Tony Renna crashes in Indianapolis - Page 3

Dov · 23 Oct 2003, 03:46 (Ref:760210)

Here is a link (video) to the news coverage of the accident......no footage of the accident itself. http://www.theindychannel.com/sports...1/detail.html#

Thank god this did not happen during the Indy 500, because I'm pretty sure that a good number of fans would have been killed.

tanalised · 23 Oct 2003, 04:59 (Ref:760234)

I've been reading these posts all day; the shock has not worn off. Here's a guy with it all in front of him and fate wipes him out.
It will be interesting to see if a problem occured on the car or not.
My thoughts are with his family and fiancee

Fiorentina 1 · 23 Oct 2003, 05:53 (Ref:760255)

This is really sad. My Dad and I are devastated. We were thrilled 3-weeks ago when we learned that he finally got a break. Tony would have won races for Ganassi and maybe championships. He was that good!

I had the great pleasure of meeting and racing against Tony Renna in the summer of 96 at Laguna Seca. This was my second Skip Barber race weekend and Renna was already racing Barber Pro-Series and doing a 2-liter weekend just to get miles at Laguna Seca. Racing against him was a good measurement to see how far off I was from a pro. He was a very nice, articulate kid and it was a really honor sharing the track with him.

To his father, fiancé and the rest of the Renna family, I wish them my most heart-felt condolences. May you for ever rest in peace, champ.

rustyfan · 23 Oct 2003, 06:31 (Ref:760273)

Now this wasn't what I wanted to learn when I got to work this morning - truly sad news

Although it isn't the first time an Indycar has gone airborne on its own seemingly without "outside" interference - remember Pancho Carter during qualifying in 1987 - I hope IRL takes a long, hard look at why the cars have this nasty tendency to take to the skies, because something is - other than the already flawed back-end - really messed up with the current cars, that's for sure.

R.I.P. Tony

hoffy · 23 Oct 2003, 06:40 (Ref:760283)

My thoughts are with his family. Indeed it is truly sad news

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy
From the "Ticker":

"...entering turn 3 of his fourth test lap when it jumped sideways and went airborne. The car cleared the four-foot foam and concrete cushioning wall and crashed into the catch fence, where it was torn apart.

The racer's gearbox sailed into the grandstands...."

This is the shocking part of the incident. Imagine if this was race day???

DNQ · 23 Oct 2003, 06:40 (Ref:760284)

Horrific news. Horrific.

Mal · 23 Oct 2003, 07:02 (Ref:760294)

Quote:

Originally posted by hoffy
My thoughts are with his family. Indeed it is truly sad news

This is the shocking part of the incident. Imagine if this was race day???

Exactly, I have just posted my view on this in the Robin Miller Thread: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...&pagenumber=3. The authorities really need to take this up and do something before disaster happens.

racer69 · 23 Oct 2003, 07:04 (Ref:760296)

There isn't really much to be said, very sad news.

oily oaf · 23 Oct 2003, 07:58 (Ref:760322)

Absolutely horrendous! I know I've said this before but this kind of terrible tradegy does bring into sharp relief exactly whats at stake when these heroes get into a race car.

BootsOntheSide · 23 Oct 2003, 08:45 (Ref:760372)

Seems as if there could've been a far worse tragedy if this had happened during a race. Stronger and higher debris-fencing may be required, but then again, this wasn't neded in the past.

Whoever said it was a bad year for the IRL is missing a lot of the facts. Up until the final race, it was a very good eyar, with an excellent standard of driving elading to a 5-way title shootout, with lots of great races along the way. It's certainly converted me from out-and-out hatred into a moderate fan (although eprhaps still mroe keen on the other series).

Before Brack's crash, there had only beena few significant injuries - De Ferran, Kanaan and Giaffone, none of whom were out for more than 2 months. Compared to the statistic of 76 injuries in the series, which has had 87 races, that would've made it the best season ever on that score as well. Sadly, that's no longer the case.

Down F0rce · 23 Oct 2003, 09:13 (Ref:760399)

A thread in the tributes forum has been started. Feel free to contribute to it.

Morcilman · 23 Oct 2003, 09:57 (Ref:760450)

IRL is the most dangerous category, maybe to dangerous, they should play attention to the facts and maybe change someting. Is the best racing but the price is too high. Is very sad to have so many people kiled and injured in the category.
RIP Renna

Led ZeppF1 · 23 Oct 2003, 09:57 (Ref:760451)

This has been a terrible year for accidents.

My condolences to his family.

MrBluesman1 · 23 Oct 2003, 11:15 (Ref:760535)

very sad indeed, only found out about it today. By all means motor racing of any type should be exciting but deaths in the sport should be avoided at all cost.

very very sad
R.I.P. Tony and everyother lost driver

D.R.T. · 23 Oct 2003, 11:56 (Ref:760593)

Condolensces to his family and friends, a very sad day

Matthopps · 23 Oct 2003, 11:56 (Ref:760594)

R.I.P Tony Renna

It looked like a nasty crash - part of the stands have been damaged.

StuiE · 23 Oct 2003, 12:31 (Ref:760656)

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy
From the "Ticker":

"...entering turn 3 of his fourth test lap when it jumped sideways and went airborne. The car cleared the four-foot foam and concrete cushioning wall and crashed into the catch fence, where it was torn apart.

The racer's gearbox sailed into the grandstands. The cockpit tub, which holds the driver, became ensnared in the catch fence and was dangling with Renna in it.

The crash was so severe that the first layer of grandstands in the south chute was mangled. During races, the grandstands are set back from the fence and are occupied by handicapped patrons in their wheelchairs.

My jaw litteraly dropped to the after reading that bit

We were lucky Kenny wasn't injured any worse than he was, couldn't expect that to happen more than once i guess

RIP Tony Renna.

racer69 · 23 Oct 2003, 14:04 (Ref:760797)

Quote:

Originally posted by Morcilman
Is very sad to have so many people kiled and injured in the category.

care to explain the statement about 'so many people being killed' in the category?

macdaddy · 23 Oct 2003, 14:14 (Ref:760812)

"The League will work with teams and speedway officials to see what they can learn about this crash to see if there is anything that can compare to other crashes," said Indianapolis Motor Speedway spokesman Ron Green. "They'll get together and do a walk-through and try to determine its cause. Right now it's too premature to make any kind of judgments on how the crash happened and what actually happened during the crash."

rustyfan · 23 Oct 2003, 14:34 (Ref:760842)

I think it will be hard to determine the exact cause of Renna's crash. First off there were very few eyewitnesses, and secondly - from what I have read anyway - the track's own camera-system wasn't running, so it was most likely not caught on tape.

Morcilman · 23 Oct 2003, 14:37 (Ref:760845)

I dont understand what you mean... the IRL statistics of injued and dead are incredibly high, copare with any other category since it is on, I dont know the data, but I would bet that is the one with more danger. You guys could now more that I about it. Anyboda has the data?

Jordi · 23 Oct 2003, 14:42 (Ref:760853)

Tony is the only driver killed in an IRL car. Brayton died in 1996, but it was a 1995-spec CART. Don't know about injury stats, but it must be something like 10 drivers this year...

**Adam43** · 23 Oct 2003, 14:46 (Ref:760856)

A member, Yunis, posted some 'stats' of the F1 forum about IRL in the last 12 months. They came from Alex Yoongs' site and autoracing1.com. If I may take the liberty I'll reproduce the link here.

http://202.56.156.226/servlets/sfs?s...=1066535679427

There has been more than other branches, but then does any other branch of motorsport run at 200mph+ all the time when racing - at every race?

How you compare it I have no idea!

rustyfan · 23 Oct 2003, 14:49 (Ref:760860)

Quote:

Originally posted by Morcilman
I dont understand what you mean... the IRL statistics of injued and dead are incredibly high, copare with any other category since it is on, I dont know the data, but I would bet that is the one with more danger. You guys could now more that I about it. Anyboda has the data?

I'm sure someone else has managed to post something while I'm typing this, but anyways, here goes;

CART Fatalities;

1982 - Jim Hickman, Milwaukee
1987 - Spectator, Indianapolis
1990 - Track worker, Vancouver
1992 - Jovy Marcelo, Indianapolis
1996 - Jeff Krosnoff, Toronto
1996 - Track worker, Toronto
1998 - Spectator, Michigan
1998 - Spectator, Michigan
1998 - Spectator, Michigan
1999 - Gonzalo Rodriguez, Laguna Seca
1999 - Greg Moore, Fontana

IRL IndyCar Fatalities;

1996 - Scott Brayton, Indianapolis
1999 - Spectator, Charlotte
1999 - Spectator, Charlotte
1999 - Spectator, Charlotte
2003 - Tony Renna, Indianapolis

Granted, the IRL IndyCar series has only been running since 1996, but those are the numbers anyway. I think they are fairly accurate.

Someone might ask where Gordon Smiley's fatal crash at Indy in 1982 is, and while they did use CART machinery there (as far as I know), it wasn't sanctioned by CART and wasn't part of the 1982 CART championship, hence me leaving it out (even though I - theoretically - could have included it).

(edit) Corrected the year for the Charlotte crash.

Morcilman · 23 Oct 2003, 15:32 (Ref:760897)

how about injuries? I remember that every year there is a nearly fatal accident with permanent injuries, is it? I am surprised with the numbers, thanks for the data! so still cart has worst statistics... interesting and not all in high speed ovals.

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