IndyCar is continuing to investigate the cause of the 15-car crash that led to the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

A two-stage investigation is already underway into the accident, that also caused injuries to Will Power, Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand.

Pippa suffered burns to one of her hands. Power came up with a compression fracture of his fourth thoracic vertebra in the accident.  Power will recover from the injury with rest and rehabilitation. Will suffered a broken back in a crash during the 2009 season.

“We must continue to move forward with a thorough investigation,” said IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard.

“Fortunately, that has already begun, and we have the protocols in place to get this done. This was a tragic accident, and IndyCar needs to understand everything possible about it.”

The first phase of the investigation is already underway, with an internal team of safety and competition officials evaluating data from the accident data recorders and accelerometers of the 15 cars involved.

An analysis of all the cars involved, of the personal safety equipment used, of photos, videos and timing and scoring data from the accident and its aftermath and the post-incident reports from race control and track safety crews.

Stage two of the investigation will use the findings of stage one to influence future safety procedures in IndyCar racing in a bid to minimise risks.

Slowing the cars down and the catch fencing on ovals need immediate attention.

ET

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 7:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.