RIP, Dan

Getting behind the wheel of a race car is dangerous, but the drivers make it look so easy that we forget that sometimes. IndyCar Racing lost one of its most popular drivers, Dan Wheldon, on Sunday, Oct. 16, in a fiery crash in Las Vegas. The last race of the year would be the last race, period, for Dan. Imagine:  It's lap 11. The green flag dropped just seven minutes ago. You're on the outside of turn two, and there's a huge wreck in front of you-- 14 other cars, to be exact, and you end up being the 15th car when you can't steer away from them. You clip another car. You fly through the air. And your car catches on fire.   I don't know about you, but that gives me chills just thinking about it. An emergency helicopter immediately transported him to the hospital. Then the announcement came: "IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race." The 200-lap race was over after just 11 laps.
After the announcement, the drivers took a five-lap salute around the track, while everyone in the stands stood and cheered. And sobbed. IndyCar hasn't had a fatality since 2006 when Paul Dana died in a morning warm-up race. Wheldon won that race later that day.... Creepy?

He was just 33 years old, and is leaving a wife, a two-year-old son, and a seven-month-old son behind.

"I'll tell you, I've never seen anything like it. 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 cars 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." -Ryan Briscoe