Paul Dana Killed at Homestead

[5&counting]

Paul Dana was killed today in practice / warm up session today.

[Rossfeld]

I saw it mentioned he did Skippy World in 98/99? Which series? I dont remember seeing his name at the time.

[cdh]

here is his bio, Skip driver in 1998, from the bio:

In 1998 he moved to Indianapolis and began competing in Skip Barber Formula Dodge, earning 6 wins, 7 poles, 5 seconds and 5 thirds. Finishing in the top 20 nationally out of more than 700 competitors, he earned an invitation to the inaugural Formula Dodge National Championship.

Paul Dana

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[OLDMAN]

Although I can only go on what I saw on the tube, it appears that Paul got to the site of the spin-out many seconds after it occured and at full throttle. It's as if his spotter did not warn him of the spin.

It's a dangerous way to earn a living, it's an even more dangerous hobby.


OLDMAN

[PT Cruiser]

I recall that Paul did at least a few races in the Southern Series in the late 90s. Met him one or two times. Seemed like an intelligent guy, and was VERY, VERY ambitious about his racing career. He was reasonably fast at the time, but also had a reputation for driving over his head, and taking numerous unnecessary risks. Of course, many would argue that the only way you become fast is to take risks and push your personal envelope. . . . Paul certainly had committment as a driver, if nothing else. On the basis of his demonstrated driving talent at the time, I wouldn't have picked him out as the SBRS driver most likely to succeed, but clearly he had more talent and determination than most at putting together sponsership deals, as demonstrated by the fact that he got the third seat at Rahal/Letterman this year.

Very sad to see this happen just as he was realizing his ambitions by getting himself into a first class ride in the big leagues. My sympathies to his wife and family.

[jp56]

It looks like it could have been a rookie mistake, but it's hard to say without actually being there. There was a yellow and the yellow was radioed to him when Carpenter spun. Telementry showed he braked only tenths of a second before impact. This was a few seconds after the yellow lights flashed on the track. He could have been distracted as he just made a clean pass on another car on and probabaly had his hands full and didn't hear or tuned out his spotters warning. Perhaps his radio failed. Who knows. There will be a lot of conjecture about what actually happened, but the best we can do is all learn from this tragedy. My heart goes out to his wife and family.

[jp56]

I might add that going around an oval at an average speed of 180 mph in a 20+ second lap, a couple a seconds warning covers a lot of distance. The sooner IRL and Champ car merge and reduce these oval races the better IMHO.

[cdh]

there is video that shows a different angle not seen in the US broadcasts I watched. Dana hit debris right before the collision. It seems unlikely this was of any consequence and it is doubtful he could have avoided the crash at this point, but it is one more question in this tragic event. I grabbed the clips off Spanish TV, debris at 30 seconds and at end:

video - 1 min

If this posting seems in poor taste then my apologies and I will remove it if anyone feels I should. I thought it was interesting.

On a more positive note, here are highlights of the final laps, for anyone who didn't see it, it is very exciting racing.

video - 5 min

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[gmg321]

Tragic. I was unbelievably impressed with Dan Wheldon's thoughtful interview in victory circle. My condolences to the Dana family.

[Susan Addison]

Michael,

I was amazed by the depth of insight and feeling from Dan Wheldon.
He said it very well. He went out and did his job. The joy for the victory was offset by the tragic death for all of the racers.

Psalms 139 says that all of our days are known by God, when as yet there is was not one of them. It is sobering to realize we need to live today to the fullest. Hug our kids, love our spouses, hold on to peace in chaos, and be grateful for our blessings.

Our prayers go out to the Dana Family. I understand she was in church when the news came, so I know she has a good support network.

Susan:

[cdh]

Originally Posted by gmg321

Tragic. I was unbelievably impressed with Dan Wheldon's thoughtful interview in victory circle. My condolences to the Dana family.

Absolutely, a real gentleman. I think he was a bit surprised at the upbeat tone of the interviewer but he certainly kept it in perspective.

Here is the interview -

video - 2:14

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[Matt]

Very sad. Here's an interesting perspective from Robin Miller.

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/22748/

[jp56]

Good article from Robin Miller.

[Rossfeld]

Any guesses on what the piece of debris from Carpenter's car is? It looks big and heavy, like a brake assembly, chunk of the gearbox, something. Its definitely not just a bit of bodywork.