[Bas]

Mikey Welsh, ex bass player of Weezer died in Chicago on Saturday.
Sad enough, you might think, but this is what he posted on Twitter a fortnight ago,

dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today.
26 Sep via web

https://twitter.com/#!/MikeyWelsh71/sta ... 9923259392

[Ilovematt]

Mikey Welsh, ex bass player of Weezer died in Chicago on Saturday.
Sad enough, you might think, but this is what he posted on Twitter a fortnight ago,

dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today.
26 Sep via web

https://twitter.com/#!/MikeyWelsh71/sta ... 9923259392

OMG that is awful and so spooky :<(

R I P x

[catherine]

Or he was letting people know he was going to kill himself.

[Yudster]

Agreed - what IS it with these attention seeking people?!

[Boboff]

Look at me, Look at me

I had a dream last night that I was going to get up this morning and take the kids to school, then clean up the kitchen and try and update my printer driver... Well, * me, do you know what? it happened! A to the a Mazin'

[chrisjames]

Oh no, the countrys favourite,and oldest barmaid Betty Turpin has died http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15320895

[bmstinton93]

RIP Betty. You'll be missed.

[Ilovematt]

Oh No ! R I P Betty :<(

[Nicola_Red]

It's somewhat belated, but Chris' tribute to Amy Winehouse from the Monday after her death is now also in the sound vault. It turned out to be a hard listen even three months after the event, but worth keeping I think.

[bmstinton93]

You don't wanna clip the Michael Jackson one as well then do you?

[Nicola_Red]

Oh yeah, I could do.

[bmstinton93]

Thanks

[bmstinton93]

Oh no. Never actually heard of the bloke before today but RIP Dan Wheldon. I've just seen the crash and what a horrible way to go. Must be awful for his family right now.

[DevilsDuck]

Indeed, RIP Dan

[MK Chris]

Yep, very sad. Localy boy as well, from just down the road from me. Knew the name, but don't pay much attention to Indy Cars to be fair. Frankly though, the media saying "it's the first Indy Car death since 2006" as though that's a statistic to be proud of is a bit shit. It's simply not good enough - considering that in F1, there have been no fatalities since 1994 (albeit there were two on the same weekend then) - and there have been some pretty horrific crashes since then.

[Yudster]

F1 cars are incredibly safe because they are designed that way from scratch. Indy car racing uses cars that are based on road-going designs and chassis doesn't it? I would imagine that this would make them far less safety orientated in fundamental design terms than F1 cars. I would assume that they have loads of safety bolted on, but there's no substitute for having race-condition safety as an original design feature.

[MK Chris]

Really? How can you use a road-going design and chassis on a single-seater racing car? I really know nothing about it, so you could be right - just can't see how it would be done.

[Yudster]

Me neither - I was basing my comment on a conversation I heard earlier today between people who I thought knew what they were on about! I need to be more careful who I quote...

Either way, terrible crash, terrible outcome, Oh No.

[MK Chris]

Jody Scheckter pretty much agrees with me - well, he gives more of a reason as to why the racing is more dangerous there. I agree with him, anyway.

[Ilovematt]

Very sad news R I P

[R94N]

It's simply not good enough - considering that in F1, there have been no fatalities since 1994 (albeit there were two on the same weekend then) - and there have been some pretty horrific crashes since then.

The marshalling and safety crews at circuits have improved significantly as well since then. They respond much more quickly, within seconds even. Back in the 60s and 70s (not that I would remember) it was common to have at least one death every race weekend...or at least I think it was.

[MK Chris]

What you are saying about marshalling and safety improvements is dead right, but there's no reason why that shouldn't be the case for Indy Cars.

Incidentally, it was never common to have 'at least one death' every race weekend - the whole thing would have been banned years ago if that was the case. It was significantly more common than it is now though and has decreased decade on decade - it's now 17 years since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola. Actually, there were 15 deaths in the 50s, 14 in the 60s and 12 in the 70s. By the 80s, it drastically went down to four and in the 90s there were two - tragically on the same race weekend and there have been none since those two.

[Bas]

They both pale into insignificance compared to the death rate at the Isle of Man TT or the North West 200 road bike races though.
Road racing much be the most dangerous sport in the world. Anyone from Norn Iron can tell you about the legendary Joey Dunlop & his brother Robert & their cousin Mervyn Robinson, all 3 three from the wee village of Armoy in north Antrim. And all three of the 'Armoy Armada' now dead.
Not a year goes by without at least 2 or 3 deaths at road racing in Northern Ireland alone.

[MK Chris]

The fact that other sports produce more deaths doesn't make it alright though - in fact, the statistics you have quoted are horrific if true and THAT needs to be addressed as well. But it doesn't make the Indy Cars alright.

[bmstinton93]

Gadaffi is dead.