Re: Breaking News (IRL)
Dana's wife, Tonya, was in Indianapolis, where the couple lived, and was notified of her husband's death while attending a church service.<br /><br />Dana, who began his career in Formula Fords and worked his way up through the ranks, was known as a strong self promoter. He got his new ride by bringing the Ethanol sponsorship to the Rahal Letterman team over the winter.<br /><br />Still, the wreck might have been the result of a rookie mistake by Dana, whose previous IRL experience included just three races last season. Moments into the 30-minute warmup, Ed Carpenter, grandson of IRL founder Tony George, crashed in turn two and went spinning down the racetrack.<br /><br />Yellow lights came on around the track, and several cars could be seen slowing, some of which avoided Carpenter's car. But Dana's car kept its speed, passing Buddy Lazier and Scott Sharp.<br /><br />"He carried way too much speed in and wasn't aware of what was going on around him," Lazier said.<br /><br />Seconds later, Dana's Honda-powered Panoz slammed into Carpenter's Dallara-Honda at nearly full speed _ about 200 mph.<br /><br />Dana's car nearly split in half. The chassis flew about 6 feet off the ground and pieces were strewn down the track. It nearly turned over, but landed on its wheels before sliding to a halt.<br /><br />"I really don't know at this point what happened or who was at fault," said George, who founded the IRL in 1995. "It's just a real shame. I don't know that it was inexperience. I don't want to say anything about that."<br /><br />Both drivers were flown by helicopter to a 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, but the 25-year-old third-year driver was kept overnight for observation.<br /><br /><br />There was no immediate explanation for Dana's failure to slow down several seconds after the yellow lights came on around the track because of Carpenter's crash.<br /><br /><br />Rahal, co-owner of the Rahal Letterman team, said he knew of no problem with communications.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />The Rahal Letterman team withdrew Patrick and Rice from the Toyota Indy 300, and a moment of silence was observed before the start of the 300-mile race. Otherwise, the prerace ceremonies, including the introduction of the remaining 17 drivers, went according to schedule.<br /><br />"Paul Dana's passing is a terrible tragedy and I want to express my condolences and sympathies to his family and friends," Letterman said in a statement. "I did not know Paul personally, but we were all proud to have him on our team and are deeply saddened by his tragic passing at such a young age."
