Paul Dana Fatal Crash - IRL 2006

In the practice session for the first race of the 2006 IRL season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dana collided with Ed Carpenter's disabled car after Carpenter's tire went flat, thrusting the car into retaining wall, before sliding to the bottom of the track. Paul Dana, in the Rahal-Letterman car, was told to "go low" by his spotter, unfortunately this was the wrong call. Slow-motion footage showed that Paul had hit debris from Ed's car, moments before impact which caused damage to the right-front suspension, leaving him with no chance of avoiding contact.

ABC/ESPN's telemetry indicated Dana's car hit Carpenter's car at about 176 mph, while Scott Sharp, who was running alongside Dana, reported that he had slowed to approximately 50 mph by the time of Dana's impact.

Dana was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries just before noon. He was 30 years old, and is survived by his wife Tonya.

After his death, Dana's team-mates Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick did not compete in the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as a mark of respect for their deceased team mate.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• paul
• dana
• crash
• f-indy

[Greg4fun]

so Paul Dana was the guy who ran into the already wrecked car? or was he the car that got ran into? I know it wasn't his fault.. hard to stop on the dime in those things.. just clarifying

[leoeberl]

@Greg4fun yes, Paul Dana was the guy who ran into the already wrecked car !!

[mountainchannels]

if you see carefully, dana hit debris from the other car just before the crash at 0:29. reports say that the debris got stuck in his right suspension and because of that he could not brake effectively! and its not because he was a rookie. if he didn't hav the reflexes to brake early, he wouldn't be in that car in the first place. a driver is tested for a lot of stuff, including reflexes and vision and stuff.... so its impossible that he did not brake!

[leoeberl]

@mountainchannels u wrote, with differente words, what is written in the video description: "Slow-motion footage showed that Paul had hit debris from Ed's car, moments before impact which caused damage to the right-front suspension, leaving him with no chance of avoiding contact.".

[kobusinski96fan]

R.I.P Paul Dana

[VanHoorelbeke]

Hey ignorant girl, all kinds of safety features came from auto racing, mirrors, seat belts, power brakes and much better tire, so shut up and bake cookies

[LucaTurilli89]

@VanHoorelbeke but aren't those especially used in auto racing than over the world? Without auto racing the usual automobiles would still be with those safety features.

[Blackopsmw21]

@mountainchannels ya you also saw sparks come off his car to

[akalbfell]

@darkerego They do. Indy cars also have lights on the stearing wheel that do the same thing.

[x3StrifyKiroShin2oo8]

Oh...my...god! This looks so terrible. RIP Paul Dana. It's not fair young lives end so early. :(

[eduardo050898]

It was like the Alex Zanardi's crash in 2001, at the American Memorials

[adogg89]

rip dan

rip paul

rip dale

fioh

[sloanienz]

@darkerego They do. But they're also moving at 220mph

[SneijderWesleyNr1]

R.I.P Paul Dana

R.I.P Dan Wheldon