Indy Crash RIP Dan Wheldon

[Explicit_Spade]

Indycar Crash at Las Vegas Speedway 2011 ~ R.I.P. Dan Wheldon - YouTube

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died Sunday in a fiery 15-car wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his car flew over another on lap 13 and smashed into the wall just outside turn 2.


By Matt Dial, The Indianapolis Star
Dan Wheldon, 33, won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 and was aiming to win Sunday's IndyCar finale in Las Vegas before a horrific crash claimed his life.
EnlargeCloseBy Matt Dial, The Indianapolis Star
Dan Wheldon, 33, won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 and was aiming to win Sunday's IndyCar finale in Las Vegas before a horrific crash claimed his life.
Ads by GoogleOur #1 Stock

Wheldon was 33. Drivers were told of Wheldon's death in a meeting about two hours after the fiery, smoky crash that many drivers said was the worst they had ever seen.

The British driver won the Indianapolis 500 twice, including this year.

"IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries," IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute to in his honor."


By Jennifer Stewart, US Presswire

Dan Wheldon (77) goes airborn as JR Hildebrand (4) , Vitor Meira (14) , Charlie Kimball (83) , Tomas Scheckter (57) , Pippa Mann (30) crash during Sunday's Izod IndyCar finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Three other drivers, including championship contender Will Power, were hurt in the pileup.

The wreck left Townsend Bell upside down and smoldering cars and debris littered the track nearly halfway up the straightaway of the 1.5-mile oval.

The track was red-flagged following the accidents while crews worked on fences and removed smashed cars.

Wheldon started in the back of the pack but quickly worked his way through the 34-car field before the wreck.

"It was like a movie scene which they try to make as gnarly as possible," said Danica Patrick, making her final IndyCar start. "It was debris everywhere across the whole track, you could smell the smoke, you could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car. There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered.

Drivers had been concerned about the high speeds at the track, where they were hitting nearly 225 mph during practice.

Their concerns became reality when contact on Turn 2 sent cars flying through the air, crashing into each other and into the outside wall and catch fence.

"I'll tell you, I've never seen anything like it," Ryan Briscoe said. "The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there's just stuff everywhere. Crazy."

Points-leader Dario Franchitti avoided the crash, and seemed stunned as he waited out the clean-up on pit road.

Franchitti clinched his third straight title and fourth overall after Power went out.




Dan Wheldon dies in huge crash at IndyCar finale ? USATODAY.com

[RamonGTX]

I was watching that race live and it was a crash that took my breath away at how ridiculously huge it was. I give ABC props for sticking by and keep broadcasting as they did them 5 laps in a tribute to Dan.

[02 WS6 TA]

rip, dw.

[RamonGTX]

I hate all the disrespectful people that always find a way to be heartless in situations like this on youtube and all the news sites that allow you to post on news articles.

[IrishNation24]

man.. no good. he had two kids, a new baby, wife of only a few years.. a whole family in the works.. this sucks

[1ATony]

That was a really bad accident. He was a well liked guy, you hate to see something like this happen to any driver in any series.

[TLSheff]

I didn't even realize until I was reading comments... "I counted 4 cars that went airborne: Wheldon, Power, Townsend Bell and Pippa Mann..." I had to watch again.
It sux how it was going so well and 1 slight miscalculation can cause such mayhem. It all went to crap so fast, I'm just baffled.

[whitehead]

Im really surprised this doesn't happen more often. I really do mean no disrespect, feel bad for his family. But they are strapped into little carbon fiber cars (w/e light weight material there made out of) going crap your pants speed within inches of each other. Saw him win Indy and its truly a loss to the racing community.

[dengnath]

There are two major factors to this accident.....

1) Benard is an IDIOT for letting 34 cars on a track thats 1.5 miles long.... Indy 500 is run on a 2.5 mile oval and they only allow 33 racers. Stupid call..... just peer stupidity...

2) Young careless drivers were pushing it too too hard way too early.... 4 wide on the eleventh lap at 224mph.... balls to the walls. just careless. Listen to TK and Helio, they will tell you how the experienced drivers take car going into corners like this. SEVEDRA stuck his nose where it didn't belong literally and then pu**sied out and tried to come down..... he is the sole start of this accident. I am just thankful that Will Power didn't perish also... his car launched just like DW's but thankfully sank much faster and hit the wall instead of the catch fence.

RIP DAN WHELDON, and props to Dallara for naming their new 2012 Chassis after him. He deserves that at the very least.

[CTKGP09]

lost a good racer that day - rip dan

[cliffdawg]

the legend rip