Pieces of cars in stands?

The loose wheel yesterday was a freak accident. Rare, extreme circumstances. Indycar will look more at secring via tethers, I'm sure.

Major difference between NASCAR and indycar in regard to this kind of safety. Indycar the fence are/have been strong enough to keep the car within the catchfence boundaries for years now because the car is lighter. In NASCAR the fences have recently been upgraded after Carl's Talladega crash and Larson's Daytona crash. It's apples to oranges comparison in safety issues. In any imaginable scenario in indycar the car is light enough and breaks apart enough that major pieces piercing the fence would almost certainly not happen (not since Rennas test crash in 03'). NASCAR needed to upgrade their fences and they finally did, culminating with Dillon's crash at Daytona having as good of an outcome as you can realistically prepare for... better than Carl Edwards and Larson's crashes.

There's very little point in upgrading catchfences in indycar given the fences can already withstand cars impacting them. That's in regard to fan safety and fence integrity, at least. The tethers will be a cheaper/faster fix than fences, and that is for sure the route indycar will go.

I don't think NASCAR needs to do anything based on what indycar car does. NASCAR has always been more safety aware since 2002 or so, and they're wayyyy ahead of Indycar in safety even with all of indycar's advancements in the last 10 years.
 
If it happened in NASCAR, there would be outrage. Threads of dump the Next Gen....and a call for Elton Sawyer's head. IndyCar? Shut off the shoulders....that's racin'.
 
oh yeah I remember but do they need to do more?
Daytona also moved the stands back during the renovations.

Not sure many other ovals have real problem spots, although Charlotte doesn’t have catch fencing in turn 3. It might be good to put some there just in case.
 
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If it happened in NASCAR, there would be outrage. Threads of dump the Next Gen....and a call for Elton Sawyer's head. IndyCar? Shut off the shoulders....that's racin'.

Indycar's safety record is not nearly as good as NASCAR's. They seem OK with a few injuries a season and a death every decade or so. NASCAR has higher standards for driver safety.
 
Indycar's safety record is not nearly as good as NASCAR's. They seem OK with a few injuries a season and a death every decade or so. NASCAR has higher standards for driver safety.
Crazy to assume they are “OK” with those results.

There are some inherent differences with regard to ****pit enclosure, speed, and seat location that will be hard to overcome without fundamentally changing what an open wheel car is.
 
Crazy to assume they are “OK” with those results.

There are some inherent differences with regard to ****pit enclosure, speed, and seat location that will be hard to overcome without fundamentally changing what an open wheel car is.

I agree that the nature of open-wheel makes it inherently more dangerous. What makes me think Indycar is ok with their current setup is that there's no attempt/talk to slow down the cars at ovals, despite record speeds and an exponential increase in speeds over the past decade.

I would also argue that both Indycar and F1 both ho-hummed about halos/aeroscreens far too long... akin to NASCAR waiting on mandating the HANS device.
 
I agree that the nature of open-wheel makes it inherently more dangerous. What makes me think Indycar is ok with their current setup is that there's no attempt/talk to slow down the cars at ovals, despite record speeds and an exponential increase in speeds over the past decade.

I would also argue that both Indycar and F1 both ho-hummed about halos/aeroscreens far too long... akin to NASCAR waiting on mandating the HANS device.
The increase in speeds has been accompanied by the numerous safety advancements they’ve developed in the same time span. Yeah, they were reactive with regard to the aeroscreen, but like you said, so was NASCAR with everything that happened in 2000/2001. Most racing series are, when something unforeseen happens. The aeroscreen would’ve directly prevented the last two IndyCar fatalities and has already prevented several more in the few years since it was implemented.

Dan and Justin were some of the most beloved and respected guys in the paddock, there is no one who was OK with them passing. There’s so much they’ve done since with side impact intrusion protection, the aeroscreen, nose cone tethers, wheel tethers, c0ckpit head protection padding. There is nothing that’ll ever reduce risk to zero, but they absolutely put in work to do what they can.
 
as I recall, and I could be wrong. But i'm pretty sure INDYCAR has a 3/8" steel tether from the monocoque to the wheel upright. In the incident yesterday, either the wheel separated from the upright, or the cable was cut at the same time as the control arms.

Edit - It's Zylon andIndycar already announced that the wheel separated from the upright; The tether did not fail.
 
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Talk about being lucky, the fans in the grandstands were very lucky at Indy, as well as anyone in the park lot.

Except for the guy who's car got hit by the tire! I wonder if he knew before or did he not find out till after the race when getting ready to drive home?
 
I agree that the nature of open-wheel makes it inherently more dangerous. What makes me think Indycar is ok with their current setup is that there's no attempt/talk to slow down the cars at ovals, despite record speeds and an exponential increase in speeds over the past decade.

I would also argue that both Indycar and F1 both ho-hummed about halos/aeroscreens far too long... akin to NASCAR waiting on mandating the HANS device.
Pack racing in IndyCar was extremely dangerous. After Fontana 2015 they pretty much agreed the cars needed to be faster in order to be safer.
 
Pack racing in IndyCar was extremely dangerous. After Fontana 2015 they pretty much agreed the cars needed to be faster in order to be safer.

Agreed and honestly NASCAR should follow this. Knock down the banking a bit at Daytona & Talladega so the plates can come off. Ryan Newman could have easily been killed a few years back from that wreck that really can only happen there
 
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