Talk:List of fatalities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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Tony Renna doesn't really belong in this article, does he? His death didn't have anything to do with the Indy 500.  Citi Cat   ♫ 04:56, 31 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Just a note that the issue in my previous comment has been addressed.  Citi Cat   ♫ 06:21, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Fatalities that occurred on a warm-up lap during time trials
At least the following racers seem to/may have been killed in such a situation:

Harry Cox: "The men [...] were making a practice spin preparing to try to qualify for the 500-mile race ..." ; "The two were warming up the entry of Alvin R. Jones preparing for the fifth day's qualifying trials ..." 

Bill Denver/Bob Hurst: /; "Denver had made one circuit of the track, preparatory to trying to qualify the car." 

Chuck Rodee:

Gordon Smiley: ; "... warming up to qualify ..."; "We were set to take the green (starting flag for qualifying) on that lap ..." 

--Fluidfellow (talk) 20:29, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

Scope of article
IMS may have seen additional fatalities from heart attacks or other medical conditions over the decades of its operation that have remained unknown to the public. Hence, the list of fatalities may be incomplete. This could be remedied by only including people who lost their lives as a result of a distinct on-track racing situation, which may be what viewers of the page expect anyway. To achieve that the following fatalities would have to be removed from the list: William Craig and Fred Linder, Jerry Albright and James Cross, Tim Vail, Stephen White, and Art Morris.--Fluidfellow (talk) 03:57, 3 November 2018 (UTC)
 * In 1974 a spectator died from a heart attack Doctorindy↔Talk 20:48, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Added.--Fluidfellow (talk) 00:27, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

Do we need to name the child who hit Peter Lenz?
The article says, "Peter Lenz, 13, fell and was accidentally run over by the motorcycle of 12-year-old Xavier Zayat." Zayat's name is hyperlinked as if someone thinks there should be an article about him, but there isn't one. As he does not appear to be notable in his own right or for anything other than this single news story, as this was an accident for which he doesn't appear to be responsible (Lenz hit an improper-spec kerb that should not have been in place), as he is presumably a living person, and as he was a 12-year-old child at the time of the crash, I think it's a very bad idea and absolutely unnecessary to name him. I think the article should say "Peter Lenz, 13, fell and was accidentally run over by a 12-year-old competitor." I think it would be far more meaningful to mention the improper kerbing than the name of the boy who has to live with this tragedy that wasn't of his own making. Yes, he's an adult now, but he was a child at the time, and he had a child's skill and a child's judgement. If there's no specific reason to name him, I think it's time we stop doing so. His name is given in the wikinews article. I think that's more than enough. Dcs002 (talk) 00:01, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Additional: Here's how the Sidney Herald handled it: "Tragedy struck during the first race of the day at the Indianapolis Speedway when 13-year-old racer Peter Lenz died after crashing and being run over by another young competitor." I think we should do something like that. In the given cit and in at least one other source, the family of Peter Lenz said at least twice in their comments after the crash that their hearts were with the other rider, and with his family, because they were involved too. Is the name of a child involved in a fatal accident but not at fault really encyclopedic information? Dcs002 (talk) 00:22, 29 July 2022 (UTC)