Wolf Blitzer interviews Paul Tracy who talks about the crash at the IndyCar Series' Las Vegas Indy 300 that killed IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon. Monday, October 17, 2011.
i remember paul saying that he was driving on the Fontana track during the 'cart' days, he looked on his steering wheel and they were going 250 on the straight line.. wow!
Yep, Fontana was site of the fastest closed course lap in history, 241.428 mph AVERAGE SPEED, meaning they absolutely got to 250mph on the front stretch.
I posted on the Autoracing1 website the day of Kenny Bracks incident the proposal of using bullet proof glass on the catch fence and caught a whole lot of close-minded trash for it. I re-posted the same comment when Tonny Renna died testing at Indy. To hear Paul place this idea so thoughtfully squarely into the public forum gives me some sense that my thoughts did strike chord. As always, the powers that be resist change until such tragedy occurs that change cannot be denied. RIP Dan Wheldon.
These cars were running only around 550 to 600 hp with a high level of downforce. In the 90's and early they used to run upwards of 800 to 1,000 horsepower. They used to get huge straight speeds and lift in the turns. In this car they didn't have to lift from the front of the field to the back. They hit terminal velocity and run flat. That produces pack racing.
Absolutely. Reduce the downforce these cars can run on these tracks. The ability to hold the throttle to the firewall. Through these banked turns. Running wheel to wheel at 200+ mph. Thats where these accidents occur. And where drivers are injured and killed. RIP. Dan Welden.
paul literally pointing out how bad fencing is. wickens happened. no one ever addressed this horrible thing! yet, in f1 and indy, the cars have halos and windscreens to make the cars seem safer. yet the fencing is still there waiting to rip cars apart. it's really a shame to know that no one is addressing this a decade later...
With every car having the same engine and same chassis, the speed differential between the fastest and slowest car was only 4 mph. The cars never had a chance to spread out over the full length of the track.34 cars over 1.5 miles isn't necessarily too many, but it is when they are all occupying the same 1/2 mile portion of it at the same time.
agreed !!! However, as for the innovations for making the cars and the track safe for the driver, I feel like no matter how many of them and how "safe" the racing as a result, at those speeds something like this isn't a surprise, although none of us wishes for this to happen.
Paul is very bright man, he should take the lead on the improved safety aspects, be the face and the voice. Enjoy your family brother, hang up the keys.
RIP Dan..Too many cars for a 1.5 mile track.Far too fast for open wheeled vehicles in a confined space.Motor Racing well never be totally safe because of the high degree de-acceleration in a head on into the wall or another car crash.The brain inside the skull cannot take the trauma that results from such physical forces.Open cockpit cars well always be susceptible to debris entering the cockpit or the cockpit, with driver exposed, entering a debris field..
That's really not true, Open wheel race cars have been run on Ovals for close to a hundred years. The speed of the cars is the issue. They've been designed to run on ovals.
In NASCAR, the restrictor plate does the same thing. At Daytona and Talladega it takes HP from 850 to around 600. The cars top speed is limited to 190 to 200 based on the size of the restrictor plate. They don't lift and all run the same speed unless they are drafting. Once they pull out of the draft they loose what little they gained. It's the same principle.
Yep, he's spot on with the plexi-fence idea. Pro Hockey has it? Why can't pro motor sport? it'll be need to be bigger and stronger, obviously, but it should be doable
@99Karloff The problem with jumping on the brakes is, they would immediately get run over by whoever was behind them. I think Paul Tracy's car was the one run over by Dan Wheldon, because PT had already been collected. The same was the case with Will Power. Also, if the cars went down on the flat apron at that speed, they would spin back up the track into the middle of the whole mess.
Since the first race I went to on the streets of Detroit Belle isle back when Tracy was driving the red and white Marlboro car always been a big PT fan 💯
Wade Cunningham touch another car and go down the track collecting J R Hildebrand, Jay Howard and Townsend Bell. Then Charlie Kimball, E J Viso, Vítor Mira and Buddy Rice got together and Dan Wheldon hit them going airborne. Simultaneously, Tracy and Tomas Sheckter got together and Pippa Mann hit Tracy also going airborne. Behind him Will Power got into the back of Alex Lloyd going airborne. Power and Mann survived going in the air but Wheldon didn’t. That’s the crash breakdown and how it happened.
where did i mention width??? and so now that your the expert. what is your expert view on this matter. and also how do you figure a low horsepower package. do you know how much drag is created at around 200mph. bloody heaps. to be able to pull close to 380km/h the only thing that will overcome the drag is horsepower. which i dont think these cars are lacking in by any means.
yes but with a track that basically forces pack racing due to a lack of room i dont see how somebody can overlook that. without the lack of room it gives the field room to spread out. as it normally does and would have reduced the chances of this type of accident from happening.
He already has a 1000 yard stare, and i think he's missing the part of his brain that is responsible for implementing caution. ' I can't watch NASCAR without taking a 3 hour nap in the middle somewhere'
the problem lies really with the length. just to many cars for length. i dont think 30mph would have saved dans life unfortunately. keeping them out of a bunch might but hindsight is a great thing.
The issue is not the oval. It's running them on NASCAR style high banked ovals. Indy cars have to lift at Indy, they did not have to lift at Las Vegas. Indy cars have no business at these high speed ovals. But this is what you get when a moron who used to run rodeos is put in charge of racing.
It was NOT the speed of the cars or the short oval racetrack that contributed to the crash, no. It was the AMOUNT OF CARS that were on the racetrack... 34 cars on a 1.5 mile track like Las Vegas? THAT is a recipe for disaster.
You now absolutely shit about auto racing. Indianapolis is only a few feet wider than this track. It has nothing to do with size. It's the high downforce low horsepower package that creates pack racing. The cars hit terminal velocity and all run the same speed, that is what creates it. It the same with stock cars at Daytona and Talladega with the restrictor plates.
you're right, but then it means giving up the oval; and, boy, what a disappointment it will be for the Americans watching. I mean, right turns? huh? is that even possible? The viewership and revenues will take a downfall, for sure.
@@shakeemrobinson30 well he would know. everything he says is correct. no drivel comes out of his mouth. in any case, the biggest as in the most attended race, for sure. the most significant in the motor racing world, worldwide, as in outside of america, indy is not.
American dont get one simply thing !! Open wheel cars are not designed to this type of races or small tracks !!!!!! This its only more safe for nascar stock cars ! For this its better using race trascks like they use in the formula 1 !
No, but your bullshit assertions that the number of cars killed him is just that....bullshit. It would have happened the same way with 15 cars on the track. Pack racing in open wheel cars is the problem. Not the track, speed, or number of cars.
