Talk:Dan Wheldon/GA1

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Reviewer: Harrias (talk · contribs) 08:14, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]


I can't resist this one; an article I had considered working on myself in the past. Harrias talk 08:14, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Motorsport career results[edit]

  • The tables here have some issues. There is a lot of information presented without a key.
    • It is relatively intuitive that the small number is position, but it would be worth clarifying this.
    • Even if that is obvious, some of the abbreviations aren't: what do DNP, DNF and C signify?
    • Why are some race titles in bold, and some italtics? If these are being used to signify something, it should be noted that MOS:TEXT and MOS:ACCESS do not support the use of bold or italics alone to signify things, as they are often not picked up by screenreaders.
      • Bold signifies means that Wheldon started from pole position and italics meant he set the fastest lap of the race. MWright96 (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    • Some of the race abbreviations don't have links: in the 2002 Panther Racing season for example, I don't have a clue what "HMS" or "FON" or "NZR" stand for. These need some sort of explanation.
    • Along the same lines, there is inconsistency over where these links go: in the Toyota Atlantic Championship table, the links go to the race parent page, so "HMS1" takes us to Grand Prix of Miami (open wheel racing), while in IndyCar Series, "INDY" takes us to 2003 Indianapolis 500 (for example). Meanwhile, in Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, "DAY" takes us to Daytona International Speedway, the circuit.
      • Done in the IndyCar Sries apart from the Pikes Peak International Raceway round which redirects to the track it was held on. Similarly, there are several Grand-Am Rolex race overview articles have not been created but have added those that have to the results tables. MWright96 (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    • The tables are in violation of MOS:FLAG, which states that "The name of a flag's political entity should appear adjacent to the first use of the flag, as no reader is familiar with every flag, and many flags differ only in minor details."
    •  Done
  • Is there a reason that the Indianapolis 500 results table is included, when this information is already presented in the IndyCar Series table above, and the only additional information is also included in the prose.
  • Similar with the duplication of 24 Hours of Daytona results and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
    • Not too sure about the Indy 500 and Rolex 24 results tables and why they were added in to bios of drivers who competed in those events. MWright96 (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • What is "DP" class?
  • Having each table as a subsection makes the table of contents quite unwieldy; is there a way it can be streamlined?

References[edit]

All look good on a quick first pass. I can't access ref #117 ("Indy 500 another way for Wheldon to validate career") in the UK, but I have no reason to believe there is any issue with it. There are a couple of short passages that could bear further paraphrasing though:

  • Daily Telegraph: "The chassis of the 77 impacted (upon) a post along the right side of the tub, and created a deep defect in the tub that extended from the bulkhead, along the upper border of the tub and through the cockpit"
  • Article: "He collided with a fence post along his tub's right-hand side, creating a deep defect in the tub that extended from the pedal bulkhead along its upper section and through the cockpit."
  • Daily Telegraph: "What was also witnessed was unlimited movement on the track surface under race conditions."
  • Article: "and the unlimited movement on the track surface under racing conditions"
    •  Done

Images[edit]

  • It isn't a GA requirement, so feel free to disregard, but the images could do with alt text for accessibility purposes.
  • All appropriately licensed and tagged.

Detailed prose review to follow. Harrias talk 09:08, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Prose[edit]

Lead
  • "The following year, Wheldon moved to AGR, winning nine races (including the 2005 Indianapolis 500) and finishing as the runner-up in the 2004 series championship." Is this right? The 2005 Indy, but he 2004 championship?
  • "He won the drivers' title in 2005 with the record for most victories during a season in his time with the team." I'm not quite sure what purpose "in his time with the team" is serving here?
  • "and the fifth Indianapolis 500 winner to die in the same year as winning the race." This feels a bit like trivia, and perhaps not necessary in the lead.
Early and personal life
  • "Wheldon was born in the farming village of Emberton..." Most British villages could be described as "farming villages" to be honest. This isn't mentioned in the reference provided.
  • "and his mother acted as his timekeeper." Clarification is needed here; was she timekeeper for Dan, or Clive?
  • "He went to the private Bedford School.." Do we have any details on how someone who "did not have a wealthy background" went to private school?
    • Removed the word "private"
  • The second paragraph seems to jump very quickly from his childhood into later life details. It might work better to merge the first two sentences of the second paragraph into the first, and then have a short second paragraph starting with "He married...".
Junior career
  • The sentences at the start of this section start; "Wheldon...", "He...", "Wheldon...", "He...", "Wheldon...". Can we rework some of these a little for variety?
  • "...races for second in the standings." Might sound more encyclopaedic as "..races to finish second in the standings."
  • "The following year, Wheldon was fourth in both the British Formula Ford Championship and the European Formula Ford Championship for Andy Welch Racing with seven victories." Seven victories in each, or combined?
  • "...Van Diemen team and drove a Mygale in 1998." The phrasing make it sound like these are two different events; he improved to third and he drove a Mygale. Maybe change to "...Van Diemen team, driving a Mygale, in 1998."?
  • "With Button taking the titles..." Avoid using "with" as a conjunction like this; can the sentence be reworded to get rid of it?
  • "With Button taking the titles, Wheldon did not have the necessary level of funding from his father..." A further issue is that the current wording make it sound like it was Button's fault that Wheldon's father didn't have the funding. I assume that the titles came with sponsorship opportunities? If so, this should be spelt out more clearly.
  • "Thus, at the suggestion of his former team principal and car manufacturer.." Remove "Thus", it's superfluous.
  • "His funding was provided by his team and Van Diemen. Which team, his Van Diemen team from 1998, or the Jayhard/Primus Racing for 1999?
  • When talking about his trips back to the UK, Wagstaff in The British at Indianapolis talks about how Wheldon was still obsessed with Formula 3, rather than focused on the US racing scene; would it be worth including this a little?
    • Added the info about Wheldon's desire to compete in F3 in. MWright96 (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Can you check whether it should be John or Jon for John Baytos; there seems to be some ambiguity online?
    • I've checked and most of the searches I found spelt his name as the latter. MWright96 (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • The final paragraph starts "During the 2000 Toyota Atlantic Championship, he drove..." This is a sudden jump; can more information on his move to the Toyota Atlantic Championship from the U.S. F2000 National Championship be included; was this a step up, a sideways shift, what?
    • Indy Lights is a progression towards the IndyCar Series. MWright96 (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • "..in series' history.." No need for the apostrophe; it would only be needed for "..in the series' history..".
  • "..in the championship standings with 159 points with a further.." The quick repetition of "with" is uncomfortable, can it be reworked?
  • "Wheldon was named the series' Rookie of the Year for his season's performance." The last bit, "..for his season's performance." is superfluous and can be cut.
  • "For the 2001 season, Wheldon moved to PacWest Lights to compete in Indy Lights. Again a bit more explanation could be provided. First, clarify that "PacWest Lights" is a racing team, rather than a series. Secondly, can it be clarified whether a move to Indy Lights is a step up, sideways, or whatever.

Okay, taking a break. Harrias talk 10:28, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2002–2004
  • I wonder whether a note about the CART/IRL split would be worth including for the first sentence, or whether it's too much to get into here?
  • "He came 15th in the season-closing..." As this number is essentially been compared with the seventh place quali and tenth place finish in the previous race, I think we need to write fifteenth, per MOS:NUMNOTES.
  • "He finished his two-race campaign 36th in the points standings with 35 accrued." It might be overkill, but for clarity I'd spell out "with 35 points accrued."
  • "He was called up later to drive when regular driver Dario Franchitti broke his vertebrae in a motor bike accident in Scotland." The end of the previous paragraph sort of implied that Wheldon would be driving, so it would be worth making it clear that the sponsorship presumably wasn't found for him to drive in 2003 (at least at the start of the season).
  • "He qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 in fifth after his team changed his car number to 26." This wording almost seems to suggest that he qualified in fifth because of the number change. Do we really need to mention the number change at all? If we do, can it be given less prominence somehow?
  • "In late-race, he..." Maybe change to "Late in the race, he..."
  • "Wheldon was retained as a driver following the retirement of team owner Michael Andretti who mentored him." Is there any suggestion that Andretti retired specifically to make way for Wheldon? It would be interesting to note that if so.
    • Not specifically though I rewritten the sentence slightly. MWright96 (talk) 07:10, 2 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Wheldon's performances enhanced his reputation exponentially..." A couple of issues here; "exponentially" is PUFFERY in this context, and should be removed. The suggestion that his reputation was enhanced is quite subjective, and could possibly do with inline attribution ("according to so-and-so...").
  • "...Wheldon won his first career pole position and finished third after his teammate Tony Kanaan passed him on the first lap. Is the fact that Kanaan passed him specifically relevant? At least one other driver overtook him for him to finish third, so it seems odd to mention Kanaan.
    • Simplified the sentence to say Wheldon started from pole and finished third. MWright96 (talk) 07:10, 2 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
2005–2007
  • "Wheldon became the first British driver to win an American open-wheel championship since Nigel Mansell in 1993, and the first to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the title since Jacques Villeneuve in 1995. This (note a) seems to imply that Jacques Villeneuve was a British driver. It might be solved by just adding "driver" again after "and the first"?
  • "He hit Sam Hornish Jr. in the pit lane during a caution period at the 2006 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg." Is this significant enough to include in his biography?
2008–2011
  • "He started eighteenth in the Indianapolis 500 finishing six places higher in 12th.." Needs to be twelfth to match eighteenth and second.
  • "He was released from his CGR contract on 3 September as Dario Franchitti left NASCAR and returned to IndyCar." Did that mean that he missed the end of the season then?
  • "He was tenth in the championship standings with 354 points,[81] his lowest finish since he placed 11th in 2003." "tenth" and "11th" need to match.

That's me for tonight, too tired to read any more! Harrias talk 21:22, 1 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Other racing ventures
  • "...being eliminated from the Round of 16 by Sébastien Bourdais in a buggy car." I don't know whether "Round" needs to be capitalised here. I'd also recommend removing "in a buggy car", as it could give the impression that Wheldon was in a 'real' car, and Bourdais beat him while only driving a buggy!
  • "The trio won its class and overall..." Given that winning the race overall would automatically mean they won their class, I think this is a bit redundant. Can it be rephrased to basically just say that they won the race?
    • Just stated that Wheldon, Mears and Dixon won overall. MWright96 (talk) 13:07, 3 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • "...due to it sustaining three accidents during the event." Remove "it".
Death
  • "$5 million would be divided equally between the driver and a randomly selected fan..." Per MOS:NUMNOTES, avoid starting a sentence with a number.
  • "..and travelling on the inside line.." This could do with a note to explain what it means.
    • Have stated Wheldon was driving on the left-hand side of the track. MWright96 (talk) 13:07, 3 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • "..towards the infield and collected fellow competitors.." "Collected" might be jargon here, consider a more accessible alternative.
  • "..along his tub's right-hand side, creating a deep defect in the tub that went.." Explanation of what "tub" means needed. Could we just use "car" the first time, and "chassis" the second?
  • "That deformed its roll hoop and sheared from the tub." I'm a little lost here; did the roll hoop shear from the tub? If so, rephrase to "That deformed its roll hoop, which sheared from the tub."
  • "..by the trackside safety team and their Las Vegas-based colleagues.." Are the trackside safety team not LV based? This feels like excessive detail.
  • "He was 33 years old." I umm and arr about this. Technically is is a purely factual statement. However, placing it alone in a sentence like this adds to the emotional impact, and I'm not sure that's appropriate in an encyclopedia.
  • The article uses both "catchfence" and "catch fencing"; be consistent.
  • "..and unlimited track movement while racing created more car-to-car contact.." What does this mean?
  • "During the 2016 Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, pit reporter Jamie Little, who covered that INDYCAR race and was assigned to the trauma centre after the crash, and motorsport publicist Brent Brush, who helped Wheldon's sponsorship deals, placed a Dan Wheldon Memorial plaque outside turn two, near the point where he was killed." This is a long sentence which is trying to say too much for me. It either needs splitting down, or some of the information removing. Note also the inconsistent format "INDYCAR".
    • Removed the fact that Jamie Little was covering the race and Brent Brush helped with Wheldon's sponsorship deals. MWright96 (talk) 13:07, 3 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • "In May, a book entitled Lionheart: Remembering Dan Wheldon covering his life.." Add the year for clarity.

All done. Great work; do you have plans to take this on to FA? Harrias talk 09:27, 3 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

  • @Harrias: Have made changes were possible. The intention is not to take the article to FA at the present time though it is something that will be considered in the future. MWright96 (talk) 13:07, 3 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    • @MWright96: Good work on this. The article is in great shape, and while FAC is always a rough ride, I think this has the potential to be a Featured article; if you do list it the future, give me a ping, and I'll pop along and take a look there. Harrias talk 18:38, 3 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
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