2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel 

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RIP Dan. You were a great racer and a great person. I'm glad I got the chance to meet you at last year's Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. And I'm glad I got to enjoy watching you race IndyCars for the past 10 years.

To those of you who wonder if racing is worth it. Yes, it is. Every racer accepts the risk of possible injury/death. I understand that because I also accept the risk of possible injury/death in my future career as an US Army officer.

I love racing and I will continue to follow racing and racing in games and go karts. I still hope I'll get to drive an IndyCar someday even if it's just 4 laps at 180 MPH in the IndyCar Fan Experience.

I love racing too much to give it up. Dan and any professional racer wouldn't want to give it up and they wouldn't want us to give it up.
 
The YouTube videos of the accident have now made most viewed, which I sort of hoped wouldn't happen because now some people are joking about it. 👎
 
prisonermonkeys
It's the comments section of YouTube. What else were you expecting? It's the latrines of the internet.
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I've known that for a while, I was sort of expecting it, but some people on there are ridiculous. I mean really.
 
Just got back in town from Vegas. Obviously, it doesn't need to be mentioned that the mood at the track was grim. We stayed for the salutory laps. I couldn't hold it in. I still get teary when I think about it. What a horrific sight. Complete carnage. I can't watch TV, because it seems every 2 hours someone else has another version of what happened, none of them being true. It wasn't the track, or the # in the field, or the bump in turn 2, or fence, or speed. Yes, it all played a part, but in the end, it was race car drivers doing what they do. They were on a tight track, and they were bunched up making moves to the front. It was the perfect storm of circumstances. I just hope they don't do something stupid to the sport, thinking it will make it safer.
His car from 2011 Indy 500 is currently at the Reagan Library, and they put up a small memorial. We are heading up there tomorrow. RIP Dan Weldon. You will be missed.
 
Any idea as to how the track looks?
 
No. Nothing has been released yet, except to say that a race will take place.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out - China doesn't have the greatest reputation when it comes to street circuits. A few years ago, they ran an A1GP race in Yizhuang, just outside Beijing ... only to find that the hairpin was too tight for the cars to take (there is a reason why the FIA does not like cars going up and down a dual carriageway). And then last year, Stupid Football Thing went to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Basin (both circuits were confusingly named the "Beijing International Street Circuit"), but it was found that a section across the back of the circuit was too narrow for FIA Grade-2 regulations, and it failed its licencing. The race was run as a "national" non-championship event instead.

So the Chinese have a lot of work to do for Qingdao - A1GP and Superleague Formula were child's play compared to Indycar.
 
From another forum about the DW12:
"Right now they are having problems with the super speedway configuration. They have only been able to get the car up to 216 at Indy. It sounds like that they have too much weight in the back and are trying to figure out a way to move some of it forward. "
"Dario and Tk were reporting the same problem with the Honda and Chevy cars which were similar to what Wheldon was reporting to Dallara. TK has flown out to Itally to get in the simulator to help Dallara out. "
 
Lotus announces team partners, none of them are KV Racing Technologies

So all of those two years spent with KV Racing were apparently for nothing, since they've chosen to go with Chevy engines along with Andretti and Penske (Ironic since Penske races Dodges in NASCAR, you'd think Dodge would be happier with them racing with Honda or even Lotus, not that I know how much influence they carry, 'cause I don't). I'm really going to laugh when the Lotus engines turn out to be some of the best/fastest/most reliable and all of the big teams get left in the dust by what were formerly relative back-markers on the grid.
 
Snaeper
So all of those two years spent with KV Racing were apparently for nothing, since they've chosen to go with Chevy engines
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I think KV Racing Technology had every intention of running the Lotus-branded Judd engines ... but Lotus were late in paying Judd for their work, delaying delivery. KV got fed up with waiting and terminated the contract early.
 
Cowboys965
:( Lotus wasn't backmarkers all the time, like Tony Kanaan got 3rd in Baltimore.
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You mis-understood me. The teams that Lotus has signed on with to supply engines for ARE back-markers. KV Racing is not one of those teams, because KV Racing was a pretty successful outfit with a good driver lineup (i.e. TK). After two years of being partners with Lotus and having relatively healthy success, they choose to go with Chevy engines instead. Since Chevy and Honda soaked up all of the "good" teams, that left some of the smaller and less-successful outfits to take the Lotus engines, which is why I'm going to laugh if the Lotus engines end up being the best of the three. Then KV Racing would heavily regret their decision.

But that may not be the entire case.

To confuse matters further, former F1 driver (and Group Lotus brand ambassador) Jean Alesi will make his Indianapolis 500 debut in a KV Racing car, fitted with a Lotus engine…
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There technically ARE two KV Racing teams in Indy... so now I'm curious if they're running separate engines since they can get away with it.

KV Racing/Lotus

KV Racing/SH Racing
 
Cowboys965
:( Lotus wasn't backmarkers all the time, like Tony Kanaan got 3rd in Baltimore.
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I think you mean KV. Lotus aren't with KV so Snaeper is correct in saying former backmarkers when refers to future teams..as that doesn't include KV Racing.

The reason KV dropped the Lotus deal is that they were left waiting around for Group Lotus to confirm their participation. They didn't want to be left with no engine...at one point this year it was looking like Honda and Chevrolet were going to have to pick up the left over teams and supply them (with each giving statements that they would grudgingly do so because it wouldn't be cost-effective but they didn't want to see the teams leave).

Considering the Lotus engine is a re-badged Judd engine, we shall see if its any good. It depends how much Group Lotus spend developing it, as Judd obviously need money to spend and it can't all come just from supplier contracts. I personally reckon that Lotus are not going to be spending the same amounts as Honda and Chevrolet/Illmor but we'll see.
 
That is insanely good news, as long as his replacement isn't anywhere near as bad I may actually watch now.
 
Glad to heard they made the move on Barnhart.
Making the biennial trek to Indy in 2012. If anyone is going, let me know. Maybe we can hook up for a toast to Dan.
 
Can't say I didn't see that coming. Honestly, I'm not sure I would've liked seeing it on the 2012 Schedule.
 
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