Questions abound after fatal collision
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – It may never be clear why Paul Dana kept his foot on the gas, why he didn’t notice the danger signs in time, why he died the day his dream of driving for an elite IRL team was finally coming true.
With yellow lights flashing and other drivers slowing around him, the up-and-coming rookie slammed into a stopped, wrecked car at close to 200 mph during a warmup Sunday for the Toyota Indy 300, sending his shattered car flying.
Two hours after the scattered remains of Dana’s Honda-powered Panoz came to rest, the driver was pronounced dead at a hospital.
“Obviously, this is a very black day for us,” team co-owner Bobby Rahal said. “This is a great tragedy.”
The race went on as planned, and if the drivers had any jitters going in, it didn’t show: Defending Indy 500 and IRL points champion Dan Wheldon beat Helio Castroneves by a nose cone after a spectacular side-by-side duel in the final laps en route to the thrilling finish – one of the closest in Indy Racing League history.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dana family and all of Rahal Letterman racing,” said Wheldon, who ran the race with Dana’s No. 17 on his side pod. “It’s a very, very sad day. I think hopefully we put on a good race.”
About 30 minutes into the warmup session, Ed Carpenter’s car skidded off the concrete wall and spun down the track at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Cars began slowing and weaving to avoid Carpenter’s crippled ride – with the inexplicable exception of Dana.
The 30-year-old former motorsports journalist kept giving his car gas and rocketed past at least two other cars before slamming into Carpenter at nearly full speed.
“He carried way too much speed in and wasn’t aware of what was going on around him,” said Buddy Lazier, a former Indianapolis 500 winner and one of the drivers Dana shot past before the crash.
Dana’s onboard telemetry showed he braked only tenths of a second before the impact. The car nearly split in half, flying six feet in the air and nearly turning over before it landed on its wheels and slid to a halt.
“I really don’t know at this point what happened or who was at fault,” said Tony George, founder of the IRL, which began competition in 1996. “It’s just a real shame. I don’t know that it was inexperience. I don’t want to say anything about that.”
Both drivers were flown by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where Dana was pronounced dead about two hours after the 10:03 a.m. crash. IRL officials said tests revealed no injuries to Carpenter, 25, but he was kept overnight for observation.
Dana’s Rahal Letterman Racing teammates, IRL phenom Danica Patrick and former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice did not race Sunday.
Dana’s wife, Tonya, was in Indianapolis, where the couple lived, and was notified of her husband’s death while attending a church service.
Neither IRL nor team officials had any explanation for Dana’s failure to slow down for several seconds after the yellow lights came on around the track.
And Rahal said he knew of no problem with communications.
“The spotter made clear the incident,” Rahal said. “From what I could see, there was a car on the outside. Paul was just passing or had just passed, but I think it would be conjecture and probably very irresponsible for me to try to dissect as to why what happened, happened. But there was no problem with communication.”