Driver Dan Wheldon was killed in a crash on Sunday early in the Izod IndyCar Championships in Las Vegas. Wheldon’s car was one of many that went flipped in the air and caught fire.
Wheldon would have shared a $5 million bonus with one fan if he had won the 300-mile race.
The incident on the 11th lap happened when Wade Cunningham ran into the back of J.R. Hildebrand and then Hildebrand’s car went airborne, which triggered the huge wreck. The large stretch of the backstretch was heavily littered with debris, and the SAFER barrier on the outside wall sustained significant damage.
“I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ryan Briscoe said. “The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there’s just stuff everywhere. Crazy.”
Quality young man who was going places.
RIP Dan.
From reading the insensitive and ignorant comments I now completely agree with John for not allowing comments regarding Steve Jobs death. Thank you John Dvorak. Not a fanboy just human.
I can’t believe the stupid arguments and statements being made by non motorsport racing fans. Bunch of dimwits.
There are many people who are interested in motorsports and we all know the dangers involved. I’ll take you for a ride and you’d be crying for your mommy. Going fast and high G forces are not for the squeamish. So STFU long winded boobs. No technology coming from motorsports, what a dumb statement.
All motorsports don’t go round and round just making left turns. But these comments seem to just go round and round.
Lastly this venue in Vegas was always a death crash in the making. 225 mph flat on the pedal is too fast. Indy organisers have some blame and questions to answer.
Sad day in Motorsports. RIP Dan Wheldon.
Wheldon on Letterman after winning the Indy 500.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ToKHtVtG59A
Does exhibit the proof that the better mindless meaningless entertainment really should be porn and spelling bee’s-for different reasons. But the circus demands blood.
Name one thing that hoomans do in groups that does make any sense?
Worse. There is a segment of the fan base that got what they’ve been waiting for; a really bad accident.
From the days of Ancient Rome to now some of the viewers are really hoping to see somebody get hurt or die but that’s what they get paid big bucks for or we could do this with remote controlled vehicles.
If the drivers weren’t adrenaline junkies they wouldn’t be doing it either…
God bless them one and all.
Don’t hold back, show all of your ignorance about auto-racing in one breathtakingly foolish statement. Racers are NOT adrenaline junkies. The FANS are. If you are driving a race car, the LAST thing you want to have is an adrenaline rush. They are extremely dangerous things. However, watching and listening to something moving at high-speed provides a danger-free adrenaline rush.
There have been several studies done about drivers, and what happens to their biorhythms when they are racing. Everything SLOWS. To them, a second is a lifetime. This is what allows them to drive very quickly, and very accurately. The OPPOSITE of an adrenaline rush, where everything is a blur of incomprehensible motion, to be sorted out later.
This is a truly sad event. If you don’t understand and/or can’t appreciate the sport, or the gravity of the event, please spare those of us who can the vacuous nonsense of your assessments.
Well said Arkyn1, I can’t keep my cool while reading comments that trivialize the loss of life.
I comment while still angry at comments that degrade the talent, courage and spirit of young men like DanWheldon or any one killed doing the thing they love.
I wish for a comment times of sand rewind, I can come off to strong or crazy. Oh well what’s done is done.
Let me put this very simply. If they didn’t enjoy putting their lives on the line they’d be driving milk trucks or driving freight trucks.
If they weren’t racing cars they’d be sky diving, cliff diving, mountain climbing or some other high risk sport.
That’s what makes you an adrenaline junkie and slowing down time is what happens to me in ultra high stress situations. I can recall watching a car crash in slow motion. Your mileage may vary.
I can’t account for all drivers but as stated by Arkyn1 above “Racers are NOT adrenaline junkies.” Also “If you are driving a race car, the LAST thing you want to have is an adrenaline rush.”
There is a level of concentration and the seat of your pants control over a vehicle using the rear tires to steer the car around a corner that becomes natural so no adrenaline rush is sent to the nervous system.
Your statement is right about skydiving and the rush, I just don’t think all drivers are adrenaline junkies. They enjoy the control over a powerful vehicle and want to cross the finish line first. Safely.
So do you also think Astronauts are adrenaline junkies?
Much like firefighters, these guys know the risks when they embark upon such a career. So don’t feel sorry for them when they die like this.
All the same, its still an unpleasant thing.
You don’t feel sorry for them? Huh? I am guessing that you didn’t mean it that way. You certainly feel sorry for the loss of anyone whether they knew the risks or not – and certainly for those that they left behind – Do you not feel sorry for someone that dies while driving to the market? – they knew the risks!
Death is a sad thing whenever it happens and statements like this cheapen Life and make people callus which is exactly the opposite of what we need in this world.
How about we all just quietly contemplate or pray for the family of Dan Wheldon and leave it at that. Cheapening life anywhere is not something to be taken lightly – no matter the forum.
The entire concept of racing cars came from the days of prohibition when moonshiners quite literally ran from the law. I won’t even go into the irony of how illegal alcohol inspired auto racing – but it did.
Today, racing may be fun to do but if you ask me watching it is usually like watching paint dry. That is, until someone crashes.
Now, I am sorry someone died. At least he got to do something he probably enjoyed. He may have even made some good money doing it too. But fatal car accidents do happen on average about once every minute somewhere in the world. And when other people die doing pretty much the exact same thing I’m left wondering just why this particular accident is somehow “news” or even noteworthy. Was it the huge expenditure of money? Was it the promise of gore and violence? Or was it simply because the cameras were rolling? Certainly, it can’t be because it wasn’t somehow unexpected.
I’m also left wondering if the viewership of these boring old car races would have anywhere near the same numbers of viewers if public executions of criminals (like murderers and rapists) were made even half as entertaining – or even made public.
Get your history straight. NASCAR dates back to prohibition. Auto racing dates back to the Roman empire, and chariot races. And even further back, racing horses. They are not the same. And if you find it boring, don’t watch. That is your choice.
Accidents are not news, or unexpected. What is unexpected, is when someone of obvious skill gets caught up in an accident or an incident not of his own making, and dies as a result. Everyone knows this. If you base everything you do on the potential risks, why wake up in the morning? You make a spurious argument, at best.
Get my history right? Are you kidding?! You might try getting your facts straight before posting Arkyn1. And just in case you forgot, here is what you said:
Get your history straight. NASCAR dates back to prohibition. Auto racing dates back to the Roman empire, and chariot races. And even further back, racing horses. They are not the same. And if you find it boring, don’t watch. That is your choice.
Do you seriously think auto racing – not racing but auto racing was done before the invention of the internal combustion engine? In the Roman Empire?! ARE YOU CRAZY?! Would you care to re-read what you posted?
I said, I found auto racing boring to watch and implied that I believe most people watch it for the crashes. That’s my opinion and I said so too. There’s no need for you to comment here either.
I also said that “auto” racing has it’s roots going back (at least) to the days of prohibition where moonshiners were constantly trying to come up with new ways to outrun law enforcement. I even said that it’s somewhat ironic that the illegal prohibitionist alcohol industry played a big part with the development of the (modern day) auto racing industry too. After all, I don’t think anyone want’s to say that drinking (alcohol) and driving are two things that fit well together.
Now, it may be true that “Formula” racing had it’s roots a few decades prior to Prohibition but it certainly didn’t come anywhere near to the days of the Roman empire (which collapsed around the 7th century). So when you say that it did it’s about as imbecilic as saying that the moon is made of cheese or believing that the earth is flat – it’s not and that’s a damned fact!
(Now, I suppose you or someone else are going to say something un-witty like “calm down” or something. Don’t worry. I’m calm. But I also know that the people who usually tell you to calm down are the exact same people you usually want to bust up side the head! So keep personal advice comments like that to yourself.)
Auto racing is an evolution of chariot racing, which in itself is an evolution of horseback racing, i.e racing not done under your own power. As such, its roots date back to the Roman empire, and indeed further back than that. And again, the only form of MODERN auto racing that dates to prohibition, is NASCAR. So what I said is correct.
And once again, if you have no interest in the subject, why bother to post an opinion? Do you have some vital need to be heard on every subject?
I have no horse in this race, but something wasn’t clicking for me historically. Here it is…Prohibition in the US began in 1919 with the ratification of the 18th amendment.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened ten years earlier in 1909, and motor racing wasn’t new even then.
I don’t know if these early Indy races led to NASCAR, but it seems to me that Indy and NASCAR are separate lines of development, at a first glance. The NASCAR wiki only goes back as far as prohibition, and no earlier.
The first chariots seem to have been developed because large breeds of horse hadn’t been. If you were a big guy your feet drug the ground. One of the really ancient breeds was recently discovered to still exist in small numbers. They are pony sized. Wonderful animals but not for riding.
coincident , I think NOT
Arkyn1==you are down right lyrical on the subject. What do you like about cars being driven in a circle?
How do you tell one race from another?
Is there any other possible way to test automotive advances without racing cars in a circle?
First, they aren’t being DRIVEN in a circle. That is easy. They are being RACED, which is another thing entirely. And the unsubtle phrasing aimed at minimizing what these people do (driving in a circle) only shows your ignorance of what they really do. Oversimplification is its own reward, I guess. If it helps you to understand, I’ll use your simple phraseology to answer your questions.
I like the same things in auto racing that you like and appreciate in any other form of competition. And if you do not appreciate any form of competition, why are you here?
I can tell one race from another in the same way that you can tell one concept from another. Or one day from another, or one meal from another. Knowledge. Of the subject, as well as myself and my position in space and time.
Yes, but that is not the only reason to race cars. Or any other competitive endeavor. It takes a myopic world and personal outlook to even ask such a question.
Well!—Seems I am being driven to be competitive in a circular argument? Come my friends—let us parse:
First, they aren’t being DRIVEN in a circle. /// You mean these “race car DRIVERS” aren’t fulfilling their job title? How are they racing their cars then: quickest oil change?
That is easy. They are being RACED, which is another thing entirely. /// They are racing by seeing who can drive their cars the fastest. I think there is ample connection if not a singularity here to make your attempted distinction one only equal to a nascar season pass holders appreciation of how many beers they drink before noon.
And the unsubtle phrasing aimed at minimizing what these people do (driving in a circle) only shows your ignorance of what they really do. Oversimplification is its own reward, I guess. If it helps you to understand, I’ll use your simple phraseology to answer your questions. /// They drive in a circle===yes or no. I have asked you to explain the pleasure/appreciation of this which is a base line demonstration that I do minimize the subject but am open to having it explained.
I like the same things in auto racing that you like and appreciate in any other form of competition. And if you do not appreciate any form of competition, why are you here? /// I don’t think all forms of human activity, or even just the subset of things that are competitive, share the same set of challenges and opportunities, risk and rewards, and so forth. So, yes I like and enjoy certain forms of competition and for those I can tell you why. Why can’t you do the same? Is your only joy drinking beer outside and eating nachos? Without “some” explanation–it appears to be all you’ve got.
I can tell one race from another in the same way that you can tell one concept from another. Or one day from another, or one meal from another. /// Once again—how? How do you tell one beer from another? One nacho today from the one last year?
Knowledge. Of the subject, as well as myself and my position in space and time. /// Ha, ha. You mean its a cosmic experience like creating a universe in tandem with God? Is that what you mean bunky?
Yes, but that is not the only reason to race cars. Or any other competitive endeavor. /// You didn’t give a reason.
It takes a myopic world and personal outlook to even ask such a question. /// And a worse one in addition to being dishonest not to have an answer.
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There are stoopid hoomans, and then just dolts.
How about you let us know your favorite form of entertainment and we will find the person that is least interested in that subject and have them make uninformed comments about it and it’s heroes and participants.
Please go bug other people with your opinions. If you don’t like something – fine – but shitting on it after such an occurrence is crass and makes you kind of a dick – and an anonymous one at that.
Now Jeffie Pooh==why do you come on all strong and macho like a race car driver? I’m just a poor city commuter.
What are you referring to as my uniformed comments when all I asked was “What do you like about it?”
Isn’t “by definition” someone asking a question also uninformed? My goodness, I sure hope you don’t show all this supercharged hostility towards anyone else asking a question about anything. Would kinda make it hard to learn anything or to pick up a new hobby/sport?
“When I found out my Grandfather was a race car mechanic during the first races at Indianapolis, I tried to ask around about the sport but everyone who seems to know anything was too hostile and wouldn’t give any answers==so I gave up and stuck with tiddlywinks which several assured me was the just as good as far as competition and appreciation went.”
Jeff–if you don’t provide your last name and your address, aren’t you just a crass anonymous dick bugging anyone with your opinion that they must know and love circular racing before asking why others do?
How self unaware does that make you look? Kinda like guys driving cars in circles? A Dog chasing its tail?
Still–you do more than one up Arkie==the reasons you give somewhere in this thread very much explain the communal and familial relationships that this motorsport gives you. Any human being with a heart would understand these reasons.
Ha, ha. Silly Hoomans.
Jeff, you must realize booboo is not a kind of dick, just a dick. He feed on trolling. If you ignore him the only voices he can argue with are the ones in his head and alfie. Just say no to booboo.
Oh indeed bobbo, let us parse:
First, they aren’t being DRIVEN in a circle. /// You mean these “race car DRIVERS” aren’t fulfilling their job title? How are they racing their cars then: quickest oil change?
No, bobbo. In simplest terms, they drive quickly, with the aim of passing each other and being the first to complete a certain distance over a set time. Now to parse further, the word DRIVE carries extra connotations when spoken by someone with no interest in the sport. The same connotations that the phrase “you’re just hitting a ball with a stick” carries when spoken by someone unsympathetic to those sports. The connotation is ease, or childishness, or any of a number of minimizing and/or disparaging concepts. This is why the distinction is made between DRIVE, and RACE.
I like the same things in auto racing that you like and appreciate in any other form of competition. And if you do not appreciate any form of competition, why are you here? /// I don’t think all forms of human activity, or even just the subset of things that are competitive, share the same set of challenges and opportunities, risk and rewards, and so forth. So, yes I like and enjoy certain forms of competition and for those I can tell you why. Why can’t you do the same? Is your only joy drinking beer outside and eating nachos? Without “some” explanation–it appears to be all you’ve got.
In all of your chatter, you missed the fact that I DID answer your question. The fact that I chose to be brief must’ve thrown you off.
I can tell one race from another in the same way that you can tell one concept from another. Or one day from another, or one meal from another. /// Once again—how? How do you tell one beer from another? One nacho today from the one last year?
Knowledge. Of the subject, as well as myself and my position in space and time. /// Ha, ha. You mean its a cosmic experience like creating a universe in tandem with God? Is that what you mean bunky?
And once again, you miss the answer in your effort to denigrate me. I’ll repeat: I can tell one race from another in the same way you can tell one meal from another… Knowledge. If you have none on a particular subject, one thing tends to look like all the others in that subject. I have more than none, so the differences are obvious to me. Ok bunky?
Yes, but that is not the only reason to race cars. Or any other competitive endeavor. /// You didn’t give a reason.
You didn’t ask for one. And I (apparently mistakenly) assumed you understood the draws of competition.
It takes a myopic world and personal outlook to even ask such a question. /// And a worse one in addition to being dishonest not to have an answer.
And again, the need for ad-hominems negates the ability to see the obvious.
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There are stoopid hoomans, and then just dolts.
Yes, and the trick is figuring out who is whom.
Arkyn1== well done. Still dishonest, lies, non responsive, self reverential==but much more than most. And you didn’t go postal. I’ll give it a few more laps, or maybe you are stuck in gear?
You did hint at a very good approach but you left it for very much the same ad hominem attacks against me that you claim I make: I will name an activity that I like to engage in and let you query me on it.
I enjoy backwoods back packing. Much like car driving racing, I prefer going in circles so that I can have easy access to my car/drop off location rather than hitching a ride back to my starting point. I have hiked all over the world. One 3-4 hikes have been worth the redo. Each hike is unique. Place in the middle of Yosemite I can tell its not the Yukon trail. But I can’t tell Yosemite from part of Europe, or the Southern Fiords in New Zealand from those in Norway. Terrain in parts is too much the same. Amazing you can tell one car race from the other.
Go.
They are two different people in this world; those that think cars appliances and the other half thinks of them as tools for fun.
The two will never see eye to eye.
Go to a NHRA event, listen and feel the engine of a top fuel exploding in fury or the the high canvas ripping sound of a Ferrari, you’ll know immediately what camp your in.
Acceleration and speed are pleasing to humans, some more limited than others. If you, as a kid pedaled faster going down the hill your probably a car person, if you coasted your not.
I am a car guy from Auto X to F1, I like being a part of whether participating or spectating, the ability to go faster than your opponent is addicting.
Danny was a car guy
Few points.
One, Dan Wheldon was 33 years old.
Two, people don’t go to events to watch people “die”. People do, however, get excited at a crash. Because it kicks in the same levels of excitement and endorphins reward as theme park rides, driving fast, etc. etc. The reward is the result of inbuilt flight/fight mechanisms.
Any danger you survive is rewarded by the release of endorphins in the brain. I think it’s likely that we’ve all done something (most likely stupid) and not been too injured; and then felt euphoric about not being dead.
So people who watch such events get a similar rush. But that’s FAR from saying people like seeing people die.
… and while we are on the subject. The number of actual deaths in the gladiatorial arena was CONSIDERABLY lower than you might imagine. Gladiators where a very expensive commodity, they WERE slaves after all. As for wild animals and prisoners… again, it’s not very clear. Certainly not as clear as films would have you believe. But then films have always been historical cock-ups. Look at Braveheart! They didn’t even know that the “Brave Heart” was actually Robert the Bruce!!
You might want to go back and check out what some of the actual butcher bills were at the main Colosseum in Rome and then again you might not.
“Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days.”
The humans may have cost less than the animals. He would have had huge surplus of POWs after the conquest anyway. The slave markets would have been glutted.
The Hippodrome was much larger and chariot racing was much more popular.
Oh, and just to put a period on the “in a circle” minimization of racing: What you see as so pointless about what they do, is more telling when taken as a metaphor for what you see as pointless about your own existence.
Judging by these comments it is easy to see everyone has a me.
I see lots of pre-race concern in the press about the number of cars on this track and the speeds. Makes me wonder how they continue to advance the sport if speed can no longer increase, if they’ve hit a wall where some other aspect must become the goal. Arkyn1?
Also…as the first wreck happens on the rail a group is trying to slide by on the inside of the track. Everything is great until one guy gets sideways. That guy causes the crash that makes this news. Given the number of drivers at this last race, I wonder who he was and his experience level.
This will not explain the lure of auto racing to someone that does not like it, but I will tell you what I like.
I like the technology and the intricacy of the machines
I like the guts and skill it takes to make that machine fast
I like the sounds and the smells
I like that my father loved cars and that I had a bonding point with him when he was alive
I like that my children and I have the same bond
I like that my wife has come to appreciate the classics
I like that my family likes to go to the track and experience the event together
I like driving
I like the lines of the cars and the designs that make cars both fast and safe
I like engineering that goes into even the smallest componant
I like the story lines that develop and the personalities involved
I like the family feel of the teams and the fans
I like the universal appeal to the sport – exemplified by F1 and others
I like understanding all of the work that goes into becoming a racer or even a member of the pit crew
I like that innovation directly translates to safer and more efficient (and faster too) cars on the road
These are just a few of the off the cuff things that makes auto-racing one of my favorite things
Its all old story that goes all the way back to the Romans with their chariots – boys like speed and in this case fast cars
It might be well said better on a race track in a controlled environment than on street with late Sunday night or middle of the night racing with “rice rockets” or worse
Yet its the participants that are involved – its their adult choice , passion and indeed livelihoods
Luckily in this case no bystanders or those in the stands got hurt
One thing I can state without doubt or hesitation: This site attracts some of the biggest morons on the internet. Bobbo alone causes one to roll their eyes at the depth of his dweebness.
dweeb: n. Slang. A person regarded as socially inept or foolish, often on account of being overly studious.
I suppose only a dweeb would take that as a compliment. Ha, ha.
Yes, I’ve thought about myself from time to time. What would I think of running into my own postings if I didn’t recognize them as my own? The unexamined life is not worth living—unless you like nascar. Better is grand prix but the best is off road. All a matter of personal taste I suppose but as in the Ode on a Grecian Urn such activities tease us out of thought as does eternity.
Lost in eternity as I am, I will opine that in fairness I probably make some of the best and worst comments on this blog with fewer in the middle. Perhaps more a measure of those reading than of myself?
I find no sweeter fat than that which sticks to my own bones.
Just as we all should find.
Yea, verily.
Professional race drivers routinely put themselves in dangerous situations, and as a result some die. When too many die in a short period, new rules are devised to make the sport safer. But not completely safe. The drivers, fans, and advertisers won’t abide a boring race.
Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar.
No it’s not, it’s racecaR.
It has been a while since I have paid any notice to IRL (Fuck Tony George). It was started to be low cost – not safe, faster, innovative, but certainly with white American drivers. It was created to pander to an audience that did not want it and was not interested. They needed another weekend event to put in their giant ovals that were built in places where no one was a real fan.
I am sorry that Dan died, but I can’t help but blame IRL. It is shitty racing in shitty cars on shitty tracks that have substandard medical and safety precautions. All that and it still has those annoying brown people not to mention white people that talk funny and come from weird countries like Europe and an alarming amount of other non-Americans.
I remember getting an autograph from a really nice driver, Jeff Krosnoff at Portland. He was killed because of deficient safety design at the Toronto track shortly after.
I don’t think that IRL is safe. I don’t think that anyone at IRL cares.
34 cars 225 MPH spells disaster waiting to happen. At least with NASCAR you have more between you. Open wheel cars just look like a coffin on wheels.
Adam and JCD love conspiracy plots.
And a completely unrelated
thought….(no really)…. Who gets to skip the $5 million payment?
As the item mentions. Millions of bucks, and that’s probably the tip of the iceberg of money being made off these races. LV needs the infusion of tourism, because the poor economy and unemployment, is killing the town. So maybe it wasn’t the best venue for such a race. But politics and boardroom wheeling and dealing, got this race on this kind of track. And whatever experts there might have been that objected, if they had the balls to object, were sounding ignored. And that’s the problem with these races being a big business. Safety standards are going to be a factor that’s negotiable. And cramming more cars than in safe to drive, onto a track that’s too small for those speeds. Is going to a matter of how desperate the organizers are to make money. So basically it’s a blood sport now. If it wasn’t all along. And we might as well had the ancient Roman gladiator fights, if there’s little concern for who gets killed, to make some more rich.
We have unmanned drone aircraft, battle enemies in war zones. And this reduces the fatalities if trained pilots. So why can’t race cars be remotely driven? Must lives truly be at risk, for its fans to get a thrill? Is it only about the vicarious thrill of driving in ways, its fans can’t legally drive? At speeds that would take lives in normal traffic? A letting down the hair of civility, and then it’s back to obeying the traffic laws? Why not create a little game called “Rollerball”, while we’re at it? Auto racing is a death sport, dressed up to seem like it’s not deadly. Supposedly, with enough skill and engineering, all can race safely, and live thru it. But there are too many variables to account for, that can effect the outcome. And then the big money men come along and demand more cars and faster speeds, and just any track will do. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
Somebody should be held responsible for this tragedy, but you know they never will be. They wouldn’t even admit that Dan Weldon was “killed”. They said “he passed away”. As if the racing had nothing to do with it. If a passenger train flips over, and lives are taken, the news will say “they were Killed”. But when it comes to protecting something hugely profitable from better safety regulations, being sued, or just existing at all. The fatalities are put down as “passing away”. As if to claim it was natural causes. It’s a legalized addition, involving fast and dangerous driving. The drivers are likely told they’ll race or be out of a job. Win and get a tiny percentage of what the sport makes from ticket sales, network advertising, etc. And obviously its fans are addicted to it. Because I can’t see the attraction of watching others driving in circles, really fast. I think its an air polluting dinosaur of a sport. That should have been retired long ago, to help save the environment. But apparently, these things are on the “exceptions” list, when it come to ending Global Warming. As usual.
Indy cars should never race on ovals.
Absolutely correct. The G forces at race speed going round and round never touching the brake pedal is dangerous not just because of the obvious instead the drivers physical limits are reached. Drivers vision was a big factor in the cancellation of a race scheduled April 29, 2001 at the Texas Motor Speedway.
Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Firehawk_600
This is my kind of fun. Mr. boogity, boogity, boogity has to change his draws after a ride in a fast car that also turns right.
http://youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JhmEq1t8GGQ
Keep in mind that part of what makes football the best sport is that any player could be crippled on any given play.
That said, condolences to his family and friends.