in some bad luck (initial contact to the wall/catch fence at the cockpit) & someone is goning get killed.

RIP, Mr. Wheldon, you'll be missed.

In retrospect, I think the ABC coverage sucked. I sorta got the idea they knew more than they told and kept the audience around to fill out the time slot and make the audience watch more commercials. It may not be true, but I lost my respect for the whole INDY car thing.

And if Cheaver was part of a purposed delay, then he just got knocked off his high horse for good. Same with Goodyear. Wheldon was probably a better man than to be sucked up into that 5 million dollar, start from last, sleazy, bull riding circus.

I hope some good comes from this because the whole show stinks.

I cant believe that there werent more fatalities.