Crash kills rookie IRL driver

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Paul Dana was an up-and-coming rookie driver living his dream, a former motorsports journalist who was hours away Sunday from beginning his most promising season yet.

Then, before the green flag flew, something went terribly, inexplicably wrong.

While streaking around the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval during a warmup session, Dana failed to notice that another car had spun to a stop, slamming into it at close to 200 mph. Two hours after his shattered car came to a rest, the 30-year-old Dana was pronounced dead at a hospital.

"Obviously, this is a very black day for us," team owner Bobby Rahal said. "This is a great tragedy."

Dana believed he had finally gotten his big break in the months before the season-opening IRL IndyCar Series race here. After a string of modest successes rising through racing's ranks, he had secured a ride with the elite Rahal Letterman Racing — the same team that fields IRL phenom Danica Patrick and Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice.

Patrick and Rice did not run Sunday, but the race went on as planned, with defending Indy 500 and IRL points champion Dan Wheldon beating Helio Castroneves by a nose cone.

If the drivers had any jitters going into the race, it didn't show by the end — Wheldon and Castroneves carried off a side-by-side, tire-bumping duel in the final laps en route to the thrilling finish.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dana family and all of Rahal Letterman racing," said Wheldon, who ran the race with Dana's No. 17 on his side pod. "It's a very, very sad day. I think hopefully we put on a good race."

Two days before his death — the first in the IRL in three years — Dana was strolling through the paddock, shaking hands and signing autographs.

"I can't wait to get started because I want to prove to everyone that I can do the job," Dana told a longtime acquaintance. "I'm feeling good and I know I can race with these guys. And now I've got great equipment."

Dana's wife, Tonya, was in Indianapolis, where the couple lived, and was notified of her husband's death while attending a church service.

Dana, who began his career in Formula Fords and worked his way up through the ranks, was known as a strong self-promoter. He got his new ride by bringing the Ethanol sponsorship to the Rahal Letterman team over the winter.