RIP Paul Dana
 

Practice IRL laps today in Miami. Sad end to a promising career.

Nasty crash. He was 30.

Amen

condolences to his family. was he married? kids? terrible tragedy..
ryan

Patrick and Rice pulled out. Wonder if Dave will say anything tomorrow night. How fast do you figure he was going when he hit?

Report was 200MPH, at speed.

That just stinks! Very sad to hear.

ESPN has revised their report that the impact was at 200 MPH to 176 MPH.

It's just a very sad thing. My prayers go to he and his family. It was reported that his wife was at Church when this happened.

this is just the sort of thing that pushes my 'faith in christianity' to its limits. the wife was no doubt praying that her husband be safe in the race, etc....but still he winds up dying. meanwhile, some other wife of a 'living driver' is doubtless partying it up..
ryan

The crash was eerily reminiscent of the Alex Zanardi wreck. I had that same sick feeling in my stomach watching Carpenter's car just sitting there helpless for those couple of seconds after he hit the wall.

Then BAM.

I was just at Homestead last Saturday for a DE.... Just terrible.

RIP, Paul.

Early reports are that several of the cars around the Dana car slowed when the yellow lights came on from the first wreck.

You'd think that a small onboard reciever that flashed a light and a tone in the audio onboard system when the yellow is activated would be required. No one would miss the yellow.

It does appear from the video and the comments from other drivers that he did not slow down for the yellow. I felt the same way it looked like the Zanardi accident all over again. Racing is a high risk sport but you still hate to see this happen. My thoughts are with his family.

Some pretty scathing opinions out there on his (lack of) experience. Whether they're true or not, it's sad to have something like this happen. Everybody loses, to differing degrees.

Once upon a time, A.J. Foyt had a (lack of) experience.

Here's Robin Miller's take on it:

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/22748

What a tragedy.

thanks for the link, motion. damn..definitely sounds, according to miller, that he was in over his head..
ryan

That's a big load to dump on Christianity as a whole, given that everyone dies some time. Christianity has never claimed to be an (earthly) life extending opportunity. It does ask that people do the right thing during their time here on on earth. But people have option of ignoring that request -- as many do unfortunately. Just in case anyone thinks that they can be self serving and "convert" on their death bed, events like this remind us that we never know when our time is up. So if you're going to do something nice to someone -- do it today, because you may not have a tomorrow. His widow's suffering is now an opportunity for the people around her to compassionately "do the right thing" and help her deal with her loss and grief.

It's really sad to see one of our motorsports community taken from us like that.

hopefully only a very few will actually plan to live life in this way with the intention of 'planning to repent' shortly before death. my statement was not meant to be taken as a 'shot' at christianity, simply sharing my own struggles with doubt in the reconciliation of faith and reason. all christians experience this same phenomenon off and on during their mortal christian existence..
ryan

SmileWavy

No problem. I just couldn't resist leaving a comment like that hanging out there.

thanks, john..somebody had to do it..:D
ryan

This was brought up on wind tunnel and speed news with varsha. Most everyone is under the impression that it is simply too easy to obtain a license and drive in the IRL without experience. The view from Scott Speed's in car camera shows Dana flying by him while Speed is way off the gas and downshifting and braking. Such a horrible feeling in my gut at the sight of this crash. Being on a oval speedway it brought to mind when I was at Fontana and witnessed what happened to Greg Moore.

This is a very sad event, almost unexcusable in my mind. The amount of cars on track during practice, the proximity they run to one another and the overall feel that IRL is somewhat of a mixed group of talent, meaning highly talented and experienced drivers mixed in with people who really have no business going that fast.

This is a reminder of what motorsport is, dangerous. Valentino Rossi went down at the first corner, first lap of the MotoGP opener and is crazy lucky that he was not touched by all the other riders going through! This just happens to be one of those freak accidents that go the other way. My mind wanders to Laguna Seca a few years back, Michele Alboreto in the R8, Greg Moore in the Forsythe cart racer, Senna, Eanhardt and this latest.

All accidents were very different yet the same result. With the increase in driver safety, crash walls on superspeedways, warning lights and what not there still needs to be an increase in driver awareness and some of the rules in which these racing classes run.

My sincerest condolences at this point in time go out to anyone involved in one way or another.

To everyone else I say, take heed. Accidents big and small can hurt. Let us not ruin this great tradition of racing by being lax in anyway shape or form. Be it technology, awareness, rules changes, whatever it may be. While the economical institutions have their say in the sport the drivers have the ultimate say for they are the ones that strap in and go racing. If they refuse because of safety then things should change. I hope the IRL shapes up as this is the second horrific crash resulting in fatality in 2 and a half years.

Regards

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but when I read the stories on the accident on-line, almost all of them (with the exception of Speed) took the opportunity to list every race car driver who has died on-track going back into the 90's and earlier -- as if that had anything to do with the accident at hand.

Yes, but I can't recall the last time AJ rocketed into another car (stopped on the track for a good several seconds) and got someone killed as a result. Thanks, motion, for sticking in the link I was referring to. Not saying Dana belonged in the car or not (though his actions are pretty inexplicable). But it's just a sad situation for him and his family. The only silver lining is that he died trying to live a dream.

Being an ex-Autocrosser and now learning how to drive on the track. I am alarmed at how I am instructed to look for markers on the pavement 10 feet in front of the car and not to look as far ahead as possible.

I rounded a turn 2 months ago and came up on a wreck. I saw the wreck the second it was visible up track as I hit the apex of my turn. I saw it past the car in front of me and was on the brakes before him. I also had the awareness to look up behind me only to find a Corvette barreling down on me (at this point ON the straight and out of the turn) not seeing the accident and not processing I was slowing down. I had to speed back up so as not to be rear ended.

I was on the track last week (Miami / Homestead BTW) and a Ferrari wrecked in front of me. I was in the passanger seat and saw it before the driver. He was an excellent driver and I was suprised he did not see it sooner.

I am noticing a lot of "track racers" drive about 20-40 feet in front of them, or even worse they drive the rear bumper of the car in front if them.

Wat happened in Mami was totally aviodable. There are lights all over the track to indicate trouble. Also, when driving at 200 or 175 MPH I would imagine you would need to be look REALLY far in front of you.

As I am learning how to drive on a track I refuse to drive 30 feet off my bumper. I prefer to miss that perfect apex point or exit point in exchange for looking down the track and anticipating whats coming.

You need to hang out with better drivers. 100' or more is about the minimum for a club racer doing 70-80. the track markers may be 40=50 feet out, but you pick 'em up with peripheral vision.

I don't think any of us really is qualified to talk about a 200 MPH closing speed. That's fast enough that a 'twitch' can kill.

Thinking more about this, I think Robin Miller and everyone that's jumped on his bandwagon has it wrong. The guy has been racing for 9 years now. He started in the smaller formulae and ran two years in the IPS. Last year, he finished 2nd in that championship. So, the guy's not a slouch, he has plenty of oval experience, and IPS cars have a good amount of HP. Around 450, I believe. Hell, Formula Atlantics only had 245 HP and that's the feeder for CART.

I believe he was just happy as hell to be back in a car on track with his peers after the accident last May. He was over-exhuberant and blew it. The ride-buying thing is an issue for sure, for guys like Dennis Vitolo and some of the other $hit-for-brains that we've seen on the track. Even Hiro Matsu****a was running CART for years and running dead last just because he was in the Panasonic money. I don't think it applies in this case, however. I think Dana was qualified... he just made a small error in judgement and paid the price.

Richard,

I think the only problem with your analysis is the IPS angle. Granted I don't follow either very closely, but my impression is that IPS is much less competetive than Formula Atlantics. IPS has had very small car counts, and while some of the racing has been very close, the degree to which car setup plays a role is a major factor in success.

How fast do IPS cars go? I ask out of ignorance. I hardly have time to watch IRL, let alone follow its feeder series. They run on the same tracks as the IRL boys (& girl). And regardless of issues like car setup, or differences in IRL vs. IPS speed--the rules of the track are the same. So when Ed Carpenter crashed, and the yellow trackside lights went on, and Dana's spotter said (or should have said) "yellow, yellow, yellow, turn 2..." (or wherever the wreck was located) why did Dana not slow down? Maybe it wasn't so much an issue of not being able to handle a car at 200 mph, but (like motion said) an issue of overexuberence in the moment.

I'm not sure winning in the smaller fomulae translate to success in the major leagues. Wasn't Hiro the Atlantic champ?

I just read Robin Miller article and it seems a little harsh.

Very sad anyway.

I read an article with a similar tone but can't find it right now. The author's last name started with 'Osw' or something like that... Damn memory.

Well, he *has* been fairly successful in the IRL in the few races he's ran. He qualified ninth for the race on Sunday. Not too bad for a rookie. But, just because he can put a one-lapper in, doesn't mean he can run wheel to wheel at 200 for 2 hours. The real problem here is: how do guys get experience running wheel to wheel? I'm not sure what the answer is.

Richard pretty much had it right. Lots of folks slag on the IRL, but this wasn't the prototypical IRL accident. This was a guy who for whatever unknown reason didn't see the yellows (or hear his spotter, if you believe the team) and drove full speed into trouble.

No one wants to talk about sensory overload, but look at the modern race car cockpit and comm gear. Way too much happening for my comfort.