Good-bye, Danny Boy

Photo: News 10

Anyone who knows me well.... or has read my blog for very long will be aware that I am an IndyCar fan.
Hard.Core.
Sorry, Nascar fans, but stock cars just can't compete with open wheel/open cockpit racing at 220+mph.
At least not in my book:)

But yesterday, at the IndyCar Championships in Vegas, driver D.an W.heldon died.

Don't get me wrong.

IndyCar racing is a dangerous sport.

The drivers know it and their families know it.

There is just no room for error when running side-by-side at 225 mph.

And the merits of such a large field running on such a short, high-banked oval will be debated all Winter.

But the amazing safety features in the cars mean that we have watched countless drivers walk away (or at least suffer only minor injuries) from incredibly horrific crashes.

We just expect that they survive.

And while sitting down to eat dinner last night I couldn't keep my mind off his wife, Susie.

I kept wondering if someone was making sure she got something to eat... room service maybe.
You don't exactly go out to eat after your husband and father of your two very small children dies in a spectacularly horrible and fiery crash witnessed live by 60,000+ people and viewed millions of times on TV.

And while getting our kids ready for bed, I wondered how one puts a 2-year-old to sleep that first night when he knows something bad happened to Daddy (his whole family was at the race).

These are, btw, very rhetorical questions.
One of my closest friends is a widow and I am well aware that S.usie W.heldon's family and close friends will gently steer her through these next hours, days, weeks and months.

And yet, such questions dominated my thoughts yesterday.

He was a great driver.

He was a dedicated family man.

And he had a true passion for the sport I love.

So, along with everyone else, my thoughts are with W.heldon's family
May the Lord provide them with comfort.