The difference in restarting the race back in the day, and present times is this for example.

Myself and a few others were in the infield at Winchester, not watching an Indycar race, and under a yellow all I did was check my Facebook from my phone. News travels fast, and these are the things you can't keep from people.

Robin Miller said the drivers were edgy about going out there on that track anyway, and I don't blame them. I wouldn't have restarted.
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I definately agree with stopping the race. I had been following this race all weekend thru practice and qualifying. The drivers had not been on the track with over 16 cars at one time all weekend. Any of us that race open wheel cars knows the consequences of wheel on wheel contact and it hurts. After a bad flip it is fairly easy to get back in the car but in my case and opinion, it does take a little time to get the confidence and feel back in the car. Most people unfortunately could feel the outcome when they put the yellow tarp on the car(including the drivers from the way they talked) The bottom line is the drivers did not want to race anymore yesterday and they didn't. RIP Dan Wheldon! It was my pleasure talking to you on different occasions at the speedway. Best wishes to your family.

Dan wasnt the only one that "LOST" yesterday. We all lost a friend a father a brother etc etc. Dans death would be in vein if we restarted the race and there was another fatality or serious injury. MArk my words next season there will be major changes for that track. The 2012 chassis will also make a huge difference in protecting the driver. The drivers had a choice to make and We ALL support their decision. The series winner had already been decided and so had rookie of the year, There was nothing to be gained by racing yesterday. How would YOU celebrate a victory after losing a friend. Did you not see the tears Dario shed while getting strapped in his car. Obviously you have no contact with the racing community. Its a fraternity, a brotherhood understood only by those who are a part if it. Dan Wheldon was charismatic, charming. He was a mans man and a gentlemans gentleman. He was a father a husband and brother, a son and a friend. He will be sorely missed.

So before you start telling those who "DO" How to do IT DONT


Prayers to the entire Wheldon Family

Well said silent Majority

Very well put Team CGR. As far as whether they should've continued....I've seen it done both ways. I was 7 yrs. old when I witnessed my first racing fatality in person at Knoxville, Iowa in 1982. It was a gory front stretch accident on the start of the A and to my dismay they cancelled the rest of it. The circumstance was that they were under pressure to go to wings so they decided to just wait and put the wings on before racing again. IRL was in a very similar situation with this being the last race for the true openwheel cars as next years' version will have rear fenders and bumpers that will help keep that type of accident from happening. I believe they thought it best to just wait for safer cars next year to race again. I understand their position but am not sure if I agree or disagree. I've witnessed several other fatalities where they finished the race, including an extremely vivid and bloody crash at the Ultimate challenge in Oskaloosa, IA. Unlike Wheldon's it was right on the front stetch in front of everyone and an unsafe fence post design was to blame, yet the racers chose to continue that night. Helio was ready to keep racing although he was in front of it all and maybe didn't see the magnitude of it. In the end I don't believe Indy cars belong on high banked 1 and 1/2 mile tracks. They belong on mile tracks and once a year at Indy. And the engines belong in front. RIP Dan Wheldon, Gary Scott, and Keith Hutton.

We'll always wonder, if they had decided to continue the race, what the outcome would have been, we had already seen what one outcome could be, why try for a second round, sure, they would have all got in their cars, maybe, maybe not, I don't think any of them, down deep, didn't have some hidden fear, or concern, for what they were about to embark on, and what the results might be, I think the right decision was made, and agree with the after thoughts, that tracks like that,are just too fast for the open wheel cars, plus the fact, they had more cars, and less experience, on probably the quickest track they run on, I, as a lot of us do, wish it hadn't even started, why wasn't it looked at more carefully, I don't think there was one driver, that wasn't at least more concerned, than before the start of any other race. Sad as it is, it seems like someone always has to give their life, before something is looked at more closely, before it is done. It is a lot like going into battle, ask any soldier! Bob!

Pete, very well said. I tried several times yesterday after you posted to respond and couldn't. I was on the phone with a friend back in N. Y. at the moment the accident happend and another friend was calling before Alex Lloyd's car had come to a stop. Like your family I was glued to the TV until the coverage went off praying for the best, knowing I had just witnessed one of the worst accidents in my 50 plus years of racing.

While our thoughts and prayers were with everyone involved, we were trying to keep our emotions in check while very concerned waiting to hear who was involved in the crash, hoping and praying Davey Hamilton wasn't in another serious crash. Davey has built a huge fan base and made a lot of friends in the Central New York area from racing supermodifieds at Oswego Speedway. An endless amount of time seemed to pass before the list of drivers involved was released and even longer before Davey was interviewed. Somewhere between the list of drivers names being released and them interviewing Davey my friend said to me you know a name could have been left off that list. She was reading my mind 2500 hundred miles away, I had that thought but could not say it out loud. By the time Davey was interviewed it was becoming clearer that Dan Weldon was the most seriously injured, at this point our emotions were not only focusing on Dan and the racing community but a Central N. Y. family that lost there son during a high school football game on Friday night.

We are wearing orange today with young Ridge Barden's #70 on our hands. My daughter Stephanie went to the Phoenix Central School District in Phoenix, N. Y., young Ridge was playing for the Phoenix High School team at the time of his death.

After the news of Dan's passing was released my friends started posting on facebook praying for Dan, his family, team members and fans. One of those friends also posted the news out of Central New York was reporting a 23 year old Tenth Mountain Division Soldier had died in Afghanistan. It wasn't until flying home from Syracuse thru Atlanta to Phoenix in January that I ever had a thought about my two small grandsons ever growing up and severing Our Country. On that flight I was delayed wiith a group of young men from the Tenth Mountain Division, I got to thank many of them for serving and once we were in the air I was seated around many of them. Since January when ever I hear of a Tenth Mountain Solider being lost I find myself asking did I meet that young man last January and praying for a family whoes lives have changed in a split second. Their son has been lost to them defending Our Country.

Why we do it could not only be asked about racing, why do we let our young children play sports, why do we let our sons and daughters join the military. You answered far better than I could Pete. The answer is because it is what we do.

Why did Our God need to call these three young men home this past weekend? I believe that is a question there is no answer for.

My thoughts and prayers are with all three families, Dan's race team, fans and friends.

Patti

They should have finished the race. There, I told you.

[QUOTE=Silent Majority;258718] The series winner had already been decided and so had rookie of the year, There was nothing to be gained by racing yesterday.

The Championship was not decided yet, but I do agree with not restarting the race. Plus awarding the Championship trophy afterwards.

what good would come of that. A bunch of sorrow stricken drivers with their minds def not in to the race. Cars that are way to fast for that track. Maybe your the type of sicko that likes to watch a train wreck happen. For those of us in the racing community want to see each driver walk off under their own power. Im happy they didnt continue. A man lost his life. the world lost a friend. The tribute was awesome