The IRL IndyCar Series suffered its third fatality since its inception in 1996 when rookie driver Paul Dana suffered fatal injuries in Sunday morning practice at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Dana, who drove for Rahal-Letterman Racing, made contact with the spinning car of Ed Carpenter in the first of two scheduled practice sessions at the Florida oval on Sunday morning, and was pronounced dead after being flown to a local hospital in the Miami area.

Carpenter was also transported to a local hospital, and is now said to be in a stable condition.

Bobby Rahal immediately withdrew his two other entries, for Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick, from the Toyota Indy 300, while Carpenter also missed the race, which was won by reigning champion Dan Wheldon.

Thirty-year old Dana, who was set to make his fourth career IRL start on Sunday, is the first IRL driver to lose his life since Tony Renna died in a testing accident at Indianapolis at the end of 2003. Scott Brayton was the first driver to die behind the wheel of an IRL car when he crashed in practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the League's inaugural season.

All at Crash.net extend our sympathies to Paul's family and friends.