IndyCar execs Thursday “walked through the findings of a two-month investigation” into the crash that killed driver Dan Wheldon during the league's season finale on Oct. 16 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and found that “contact with a post supporting the catch fence killed two-time Indianapolis 500 winner,” according to Curt Cavin of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Outgoing IndyCar President of Competition & Racing Brian Barnhart, who oversaw the committee examining the 15-car accident, said, "It was a perfect storm." Barnhart and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard stressed the $5M Go Daddy "promotion that brought Wheldon to the event and the sport's largest field since 1997 -- 34 cars -- had nothing to do with the fatality.” The “banking of the track," which is 20 degrees in the turns, also had no impact. However, “high grip level, variable lines of racing that made driving relatively easy and the rare track blockage that Wheldon encountered contributed greatly.” The speed of Wheldon's car -- 165 mph -- along with “the weight of the car made for contact with the post that he couldn't survive.” The findings were released “on the same day the first of the next-generation Indy cars were distributed to race teams.” While Barnhart said that there is “no guarantee the new model can avoid being launched as four cars were in this accident,” IndyCar VP/Technology Will Phillips said that “design features have reduced such a possibility ‘by 50 percent.’" IndyCar is “forming a committee to study the viability of racing on high-banked ovals in the future.” Barnhart said that each track “must be evaluated separately because ‘the overall track geometry’ varies from track to track” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 12/16). Barnhart on Thursday said the “entire racetrack was usable and the lanes were limitless.” Barnhart: “That was a variable that had not been seen before” (USA TODAY, 12/16).
KEEPING CARS OUT OF THE AIR: SPEEDTV.com’s Robin Miller wrote the “pressing question going forward with the new cars named in Wheldon’s memory is how can IndyCar try and prevent cars from taking flight?” Phillips said, “We have to stop the cars from flying and taking off and the new car has several features to try and stop that.” Miller wrote the “bottom line” is that IndyCar and automaker Dallara have “tried to take steps to reduce the kind of aerial assault we witnessed at Vegas.” Indy car racing is “the safest it’s ever been and drivers usually walk away from ferocious impacts.” But Miller added, “It’s still open-wheel racing and it’s still dangerous” (SPEEDTV.com, 12/15).
