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Dan Wheldon’s tragic death occurred in one of the worst IndyCar wrecks ever
A race car traveling at 220 miles per hour travels the length of a football field every second of every minute.
When there’s an incident ahead, a driver has relatively little time to maneuver out of harm’s way, which is why multi-time champion Dan Wheldon died in 2011.
Wheldon was involved in a 15-vehicle incident that was terrifying in real time and truly horrible in slow-motion replays from cameras mounted in the vehicles.
Few IndyCar drivers can match Dan Wheldon’s resume
Dan Wheldon, a British driver, was one of the most accomplished personalities in IndyCar racing.
His résumé includes two Indianapolis 500 victories and the 2005 IndyCar series championship.
At the age of 23, he began driving in IndyCar, immediately establishing a reputation for skilled driving.
By 2004, he had already finished second in the series and went on to win the championship the following year, which also represented his first Indy 500 victory.
In 2006, Wheldon just missed out on a second series title, finishing deadlocked in points with Sam Hornish Jr. but losing the wins tiebreaker.
Wheldon fell in the standings in succeeding years while remaining competitive, but he was laid off at the start of 2011.
Despite this, he was able to win at Indy again that season courtesy of a last-minute driver swap and a last-lap collision by J.R. Hildebrand.
Fans’ memories of that victory, on the other hand, would be overshadowed by those of Oct. 16, 2011, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was a day that started with Wheldon, who had 16 IndyCar victories to his name, agreeing to take over Danica Patrick’s ride at Andretti Autosport the next season and concluded with his death.
One of the worst IndyCar crashes in history
The final race of the 2011 season was scheduled to be the 200-lap IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
However, it was never officially sanctioned because of an amazing catastrophe just a few minutes into the race when closely packed cars plowed into and over one other. J.R.
Hildebrand was hit as Cunningham’s automobile swerved.
Cunningham swerved, and Hildebrand slid over the back of that car and flew into the air.
Cunningham collided with two more cars before crashing into the wall, and the middle and top sections of the track were littered with debris as the drivers of damaged cars desperately tried to escape more disaster and prayed everyone behind them might find safe passage.
Unfortunately, the second wave of drivers arrived almost soon, and Vitor Meira destroyed two more vehicles.
Pippa Mann then went over the top after Paul Tracy ran up on Tomas Scheckter’s bicycle.
Dan Wheldon was never given a chance
At that point, the catastrophic accident involving 15 cars was far from over.
Dan Wheldon was slowing down, but he was too close to the action to avoid being engaged.
His No. 77 car climbed up the rear of Charlie Kimball’s car, which Meira had hit, and went airborne high on the circuit.
The automobile started rolling in mid-air and landed cockpit-first on the catch-fence.
Though he was pronounced dead two hours later at a nearby hospital, Wheldon was almost probably dead by the time his car crashed back into the track, which was already strewn with cars on fire or otherwise severely damaged.
“The debris we had to drive through the lap later looked like a war scene from Terminator,” driver Ryan Briscoe remarked.
“I mean, there were simply chunks of metal and a car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it, and debris all over the place.”
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The Fallout: A Tribute to Dan Wheldon
As safety vehicles stormed the Las Vegas Motor Speedway circuit, the race was swiftly red-flagged and the remaining cars were directed to pit row.
The race would not be completed with the catch-fence seriously damaged and gashes visible on the track surface.
After a lengthy wait, drivers and crew members were summoned to a conference and informed that Dan Wheldon had died.
The remainder of the race was canceled because the season points championship had already been decided and there was nothing else on the line.
Nineteen drivers returned to the circuit for a low-speed, five-lap salute to Wheldon, while the scoring tower displayed just Wheldon’s No. 77 and the public-address system played “Danny Boy” and “Amazing Grace.”
