Paul Dana killed in practice crash for Homestead IRL race
03-26-2006, 12:49 PM
#1
Big Block go VROOOM!
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Paul Dana killed in practice crash for Homestead IRL race
It looks like it was probably his own fault but it's still sad any time a driver is lost.
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/s...d=1&id=2384873
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/s...d=1&id=2384873
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."
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.
Rahal said that there were no radio communication problems with Dana's car and that he was informed by his spotter of the accident ahead. Dana cannoned into Carpenter's crippled race car approximately six seconds after yellow lights were displayed around the track warning of Carpenter's spin.
Dana's car nearly split in half. The chassis flew about 6 feet off the ground and pieces were strewn down the track. It nearly turned over, but landed on its wheels before sliding to a halt.
It took track safety workers about 15 minutes to get both drivers out of their cars. The practice session did not resume.
Dana and Carpenter both were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. IRL officials said Dana died shortly before noon.
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."
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.
Rahal said that there were no radio communication problems with Dana's car and that he was informed by his spotter of the accident ahead. Dana cannoned into Carpenter's crippled race car approximately six seconds after yellow lights were displayed around the track warning of Carpenter's spin.
Dana's car nearly split in half. The chassis flew about 6 feet off the ground and pieces were strewn down the track. It nearly turned over, but landed on its wheels before sliding to a halt.
It took track safety workers about 15 minutes to get both drivers out of their cars. The practice session did not resume.
Dana and Carpenter both were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. IRL officials said Dana died shortly before noon.
03-26-2006, 12:55 PM
#2
Senior Moderator
03-26-2006, 06:29 PM
#6
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sad day in motorsports when somethig like this happens.
03-26-2006, 10:27 PM
#7
Safety Car
someone saw it comming . . .
The Sad, Cold Truth
Written by: Robin Miller Homestead, FL – 3/26/2006
With all due respect to the deceased and his family, Paul Dana was in over his head; the victim of a system where people have been buying rides at the highest level for more than 25 years.
A few weeks ago in an Indianapolis gym, Paul Dana was working out and we began talking about his return to racing and, in particular, his place in racing.
"You don't think I belong in an Indy car do you?," he asked. "I know you don't and you're entitled to your opinion but I think this is the year I'll prove to everybody that I do."
Dana will never get that chance. He lost his life here Sunday morning in an accident that more or less confirmed he was out of his depth at 200 mph. Some eight seconds after Ed Carpenter hit the wall in first minutes of practice, Dana roared onto the scene running wide open.
The replay shows five or six cars passed Carpenter's car before Dana drilled it at 176 mph with a shattering impact.
"I was hard on the brake and downshifting when I saw this blur go by me on the left," said veteran Scott Sharp, who reacted to the yellow light and his spotter's command to slow down.
Why Dana didn't slow down remained a mystery long after the Indy Racing League season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway had finished. IRL and Rahal Letterman team officials said there was no communication problem with track lights or the spotter.
The best explanation was also the coldest.
"He just didn't know what the hell he was doing," said a former Indy 500 winner.
It's harsh to critique a young man's actions a few hours after he's passed on but unfortunately Dana is an example of what's happened to open wheel racing at this level.
The 30-year-old native of St. Louis was a likeable journalism grad from Northwestern with a passion for auto racing. He began competing in small formula cars in the late '90s, when he was also covering the CART series for Autoweek.
Now think about that for just a minute, He was writing about Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. for a national magazine and, next month, he was going to be competing against them at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
That kind of Walter Mitty scenario cannot happen in baseball, basketball, football, hockey or golf. You've got to earn a place on the roster, you just can't walk up and buy your way onto a foursome with Tiger Woods at Augusta.
But people have been buying rides at the highest level of American open wheel racing for more than 25 years.
In USAC's glory days of the '50s-'60s-'70s, it was damn tough to get a national big car license, as it was called. A driver had to spend a few years in midgets or sprints, then run Trenton, Phoenix and Milwaukee in an Indy car and then be "nominated" by a USAC star in order to be allowed to take his ROOKIE TEST at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It was a tough screening process but it kept the field at Indy a lot closer to the 33 best drivers than it does nowadays.
Dana didn't replace Vitor Meira on Rahal's team because he was a better driver, he simply brought money in the form of sponsor Ethanol. In today's sorry economy for IRL and Champ Car, Rahal needed to bring Dana on board to keep his three-car team solvent.
Paul Dana certainly wasn't the first or the worst to ever buy his way into an Indy car. We've seen Patrick Bedard, Dale Whittington, Jack Miller, Paul Jasper, Dennis Vitolo, Randy Lewis, Lyn St, James .... there's a long list of people who were much better at marketing than they were at driving.
And, truth be told, Dana followed protocol to the letter. He spent two years in the IRL's Pro Series, won a race and a pole position and finished second in the point standings. Of course the IPS and it's wide open formula and small fields is hardly a yardstick for determining talent.
But it's the stepladder series to Indy cars and the IRL couldn't deny Dana a chance to pursue his dream of competing in the Indy 500. Not even after he crashed last May while practicing for the Indy 500. He'd worked hard and hustled a nice sponsorship in Ethanol.
The bottom line of this tragedy is that it could not have been prevented, not in today's scheme of things in open wheel. Dana, who had qualified 9th for Sunday's IRL opener, wasn't a hopeless hazard that had everybody totally terrified to run next to him.
Having said that, the majority of veterans were wary of Dana's pedigree. He lacked the miles of high speed experience necessary to drive one of those IRL missiles in close quarters. And those instincts that come with miles, like looking down the track for trouble.
The general feeling in the IRL paddock was that Paul Dana was a nice kid with a driving passion who was over the moon to be running an Indy car. And also over his head. Sadly, they both were true.
Written by: Robin Miller Homestead, FL – 3/26/2006
With all due respect to the deceased and his family, Paul Dana was in over his head; the victim of a system where people have been buying rides at the highest level for more than 25 years.
A few weeks ago in an Indianapolis gym, Paul Dana was working out and we began talking about his return to racing and, in particular, his place in racing.
"You don't think I belong in an Indy car do you?," he asked. "I know you don't and you're entitled to your opinion but I think this is the year I'll prove to everybody that I do."
Dana will never get that chance. He lost his life here Sunday morning in an accident that more or less confirmed he was out of his depth at 200 mph. Some eight seconds after Ed Carpenter hit the wall in first minutes of practice, Dana roared onto the scene running wide open.
The replay shows five or six cars passed Carpenter's car before Dana drilled it at 176 mph with a shattering impact.
"I was hard on the brake and downshifting when I saw this blur go by me on the left," said veteran Scott Sharp, who reacted to the yellow light and his spotter's command to slow down.
Why Dana didn't slow down remained a mystery long after the Indy Racing League season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway had finished. IRL and Rahal Letterman team officials said there was no communication problem with track lights or the spotter.
The best explanation was also the coldest.
"He just didn't know what the hell he was doing," said a former Indy 500 winner.
It's harsh to critique a young man's actions a few hours after he's passed on but unfortunately Dana is an example of what's happened to open wheel racing at this level.
The 30-year-old native of St. Louis was a likeable journalism grad from Northwestern with a passion for auto racing. He began competing in small formula cars in the late '90s, when he was also covering the CART series for Autoweek.
Now think about that for just a minute, He was writing about Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. for a national magazine and, next month, he was going to be competing against them at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
That kind of Walter Mitty scenario cannot happen in baseball, basketball, football, hockey or golf. You've got to earn a place on the roster, you just can't walk up and buy your way onto a foursome with Tiger Woods at Augusta.
But people have been buying rides at the highest level of American open wheel racing for more than 25 years.
In USAC's glory days of the '50s-'60s-'70s, it was damn tough to get a national big car license, as it was called. A driver had to spend a few years in midgets or sprints, then run Trenton, Phoenix and Milwaukee in an Indy car and then be "nominated" by a USAC star in order to be allowed to take his ROOKIE TEST at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It was a tough screening process but it kept the field at Indy a lot closer to the 33 best drivers than it does nowadays.
Dana didn't replace Vitor Meira on Rahal's team because he was a better driver, he simply brought money in the form of sponsor Ethanol. In today's sorry economy for IRL and Champ Car, Rahal needed to bring Dana on board to keep his three-car team solvent.
Paul Dana certainly wasn't the first or the worst to ever buy his way into an Indy car. We've seen Patrick Bedard, Dale Whittington, Jack Miller, Paul Jasper, Dennis Vitolo, Randy Lewis, Lyn St, James .... there's a long list of people who were much better at marketing than they were at driving.
And, truth be told, Dana followed protocol to the letter. He spent two years in the IRL's Pro Series, won a race and a pole position and finished second in the point standings. Of course the IPS and it's wide open formula and small fields is hardly a yardstick for determining talent.
But it's the stepladder series to Indy cars and the IRL couldn't deny Dana a chance to pursue his dream of competing in the Indy 500. Not even after he crashed last May while practicing for the Indy 500. He'd worked hard and hustled a nice sponsorship in Ethanol.
The bottom line of this tragedy is that it could not have been prevented, not in today's scheme of things in open wheel. Dana, who had qualified 9th for Sunday's IRL opener, wasn't a hopeless hazard that had everybody totally terrified to run next to him.
Having said that, the majority of veterans were wary of Dana's pedigree. He lacked the miles of high speed experience necessary to drive one of those IRL missiles in close quarters. And those instincts that come with miles, like looking down the track for trouble.
The general feeling in the IRL paddock was that Paul Dana was a nice kid with a driving passion who was over the moon to be running an Indy car. And also over his head. Sadly, they both were true.
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03-27-2006, 08:00 AM
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