joining us mario andretti. and driver tony kanaan who was in the race yesterday and in the lead when disaster struck. gentlemen, thank you very much for joining me. i can imagine that as a friend and indeed colleague of dan wheldon, this is an incredibly difficult day for you and everyone involved in this sport. mario andretti, let me ask you, you've been in a race car, you've driven in all sorts of different tiches races. what was your reaction when you saw what happened yesterday? it seemed, even by racing standards, to be a particularly horrific accident. >> yeah, obviously, all you have to do is look at the replays. it was surreal. i had just come in -- i was pretty much the first one to go to see the car at the start of the race. so i was just getting out of my car, and i was hearing the gasps from the crowd and knowing that, you know, something was happening, obviously. and it kept on and on. it kept going and going. so i new that it was going to be, you know, a serious situation, then you know once we lo

mario andretti and a driver who survived the deadly crash speak to matt lauer. >>> and two-time oscar winner kevin spacey is live in studio to talk about his new thriller "margin call." >>> and now, keep it on this channel for continuing news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

vegas racetrack where indycar champ dan wheldon was killed in a horrifying crash this morning, mario andretti speaks out. >>> shifting story, the mother of missing baby lisa reveals more troubling information about the night her daughter vanished. are criminal charges next? >>> and are you kidding. a father lets his 9-year-old daughter drive him to a gas station and a surveillance camera catches his explanation on camera. >> 9 years old. 9! listen, we're leaving and she's driving. i'm drunk. >> he's be charged with child abuse and he may need a ride to court today, tuesday, october 18th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> welcome to today on this tuesday morning. >> we're starting to see the backlash growing this morning over the tragic death of indycar champ dan wheldon over the weekend. >> some drivers are saying it was a tragedy waiting to happen. a racetrack not suited for indycars. in a moment we'll hear a driver who was in the middle of that fiery crash as well as mario an dret yao. >>> we're going to live to aruba to find out about a new defense strategy of gary gi

mario andretti speaks out. we will talk to a top defense attorney that is hired by the parents of missing baby lisa or irwin. why you just might be getting taken for a ride when you bring your car for a dealer for repairs. all that plus susan boyle speaks out how work life has changed. all that and much more ahead as we get started on a tuesday morning here on "today." >> 50 degrees on tv hill. >> we will come back and check the weather and traffic together before you head out to start yo >> what is happening out there right now? >> we have a couple of accidents. we have delays southbound from 32. the accident is blocking the left lane. take 95 as your old appeared powder mill road, we have an accident. we are tracking some delays on the west side outer loop. down to 14 miles per hour approaching edmondson. joppa road, a crash. 27 miles per hour on 95 coming out of the northeast. this is what looks like at white marsh. delays are in place there. >> it is not even rating yet. a few sprinkles this morning. we hav

this morning racing legend mario andretti speaks out. >>> and then we'll talk to a detective who's just been hired by the parents of missing baby lisa irwin. is it a sign criminal charges could be very near? >>> also ahead, why you just may be getting taken for a ride when you bring your car to the dealer for repairs. >>> all that plus susan boyle speaks out about how her life has changed since she wowed the world on britain's got talent. so we've got that and much more ahead as we get started on a tuesday morning right here on "today," eun. back to you. >> looking forward to it. thanks, matt. >> all right. take care. >>> time now 6:37 on this tuesday. ahead, talk about a bird's eye view. the high flying repairs taking place today. >> plus the happy ending about a story about a lovable pig. to do. >>> good morning. time for weather and traffic on this tuesday morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. a chilly morning this morning from berry farm to greenbelt, landover, reston, and bethesda. it's only around 50 degrees. mid-50s right in downtown washington and national airport and right ne

joining me, mario andretti and tony canard who was in the race yesterday when disaster struck. >> thank you for joining me. i can imagine as a friend and colleague of dan wheltden, it's a difficult day for you, and everyone involved in this sport. mario, let me ask you, you've been in a race car, driven in all sorts of different types of races. what was your reaction when you saw what happened? it seemed even by racing standards to be a particularly horrific accident. >> yeah, obviously all you have to do is look at the replay as surreal, i had just come in, i was pretty much the first one to go to see the car at the start of the race. i was just getting out of my car and i was hearing a gasp from the crowd, and knowing that, you know, something was happening, obviously, and it kept on and on, it kept on so long. i knew that it was going to be a serious and with dan, the situation was very freakish thing where his car just flew right up into the catch fencing. the track is very well equipped with the safety walls all the way around. it's one of the few tracks that have safety walls all

mario andretti is a racing legend. townsend belle is a racer who was involved in that crash. gentlemen, good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> townsend, this is race has b that track since 2000. lots of banking. 34 cars. did you have concerns out of the ordinary going into that race? >> i'm always concerned before any of our races. because there's risks involved in anything we do. certainly las vegas, you know upper threshold of that concern. i have been in those races before. close-type racing. it's high risk. again, there's risk in any one of our races. this happened to be a higher level. >> your car was involved in the crash as well. your car flipped around, from what i understand, you got to see what happened. you described it as happening in slow motion. >> there was two cars in front of me that got into trouble. i went around the high side to avoid him. i got clipped as i tried to avoid the accident. i was spun 180 degrees. unfortunately, had a pretty dramatic view of everything that was happening behind me. it was certainly the most violent c

and we'll talk to mario andretti and tony cannon about the terrible crash that killed their friend dan kelsey grammer about the highs and lows of his extraordinary live through drug addiction, his rough relationship with his "real housewife" ex. >> piers, thanks very much. coming up the ridiculist. herman cain jokes. i'm not a number. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us... today and on election day. ♪ today and on election day. >>> welcome back. coming to you live from las vegas outside the lovely venetia hotel. tonight the ridiculist. we're adding all the jokes about herman cain's pizza past. now that he's topping the polls seems no one can refrain about making jokes about how he's the former ceo of a pizza place. jokes like topping the polls. people are making way too much about this pizza connection. they'r

it is mario andretti said to the driver's yesterday.afe, then you're under the wrong sport. we know what the risks are. we know that there is danger. we are all thrill-seekers at heart. we all take risks on the race track. this sport isn't for everybody. you know, obviously it is -- we like to see improvement. i think there can be improvement made in the catch fencing. there's been so much improvement done with safer walls and head and neck restraint systems and seats in the cars have gotten safer and safer. but what really stayed the same is the catch fencing along the walls really stayed the same over the past hundred years. and you know, my thoughts are, why can't we have some type of ballistic type of plexiglass or safety glass that would still allow the fans to see the race track but keep cares from getting tangles in the fencing like a web, like a spider web. once the car get under n there it starts ripping the cars apart. maybe that's the next thing that needs to happen in terms of safety for race events. >> as you know, paul, as

and for weldon also, he was about to join mario andretti's group and replace danica patrick not seasonsaid at the kentucky speedway, which is where they were last week, didn't have the speed and off the pace in the number 77 car and he was going, you know, this particular car at this particular time in las vegas is going about three miles off the pace, 3 miles per hour off the pace. it would be hard to keep up and win. but he felt that his crew was going to do everything they could to make sure that it would go fast enough. >> gretchen: very sad day in the racing world. we'll continue to follow that story for you as we remember dan weldon today. coming up on the show, did you know late friday, the obama administration dropped a key component of obamacare? apparently it wasn't going to save all the money that it had promised, so are we being taken for fools about that? well, we'll ask our next guest. >> brian: donald trump teaming up with michelle bachman for a night. what will they be doing? we'll ask him. he'll answer. and then add his opinion. capital one's new cash rewards card give