Firstly, and most importantly, Dan Wheldon will me missed, and the loss of any life is tragic, especially in sport which is something designed for people to enjoy, not for people to die for.
Henry Surtees, son of John, died in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch in 2009 after a freak accident. Dan Wheldon died in an accident waiting to happen. 34 cars going at well over 200mph was never going to end well. Racing in Europe is incredibly safe. In Formula 1 there are massive run-off areas (that many fans despise) but these make it actually rather safe (apart from freak accidents that cannot be avoided) Whereas IndyCars may have greatly improved the safety of the cars in recent years, the oval circuits haven't changed in most of our lifetimes, but the cars have got faster and more numerous.
Everything else about the race, like the $5 million prize, pales into insignificance when you consider the structural safety issues in high speed oval racing, issues that IndyCars have done nothing to address.
Until IndyCars address the serious safety issues, there should be no more racing. Something radical must be done, before someone else is killed.
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