Dan Wheldon

"I've been told that racing is not a sport. I've been told that it's just a bunch of cars going around in circles. Both of those statements are laughable and show the ignorance of the person saying them. But the one statement that has always confused me, is when I'm told that they aren't athletes. They just drive a car. They aren't doing anything physical. Now anyone that knows anything about the sport knows how factually incorrect that statement is, but lets take that at face value. It doesn't get more physical than auto racing. Football you take a tackle. Baseball you get to hit a ball with a stick. Dan Wheldon was a race car driver. He didn't take a tackle and get up for the next play. He didn't swing at a ball and then go drink some Gatorade. Dan Wheldon lost his life in his sport. He's not getting ready to look at film to fix the defense. His wife is making his funeral arrangements. Her husband is gone. His siblings are mourning the loss of their brother. His kids will not only grow up without a father, but probably won't even remember his existence. He won't get to see them grow up. He doesn't get to have the "there's always next year" mentality that other athletes get to have when they get injured or have a bad game. His wife will have to explain to her kids why their daddy isn't coming back. He died participating in a sport full of other guys that like Wheldon, aren't considered athletes by some people. You go take a tackle, pop some pain pills, HGH, and steroids because apparently that makes you an athlete. That's what's considered physical. Dan Wheldon is dead. It doesn't get any more physical than that."-- dan wheldon fan page on fb.

With that being said, every driver knows exactly what COULD happen at anytime at any track. RIP to a great talent and this year's Indy 500 champ

I hate when people say racing isn't a sport :atomic:

That was a great quote for such a great man...

100% agreed!

Racing isnt a real sport huh? Tell that to Earnhart JR, tell him that his dad was a fat guy that drove around in circles, I'd be willing to bet you get punched in the mouth.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I think that this was probably one of the worst crashes I have ever seen. What amazes me is how much air his car got from that one hit. It truly is sad to see what his family is going through.

yea, no kidding.. then you'd have a line that stretched from coast to coast waiting to do the same lol

dlinsbeck wrote:

I think that this was probably one of the worst crashes I have ever seen. What amazes me is how much air his car got from that one hit. It truly is sad to see what his family is going through.

agreed, it was very hard to watch. def one of the worst crashes I've seen. Although the Ricky Craven crash at Talladega way back was pretty nasty too, although had a much better end result

Yeah that crash was awful. I read about it happening, but at the time it said he had "serious injuries." Then when I get home and turned the TV on, which was on ESPN2 I think, and first thing I see was his picture and the 1978-2011 thing..and I just was just blown away.

very sad, takes me back to earnhart, def shows just how dangerous it can be even with all the new safety equipment.