final credits - paul dana
Indy Racing League driver Paul Dana died after a two-car crash during the warmup for the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 IndyCar Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
Going into the track's second turn, fellow-driver Ed Carpenter lost control of his car moments after the practice began.
It shot up the track and hit the concrete retaining wall backwards. Carpenter's car bounced back across the track and slowly spun toward the infield.
The yellow flag was thrown immediately and the caution lights started to flash.
Carpenter's car slid to a stop in the lower half of the track. Paul Dana slammed into it at almost full speed -- 200 mph (320 kmh).
The resulting collision nearly split Dana's car in half.
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It took track safety workers 15 minutes to get both drivers out of their cars. They were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Dana died within hours, and Carpenter suffered a bruised lung.
The practice session did not resume.
A moment of silence was observed before the start of the 300-mile race. The pre-race ceremonies, including the introduction of the remaining 17 drivers, went according to schedule.
Paul Dana drove his Ethanol-Honda-Panoz-Firestone car for Rahal-Letterman Racing, a team owned by veteran driver Bobby Rahal and talk show host David Letterman. Rahal won the Indianapolis 500 in 1986.
Two other drivers for Rahal-Letterman were pulled from the race: Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indy 500 winner, and Danica Patrick, the 2005 Indy 500 and IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year.
Dana was preparing for his first race with the Rahal-Letterman Racing team after recording a career-high ninth in race qualifications.
Dana brought Team Ethanol sponsorship to the Indy Racing League in 2004. He finished second in the 2004 Indy Pro Series standings. Dana moved up to the IndyCar Series in 2005 with Hemelgarn Racing but competed in only three races due to a back injury suffered during practice for the Indianapolis 500.
Prior to racing in the CART League in 2001, Dana worked as a journalist for AutoWeek, Sports Illustrated and Maxim. He had a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
Paul Dana died March 26th, 2006 at age 30. His official web site can be found at www.pauldana.com.
It was not immediately clear why Dana was unable to avoid Carpenter, whose spin had occurred well in front of Dana and had triggered the yellow caution lights.
"That's just the first time of the weekend that we got all 20 cars on the track at the same time," IRL President Brian Barnhart said. "Ed had his problem in Turn Two initially. The yellow lights were called immediately and all systems functioned properly. It's just a busy time out there, with a lot of cars and a lot of traffic."
Rahal said the team knew of no problem with communications.
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.
Dana was the third driver to die in the 10-year history of the IRL and the first since Tony Renna was killed in a crash during testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October, 2003. Scott Brayton died in a practice crash at Indianapolis in May, 1996.
The last NASCAR driver killed was Dale Earnhardt in February, 2001 The last driver to die in Formula One was Ayrton Senna in May, 1994. The last driver killed in the Champ Car World Series was Canadian Greg Moore in 1999.
Dana's was the third racing death at the Homestead track. John Nemechek was killed in a NASCAR truck race in February, 1997 and Jeff Clinton died in a Grand Am sports car event at the track in March, 2002.
The IRL also had a tragedy in May, 1999 when a wheel from a car sailed into the grandstand at what was then Charlotte Motor Speedway, killing three spectators and injuring eight others.
The 2006 Toyota Indy 300 was won by reigning IRL champion Dan Wheldon. He edged Helio Castroneves by a nose after they raced side-by-side for several laps, winning by just 0.0147 seconds.
On his show broadcast March 27th, 2006 David Letterman paid tribute to the newest member of his race team.
Well, I want to talk about something here tonight that I wish I didn't have to talk about. But yesterday, down in Florida, it was a sad day in the world of motor sports -- automobile racing.
I've been an auto fan -- an auto racing fan -- all my life. Living in Indianapolis, and going out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, you realise early on that it's thrilling, it's exhilarating, there's nothing quite like it and it also can be deadly dangerous. And from time to time, the sport has a way of killing one of its own. And that's what happened yesterday.
Down in Florida, in a practice session before a race at the track in Homestead, Florida, Paul Dana, a driver who was driving for Bobby Rahal and myself -- [he was] 30 years old, and this was to be his first season with our team.
These people know the risks that they're taking, and they don't do it because the sport is dangerous. They do it because they love what they do; they enjoy what they do; and they're very good at what they do. But having said that, it's a terribly, terribly sad day when this eventuality seems to strike.
And it's not hard to imagine the despair and the sorrow that Paul Dana's wife Tonya and the rest of his family are feeling now. And I want them to know that they have the thoughts and prayers of myself, the entire Rahal Letterman team, and the entire racing community. And hopefully, that will give them the slightest amount of comfort during these horribly, horribly dark days ahead.
The other lesson that we learn here is that ... getting through one day does not guarantee the next. And that's something you should never let go of. All I can say is: God bless Paul Dana and his wife and his family & friends.