TRIBUTES have been pouring in all day throughout the world of motorsport for the British racing driver, Dan Wheldon. Wheldon, 33, was killed last night following a horrific pile-up at the season ending Indy 300 event in Las Vegas. The 2005 IndyCar champion was competing in the final event of the season from the back of the grid in a promotion by the race organisers, for the chance to win a $5million dollar jackpot. His chances of achieving this incentive and ultimately his life, ended tragically on the 13th lap.
With a staggering field of 34 cars on the tight circuit, trouble always looked like it might occur, but surely not in the circumstances that ended up claiming the talents of one of the most prestigious names in motorsport. The accident began when JR Hildebrand and Wade Cunningham touched tyres at approximately 220mph. From that point on, a chain reaction developed. Wheldon, who had made up ten positions already from the back, drove over the top of the slowing Paul Tracy. He had no chance as his Dallara chassis somersaulted into the air and hit the catch fencing, catching fire on impact. The race was immediately red-flagged, with debris and flames everywhere. Championship contender Will Power was also involved in the accident and spent the night in hospital under observation, as did two other drivers involved in the smash.
Wheldon was treated by paramedics at the scene of the carnage. He was airlifted to hospital, with his wife and two young sons by his side. Two hours later, IndyCar chief executive officer Randy Bernard confirmed the devastating news to the worldwide media;
“IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its teams and drivers has decided to end the race.”
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| SHOCK: Dario Franchitti is consoled after hearing the tragic news |
The remaining drivers got back in their cars and drove around the circuit in a five lap salute to their fellow and fallen colleague. Dario Franchitti was in tears as he got out of his Chip Ganassi cockpit, but not in winning a third successive championship, just in shock at the loss of one of his greatest friends on the race circuit. Danica Patrick, racing in her final event before switching to the NASCAR series next season, described the scene to ESPN;
“It was just like a movie scene. There was debris everywhere. The whole track was covered, you could just smell the smoke, there was a chunk of fire that we were driving around and you just see cars scattered everywhere.”
Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan, who qualified on pole position for this fateful event, spoke of his emotions to US TV channel Speed;
“I’ve lost one of my best friends, one of my greatest team-mates and I don’t know what else to say.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi summed up the feelings of the IndyCar paddock;
“We are all going to miss him, a little bit of IndyCar racing died today.”
Dan Wheldon grew up from a tiny village in Emberton, Milton Keynes. He rose through the junior formulae in the United Kingdom, racing against the likes of F1 stars, Jenson Button and Mark Webber. In 1999, with his chances of reaching Formula One looking slim, he made the move to America on a permanent basis. He went onto have massive success in the championship, winning 16 events, the 2005 IndyCar title and two Indianapolis 500 events. His first triumph in 2005 at the Brickyard made him the first Briton to win the prestigious event for 40 years. He poignantly won the event again on the final corner this year. Yesterday’s event was just his third of the season, having lost his drive at Panther Racing at the start of the campaign. He looked set to return as Patrick’s replacement in the GoDaddy.com squad for next season.
Lewis Hamilton, fresh off the back of a strong second placed finish at yesterday’s F1 Korean Grand Prix has led the worldwide shock and sadness;
“Dan was a racer I’d followed throughout my career, as I often followed in his footsteps as we climbed the motorsport ladder in the UK. This is a tragic loss at such a young age. He was an extremely talented driver. My heart goes out to his family and friends during this extremely difficult time.”
Outside the family home in Buckinghamshire, Dan’s devastated father, Clive read out an emotional statement.
“The family would like to thank everyone for their overwhelming outpouring of sympathy. Daniel was born to be a racer and left us doing what he loved to do. He was a true champion and a gentleman on and off the track. Words cannot describe how much our family will miss him.”
Questions now begin to turn to the safety of the IndyCar series in America. It is the first death in the championship since Paul Dana was killed in a practice accident for the 2006 season opener in Miami. Its former rival in American open-wheel racing, CART, suffered two deaths in the 1999 season, whilst this was also the championship that saw the inspirational Alex Zanardi lose both of his legs a decade ago. Drivers, including Franchitti questioned the narrowness of the Las Vegas track in testing, as it is mainly used as a circuit for NASCAR racing. It is understood that a number of drivers were incredibly nervous about the amount of cars on the grid yesterday, at such fast speeds. Mark Blundell, former ITV F1 pundit and IndyCar driver told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the speeds and use of circuits need to be controlled far more in future.
“I do think, having driven these cars for five years and having won races on ovals, the speeds are far greater than Formula One cars and when you are only a couple of inches away from each other, side-by-side at 220mph, when things go wrong, they go wrong in a big way. These sorts of cars shouldn’t be running on such narrow circuits. We’ve seen today a 15-car pile-up, wiping out 40 per cent of the grid and we’ve seen a fatality. That’s just not acceptable.”
BBC Sport expert Jonathan Legard told the news channel that the grid was just far too packed.
“The racetrack itself was shorter than usual, there were more cars than ever before and therefore, there were the ingredients there for something to go wrong and so it proved.”
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| Dan Wheldon: 22 June 1978 - 17 October 2011 |
Although he never quite made it to Formula One, Dan Wheldon’s success in America means he will go down as one of the greatest ever drivers that Britain has ever produced. He was much loved by his family and friends and well-respected within the whole motorsport community. His loss isn’t just going to be felt by the IndyCar fraternity, but by the whole of the sport as it attempts to recover from one of its most blackest days in recent memory.
Dan Wheldon – 22 June 1978 – 17 October 2011, RIP
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