Today the world was reminded that auto racing is a dangerous sport:  Paul Dana died from injuries he received during the morning practice before the IRL race at Homestead-Miami.

Dana ran into the crashed car of Ed Carpenter at over 180 mph.  According to reports, Carpenter is recovering at a local hospital and is in stable condition.

Dana was in his rookie season for Rahal-Letterman.  He had worked his way up the motorsports ladder working in marketing, journalism, and through the lower levels of racing.  Dana's teammates are Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick.  Both Rice and Patrick's cars were withdrawn from the race to show respect for Dana.

The race was still run, and Dan Wheldon beat Helio Castroneves to the line by a few thousands of a second.