I have been reading many comments on other blogs and news reports complaining about the crash that killed Dan Wheldon. Most people were sadly misinformed or just plain stupid.First, when the Indy Car people decided to come to Las Vegas, they were not planning on a 100+ degree day. The normal temperature around this time is in the lower 80's if not cooler. But we have been in a hot spell where the temps have been around 95 in the shade and on the track had to been at least 100 or hotter. I was at the race and it was hot and I had to take several breaks from the heat. I am sure the heat made the track slicker.
There may have been a precursor to the events on Sunday. There was a NASCAR Camping World truck race the day before and at the same time of day and there were numerous accidents in the race. There was something like 12 cautions for the truck race, which is quite a bit, even for the trucks. Several drivers complained about the slickness of the track. So, perhaps the heat had a lot to do with the crash.
They also had 34 cars start the race. In the Indy 500, they only have 33 cars. However, I am a true fan of Indy car racing, if you have read my blog and if they thought 34 was a safe number, I'll take their worrd for it.. You can argue that some of the drivers were not that experienced.
Also, the race had just started, so you had full fuel tanks and that probably caused many of the fires.
Some people have said that speeds were to fast. If you put a restrictor plate in the Indy cars, then the racing would have been even closer and there could have been even a worse tragedy. Would 190MPH made a difference if the the cars were even closer together?
But then you say, what about NASCAR? The NASCAR racing has been extremely boring the past couple of years. It was so boring this year that I fell asleep during the race for a few minutes at the track. The Indy cars pride themselves of side by side racing, NASCAR does not.
So, for those who blame the track, please, look at all the facts and not emotion. Maybe they should have waited until it got cooler in the day to have the race, but that probably was not possible because of the TV contracts. And how many drivers like slower racing?
We are going to find out a lot more in the next few days/weeks. Maybe they will find fault with the track but in the end, I believe this was just a tragic accident.
