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Indy 300 Driver Dies in Car Crash

The season-opening warm up for the IRL Indy Car series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway has ended tragically this Sunday. Paul Dana, a rookie driver, has died after a two-car crash, and Ed Carpenter, the second driver, was hospitalized. Dana was suppose to race for the Rahal Letterman Racing team, but after the unfortunate event Bobby Rahal, co-owner of the team, said that the team is pulling all its cars out of this year`s race.

Carpenter spun and hit the wall moments after the practice began at 10 a.m. EST. As Carpenter`s battered car slid to a stop, Dana slammed into it at almost full speed - about 200 mph. 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. Buddy Lazier said Dana passed him and Scott Sharp after both slowed because of the accident. "He carried way too much speed in and wasn`t aware of what was going on around him," Lazier said.

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. "That`s just the first time of the weekend that we got all 20 cars on the track at the same time," said IRL president Brian Barnhart. "Ed had his problem in turn two initially. The yellow lights were called immediately and all systems functioned properly. It`s just a busy time out there, with a lot of cars and a lot of traffic." Rahal said the team knew of no problem with communications.

It took track safety workers about 15 minutes to get both drivers out of their cars. The practice session did not resume. Dana and Carpenter, the stepson of IRL founder Tony George, both were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. IRL officials said Dana died shortly before noon.