Posted on 03/26/2006 10:36:09 AM PST by mainepatsfan
Dana dies from injuries suffered in crash
ESPN.com news services
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Driver Paul Dana died after a two-car crash Sunday during the warmup for the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The other driver, Ed Carpenter, was awake and alert at a Miami hospital, IRL officials said.
The race will start as scheduled, officials announced. However, Rahal Letterman Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal announced that drivers Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice, teammates of Dana, will not race.
"Obviously, this is a very black day for us," Rahal said. "This is a great tragedy."
Dana is the first IRL driver killed since Tony Renna died in a crash during testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October 2003, and the third to die in the 10-year history of the series. Scott Brayton perished in a practice crash at Indianapolis in May 1996.
The last NASCAR driver killed was Dale Earnhardt in February 2001, and the last driver to die in Formula One was Ayrton Senna in May 1994.
It is the third racing death at the Homestead track -- John Nemechek was killed in a NASCAR truck race in February 1997 and Jeff Clinton died in a Grand Am sports car event at the track in March 2002.
Dana, 30, a former motorsports journalist with a degree from Northwestern, competed in three IRL races for Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing last year with a best finish of 10th in the race at Homestead.
Carpenter, the stepson of Indy Racing League founder Tony George, spun his Vision Racing car exiting Turn 2 of the 1.5- mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval and hugged the outside wall before slowly creeping back onto the racing surface. It was nearly stopped when it was hit in the left-rear corner at nearly full speed by Dana's car.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
I saw the crash on ESPN. It was awful.
No pics on their website, yet. I'm wo/ TV and at the office, today.
Prayers for Paul Dana and his family.
SportsCenter showed it shortly after it occured. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't broadcast it again.
Prayers for Paul Dana and his family.
It's a reminder of how dangerous this sport is.
I was watching the race when CART drive Greg Moore/Players died from a horrific crash in '99. His car was in tiny pieces all over the track.
I was there when he won his first CART race at the Milwaukee Mile and Greg was one of my favorite drivers.
RIP Greg.
I agree. Completely horrific crash, and only his 4th race? Prayers for his wife, who surely is receiving many; she was at church when she was informed.
Not to quibble, but Moore's car was well off the track when he hit the wall. He lost control and skipped across the grass for about a hundred yards; his car became airborne, and hit the wall at a 90-degree angle to the ground, driver-side first. It was sickening.
It was inexplicable; he hit Carpenter several seconds after Carpenter spun, and everybody else had slowed down. His team said that his spotters told him about Carpenter's crash, but he never slowed down.
Paul Dana's crash reminded me of Alex Zanardi's F1 crash, in which Alex lost both his legs. He's lucky to have survived that wreck.
I've seen the Paul Dana video, but I'm going to post it.
but I'm going to post it.
, but I'm not going to post it.
God bless him and his family
It sounds like Dana
was a rookie who slipped up
at a bad, bad time . . .
Dana's spotters said they warned him of Carpenter's accident. I wonder if they told him Carpenter's car went high (which it initially did) and for him to go low; but then Carpenter's car came back down to the bottom of the track. Or maybe Dana's radio failed and he didn't get the message, or maybe the message was garbled and he didn't understand what was said. I don't believe he would deliberately ignore the warning.
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