Damn sad, excellent driver. Hard to tell with the video clips but it looks like the cockpit area may have come down on top the wall.
Preventable? The drivers were complaining about the speeds earlier in the week. 225 mph sustained? Consider that on most F1 layouts you're hitting those speeds only in a few sectors of the track. Someone in charge probably ought to make tighter decisions about where they should run cars that fast.
Indy cars are expensive, but not expensive enough. Daddy's money can still get junior in if there is a lot of it. Often Jr. can't drive ducks to water with a 12ga. Wheldon was not one of those, but they are there and cause wrecks. You don't see that (much *cough*Petrov*cough*) in F1. There are a few drivers that I don't think belong in F1, but they wash out pretty quickly. The vast majority of F1 drivers are there on massive talent.
The media coverage is sure to annoy me. We're not talking about Dan Wheldon because he was a great guy. We're talking because he was a 2 time Indy winner and died on TV. I can make you a list of really talented former race car drivers that no one remembers. They died or were permanently disabled and few knew or cared. I've had the occasion several times of putting away badly wrecked race cars while the driver and family member was at the hospital, me not knowing their condition. It sucks, it's a dangerous deal and I'm sad to see Wheldon go. Myself, I could list a lot worse ways to go. It's been 6 years since I sat in anything fast, hope to again soon.
