Paul Dana Passes away - Page 2

gttouring · 26 Mar 2006, 21:03 (Ref:1561600)

It is truly sad- rookie, young man, condolences to the family. he had no choice but to go straight through it lloked like in the video

rustyfan · 26 Mar 2006, 21:06 (Ref:1561604)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gttouring

It is truly sad- rookie, young man, condolences to the family. he had no choice but to go straight through it lloked like in the video

He did have a choice - he could have slowed down. Question is why he didn't

Knowlesy · 26 Mar 2006, 21:10 (Ref:1561607)

There have been differing reports....

Some sites say the spotter told him to go low and hold his speed.
Others say he was told simply to go low.
And I've heard it suggested he ignored his spotter, which I find somewhat hard to believe.

It is an error of judgement on someones part, but it is an accident and should be left at that. No-one should be berated over it.

rustyfan · 26 Mar 2006, 21:26 (Ref:1561622)

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowlesy

It is an error of judgement on someones part, but it is an accident and should be left at that. No-one should be berated over it.

Totally agree. At the same time I do not think it's wrong in any way to try and find why it happened.

If the spotter indeed told Dana to go low and maintain his speed (something I have a hard time believing, to be honest) and he did that while ignoring the flashing caution lights around the track as well on the steering wheel, I'd say there is a very unfortunate set of circumstances at work leading up to the tragedy.

Then again, now that I think about it, given his inexperience it might have made more sense to Dana to trust his spotter when he made that split-second decision.

I want to make clear that I'm not trying to place blame on anyone - I just want to explore any possibilities in order to try and understand why it happened. There are lessons to be learned here, as with all racing fatalities.

Knowlesy · 26 Mar 2006, 21:28 (Ref:1561624)

Indeed. If it is found out why it happened, steps can perhaps be taken to limit the possibility of similar accidents in future.

Suze · 26 Mar 2006, 21:36 (Ref:1561629)

If finding out what happened and why, then it may be beneficial for the future.

However, what's happened is awful - condolences to his family and friends. RIP.

Sheila M · 26 Mar 2006, 21:37 (Ref:1561631)

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Indeed. If it is found out why it happened, steps can perhaps be taken to limit the possibility of similar accidents in future.

Knowlesy, you have the word in there - "accident". I believe that this was purely a very tragic racing accident. I don't think blame can be apportioned to anyone. Carpenter was a passenger in a vehicle that no-one (not even the most experienced of spotters or racers) could have anticipated where it was going next. Dana didn't have the experience to judge for himself and placed his trust in his spotter.

Mosport67 · 26 Mar 2006, 21:43 (Ref:1561634)

Sad day for racing to lose a driver. It now happens infrequently but it is always a shock.

My thoughts to Paul's family and friends.

The race does go on. Look at Fontana in 1999 when the race continued. Really tough on the drivers to race under these circumstances though.

Knowlesy · 26 Mar 2006, 21:50 (Ref:1561640)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheila M

Knowlesy, you have the word in there - "accident". I believe that this was purely a very tragic racing accident. I don't think blame can be apportioned to anyone. Carpenter was a passenger in a vehicle that no-one (not even the most experienced of spotters or racers) could have anticipated where it was going next. Dana didn't have the experience to judge for himself and placed his trust in his spotter.

Well yes, I've been saying it was an accident all through the thread and I firrmly believe in that judgement.

In an ideal world, it would be left at that. But it probably won't be.

But if anything can be done to help avert similar disasters, it cannot hurt and the Indycar Series will no doubt look at this.

However, I don't truly believe that anything can improve future situations.......because, as I've said many times now, it was purely an accident.

BSchneiderFan · 26 Mar 2006, 21:51 (Ref:1561641)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheila M

A lovely gesture by the team not to race.

Lovely, but surely a no-brainer for Bobby. They couldn't race after this.

So, so sad. A bad weekend for motorsport, what with the awful news from Catalunya. A reminder, I suppose, that the sport we all love can come back and bite you.

Knowlesy · 26 Mar 2006, 21:53 (Ref:1561643)

When it bites, it bites in droves too...

Sheila M · 26 Mar 2006, 21:54 (Ref:1561647)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Lovely, but surely a no-brainer for Bobby. They couldn't race after this.

So, so sad. A bad weekend for motorsport, what with the awful news from Catalunya. A reminder, I suppose, that the sport we all love can come back and bite you.

Yep - It says on the back of all tickets and programmes "motorsport is dangerous".

**touringlegend** · 26 Mar 2006, 21:56 (Ref:1561650)

The Sky coverage said Ed Carpenter was still classed as critical, but the American commentators then said he was stable - I assume he is stable, hopefully?

Knowlesy · 26 Mar 2006, 22:00 (Ref:1561655)

Stable and critical I would think.

The stable part is at least a positive aspect to build on...

BSchneiderFan · 26 Mar 2006, 22:09 (Ref:1561661)

I've just (reluctantly) watched the video on ESPN. 'Scuse my French, but the poor ******* never had a chance. Horrific, just horrific. Reminded me of Zanardi's terrible crash. No blame attached to anyone, I don't think, just the luck of the bloody draw. Brian Barnhart seemed gutted.

Mods can edit this if they want; written in the grip of emotion, so apologies for anything inappropriate.

Racer_kyle · 26 Mar 2006, 22:53 (Ref:1561687)

Feel really sorry for the spotter.

Drivers literally put their life in their hands. The guy must be feeling really guilty, even if there was nothing he could do but direct his driver one way or the other.

Horiffic accident. Good to see a subdued victory lane after the race.

Alwaysfirst · 26 Mar 2006, 23:35 (Ref:1561717)

Terrible-there's no more to say.
RIP Paul Dana

demolicionchica · 26 Mar 2006, 23:50 (Ref:1561734)

Very sad news.

Our condolences go out to Pauls family and friends.

Also wish a speedy recovery to Ed Carpenter.

indycool · 27 Mar 2006, 00:39 (Ref:1561774)

A tragic day for motorsports and a difficult race to continue for the participants. RIP, Paul, and our thoughts and prayersare with your family.

kingfloopy · 27 Mar 2006, 00:52 (Ref:1561783)

Sad news to hear. Rest in peace Paul Dana.

J.D.

okeefe · 27 Mar 2006, 01:00 (Ref:1561791)

Whew, this is the very first Indy season I'm watching and the very first Indy race I've watched in its entirety for quite a while (I followed mostly CC last year, and always F1). Indeed, what a sad day for the sport as a whole.

drdisque · 27 Mar 2006, 01:21 (Ref:1561802)

more recent news is that all tests on Ed Carpenter have come back negative and that he is being kept overnight for observation and will probably be released tomorrow.

KE30MAN · 27 Mar 2006, 01:40 (Ref:1561820)

RIP - Paul, horrible news.

Tenoch · 27 Mar 2006, 02:28 (Ref:1561846)

These are really bad news. Ive only been watching motorsports since 2002 and the irl since last year so this is my first race related death and its trully shocking and i can honestly say that this all came as a huge surreality to me.

RIP Paul Dana

D.R.T. · 27 Mar 2006, 02:29 (Ref:1561847)

Condolences to the Dana family. Paul was living his dream and its awful how it has ended.

RIP Paul Dana

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