British driver Dan Wheldon has died of injuries after an accident in the championship showdown of the IndyCar Series in Las Vegas. He was 33. Although he never made it to Formula 1, Wheldon had many friends in the business, having grown up in British national karting in the same generation as Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson and Gary Paffett, with whom he raced from cadet level. He was also managed by Julian Jakobi, who was Ayrton Senna’s manager and is still involved in the activities of the Senna Foundation.
He switched from karts to cars in 1996 and two years later finished third behind Jenson Button and Derek Hayes in the British Formula Ford championship, ahead of his team-mate Marcos Ambrose and was runner-up to Button in the Formula Ford Festival
Unable to find funding to move to Formula 3 he went to America where he dominated the F2000 series. He was runner-up to Buddy Rice in Atlantics in 2000 and runner-up (to Townsend Bell) and rookie of the year in Indy Lights in 2001. In 2002 he was given a chance to race IndyCars, joining Panther Racing as team-mate to Sam Hornish Jr. The following year he moved to Andretti Green Racing and as named Rookie of the Year.
He won his first IRL race at Motegi in 2004 and finished runner-up to teammate Tony Kanaan in the championship that year. In 2005 he won the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar title, becomimg the first British winner at Indianapolis since Graham Hill in 1966. He then moved to Chip Ganassi Racing, beginning his career with the by winning the Daytona 24 Hours with Scott Dixon and Casey Mears. In 2006 he finished equal on points in the IndyCar title to Hornish but lost the title because the American had scored more victories. Wheldon left Ganassi at the end of 2008 and returned to Panther with which he finished second at Indianapolis in 2009. He finished second again in 2010 and was replaced at Panther last year by JR Hildebrand. He found a drive for this year’s race with Bryan Herta Autosport and, ironically, won the 500 when Hildebrand crashed at the final corner. Wheldon spent the year testing the new 2012 IndyCar chassis and announced just before the race in Las Vegas that he would be joining Andretti Autosport next year. In the race he was tasked with starting at the back and trying to drive through the field to win a $5 million prize, half of which would go to a fan, who had won the chance in a sweepstake.
The accident occurred after only a dozen laps when two cars touched in Turn 2. Will Power and Wheldon arrived at high-speed and neither was able to avoid impact with the cars ahead. Both cars flew through the air and hit the wall on the outside, Wheldon’s snagging the debris fencing and thus suffering much greater damage. A number of cars involved caught fire, but rescue crews quickly dealt with these. Wheldon was airlifted to hospital. Three other drivers, including Power, were hurt in the pile-up, which was one of the biggest in the history of IndyCar.
Dario Franchitti escaped the crash and won a third consecutive as a result of the race being stopped, although there was no celebration.
“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.”
When the news began to filter into The F1 in the middle of the night in Korea, there was soon reaction.
“This is an extremely sad day,” said Lewis Hamilton. “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. He was an extremely talented driver. As a British guy, who not only went over to the States but who twice won the Indy 500, he was an inspirational guy, and someone that every racing driver looked up to with respect and admiration. This is a tragic loss at such a young age. My heart goes out to his family and friends during this extremely difficult time.”
Wheldon leaves a widow, Susie, whom he married in 2008, and two sons: two-year-old Sebastian and Oliver, who was born in March.
joeblogsf1 
Rest in Peace Dan….You were my favorite Indy Car driver
Joe,
Just heard that Dan Wheldon has died. So sad, hard to find words.
Unfortunately, IndyCar CEO has announced he has succumbed to what are being described as ‘unsurviveable’ injuries.
A horrible incident. My best wishes and sympathies to his wife and 2 children. I’m actually crying.
RIP
Thoughts and prayers for his widow and children. Today is a sad day.
So sad. RIP Dan.
RIP Dan. You will be greatly missed.
RIP Dan Wheldon.
Horrible horrible accident, followed by 2 hours of increasingly uncomfortable viewing waiting for news.
RIP Dan. You will be missed. God bless your family.
RIP Dan. My condolences to your family, friends and team.
Unbelievable 😦
Shocking, and very sad. He was a fine driver, and a wonderful ambassador for his sport. The world is a poorer place for his passing.
A very sad day. RIP Dan.
A great racer, especially on the ovals, and just a great guy. His work on versus this year really shined. RIP, what a loss, I’m empty right now.
A reminder of the dangers of motor racing. Great racing driver and refreshingly good colour commentator. A big loss to the motor racing community.
Just got back home from a party tonight… and really really sad to hear that ! I enjoyed so much Dan winning the 500 last may… RIP
Too sad. I was watching and praying that it would turn out for the good. We have lost a great racer and human being. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends……
Really awful accident. My thoughts are with his friends and family.
Sad, Sad Day. I understand oval racing with stock cars but will never understand why open wheel cars do it.
Oh man thats so sad. RIP Dan.
Met Dan at Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year. What a tragedy. RIP.
Was just about to go to bed and thought I’d check your blog. So sad to read this. RIP.
That is a SHOCKING incident. So many cars flying through the air. It was truly horrific. That’s not what racing is about. *sigh*
A sad sad day for motorsport…
A great loss to IndyCar, a great loss to British motorsport but most of all I’m sure a huge loss to his friends and family.
The 5 lap parade of honour at the end, something I doubt you would ever see in F1, was both disconcerting and touching.
RIP Dan, always worth watching, especially on the ovals.
Thanks for the excellent tribute to Dan, Joe. This is a tragic day for motorsport.
I was only going to the Gold Coast this weekend to see him and several of his IndyCar contemporaries compete in the V8 Supercars round at Surfers Paradise (he was going to co-drive with defending V8 champion James Courtney). It will be a sombre weekend in Queensland…
RIP Dan.
Utterly lost for words. I have nothing. Dan will be truly, sorely, painfully missed. A fantastic racer and a great guy.
What a tragedy and perhaps highlights the dangers of fast guys being at the back (particularly on ovals). RIP Dan: you were a class driver; condolences to your young family. A sad day for international Motorsport.
Such sad news. Dan was so talented, and had come up the hard way. His Indy win this year against the odds was an awesome achievement, yet he still had so much racing ahead of him. Oval races shouldn’t be run like this. Due to the huge bounty placed on a runner up winning (5m $) there were guys in the field whose inexperience was always gonna end up with someone in the wall. Stupid really…
Very sad, Can’t really say much else can you?
Horrible, horrible. My thoughts go to his family and friends. 😦
RIP Dan…..may God watch over your loved ones.
This is just incredibly sad. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age, people can still die while racing. F1 should be grateful that there hasn’t been a death since Senna.
A very sad day for IndyCar and for motorsport in general. What a terrible loss. RIP Dan.
As a 68 year old shedding tears once again over the loss of one of our heros it is painfully obvious that oval open wheel racing is stupid and is only appealing to the same crowds that enjoyed to the desth gladiator battles.
RIP Dan. You will be missed by many but none will miss you more than your two young sons. Motorsport may have lost a driver today but Sebastian and Oliver have lost so very much more and all for our ‘entertainment’. I am so sorry.
Totally sucks, but please ask some hard questions regarding series owners and management, the track, the wisdom of spec car pack racing, car count and the ability of the drivers/teams in the series.
Don’t forget that Randy Bernard and IZODCAR originally planned to throw 5 inexperienced drivers from NASCAR and F1 with just 1 day of practice into this open wheeled oval race. IMO, they were just begging for an accident. I think they got way more than they wanted though…
Very tragic. The silver lining is he went out doing what he loved, and not many people can say that. Condolences to his family and friends.
My prayers go to his wife and two children, what a tragic loss. Take comfort in his ability to do something well, that only a few on this earth can do. RIP Dan
RIP Dan. I don’t know what they were thinking putting 34 cars with many driven by part timers for this race only. At 220 miles an hour. A big one was predicted to happen due all of that and sadly it did. Concerns pre-race raised by the drivers. Which were not heard.
IndyCar must accept some level of responsibility for this.
… what more can be said….
What an awful, horrific, pile-up. I have to agree with what Peter said above about open-wheel cars on ovals, and wonder about the safety standards in IndyCar. I don’t doubt that they take safety every bit as seriously as F1, but when you have a tight pack of cars lapping an oval at over 220mph, is “as good as F1” enough?
It’s a terrible loss of a huge talent. For all that he’d already achieved, Wheldon still had a great future ahead of him.
I really liked Dan and this is awful news…
Motor racing will always be dangerous, but it seems Indy Car may have exacerbated that with the format of this race.
A really sad day for everyone who follows motosport. Dan was a great competitor and a very likeable person.
There will be lessons to be learned form this but we all make our choices and life is to be lived to the full. We never know whats around the corner. Dan lived a very full and joyful life.
Perhaps Bruce McLarens words on Timmy Mayer back in 1964 are relevant here.
“To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.”
Terrible and tragic news.
Dan you will be sorely missed in Motorsport cicles, but your untimely loss to your Wife and young family is a sadness that words cannot express. RIP Dan. A true talent and a gentleman of racing.
To the IndyCar Co Board and CEO Bernard:
What were you thinking? $$$ and Media exposure only?
Oval racing, Open wheelers, extended field of 34 starters, Inexperienced Indy-Oval racers, compact running @+220 mph speeds, and most importantly — all the red flags being waved by the Drivers about the RISKS this event was being set-up to be. Even the fans were questioning the wisdom of this “Vegas Show”. You need to get your house in order guys — seriously. That pile up should never have had such an elevated chance to happen.
Jack Flash.
Very sad to watch the tragedy unfolding. RIP Dan.
Very, very saddened to hear this so late.. RIP Weldon and most sincere wishes to his family.. Very sad.
Watched it live but just woke up to the news. Although i’m not feeling surprised, the speed at which some of those cars collided with the wall and each other, It was clear that someone was going to be in a bad way. Pippa Mann was very lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries.
RIP Dan, and condolences to his family
The one thing any motorsport fan never wants to see…
One good thing may come of this: Closed cockpits. I can see this tragedy sparking the closed cockpit debate in earnest.
Tom,
I doubt a closed cockpit would make any difference in this case. And I am sure that closed cockpits would create other problems.
RIP Dan
So sad. As I watched the wreck happen, I knew the odds of at least one driver being killed was extremely high. I kept glued to the television with my better half and shed tears when the announcement was made. I have followed Dan’s Indy Car career, and alway felt like he got the short straw this year by not getting a full time drive, since he couldn’t pay for his seat. He showed them, though, by winning the Indy 500 in a one off drive.
The reprocussions from this day are going to be long felt, much the same as when Ayrton Senna died. Indy car has no business holding races at venues which were designed for NASCAR stock cars, which travel 80mph slower and offer more protection for the driver and have little downforce, hence the need for steep banking in the corners. Indy car had no business stacking up the field with rookies, and fielding 34 cars on the grid for a mile and a half oval (That’s one more car than allowed at the Indy 500, a two and a half mile oval). Since all of the Indy cars have the same horsepower and body, a rookie can keep his foot buried on the gas pedal the whole lap, and keep up with the veterans, however lacking in experience and possibly slower in reaction time. They were going four wide into the corners for ****’s sake! All in the name of “spectacle”. Race control, or lack thereof, is headed by the biggest waste of space there is. Brian Barnhardt is responsible for the green flag re-start in the rain, on slick tires, at Louden, New Hampshire earlier this season. What a cluster**** that was. And then he lied about it on television. You folks think F-1 is bad with it’s byzantine politics, but it has a safer record than Indy Car, which has become a joke.
A joke I would be laughing at, but, these cars do go 225 to 250 mph (362 kph to 402kph). And this year’s Indy 500 champion died. Another driver died in 2006 to open the season. There had better be changes. RIP Dan Wheldon. I’ll raise a shot of Oban single malt to you.
Rather than closed cockpits, there needs to be a discussion about open wheels and bodywork at the front and rear that causes cars to lift and fly so violently on oval tracks like this. Joe, as you said – there is no way of determining a car’s trajectory, particularly once it’s airborne. Track boundaries at ovals also need to be reassessed – Mike Conway’s crash last year emphasises this.
I only hope that Dan Wheldon’s legacy is greater safety at ovals – awful though it is to say, something like this was probably just a matter of time.
@ Tom, the way the catch fencing is designed, a closed cockpit would have been crushed (actually ground down), and would have done nothing to protect Dan. They are looking into replacing the fencing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the same kind of clear perspex used at hockey arenas, allowing the cars to slide along instead of hitting steal posts every few feet. Ryan Briscoe got airborne and road along the catch fencing in Chicago a few years back. He was injured but was lucky that the bottom of the car hit the fence, not the topside, as in Dan Wheldon’s case. My guess is that he suffered severe trauma to the head.
The irony is Wheldon was doing so many tests to improve their car safety. I hope they take this as an absolute call to action. When Indycar came up in discussion only the other week, it looked very risky to me. Some times when we’re all digging into the financial dirt in F1, maybe better to recall how much of the expense goes into keeping the boys safe. I didn’t follow the man, save the headlines, but it always felt good to hear when he got results. Very sad day.
Goodbye Dan, thanks for giving us seasons of fun and excitement.
Before the announcement, I saw the tarp-covered car, thought “Cevert,” and that, with the helicopter firing up, told me to brace myself for the worst.
There’s been very recent Indycar tests of a fighterjet-style cockpit canopy. For sure that’ll be looked at harder. I’d also think that whatever problems would be created by them have been dealt with in sportscars
Joe, to me you’re right about closed cockpits making no difference in this situation.
Terrible loss, and a horrendous accident, the likes of which you simply don’t see in F1.
Maybe this will give IRL a kick up the backside with regards to driver safety, in much the same way as the Senna accident did for F1.
I’ll admit I hadn’t watched IRL in a while, but I watched the footage of this accident and there were a few surprises: how open the cockpits are, how many loose wheels were flying around and the fires too, the first crash threw fuel all over the place. I know the F1 wheel tethers aren’t foolproof but I assume Indycars lack these, and they lack the same fuel tank technology (a kevlar bag) as well? Maybe someone on here will know…
Terrible Tragedy for all us motorsport fans and most of all for his family, been a big fan of Dan’s since his Formula Ford days, totally gutted..
RIP Dan
RIP Dan.
You will be missed.
The news of Wheldon’s death is utterly tragic. He was an outstanding racer and will be missed sorely. A black day for motorsport. I hope sincerely that the new Indycars for 2012, which he helped develop, will be much safer.
RIP. A great loss.
A day later and still saddened as I sit here. I have also not lost sight of the fact that Dan did so much testing in the 2012-spec IndyCar, which has rear “bumpers” that are intended to minimize the wheel/wheel contact that launch open-wheel cars.
The 2012 cars will be safer and that is what I’ll take away from this tragedy. RIP Dan, and may your family find peace.
R.I.P.
Another great driver lost too soon.
RIP, what a sad story. Oval racing is certainly more dangerous than F1 and could probably do more to avoid such tragic loss of life.
What unspeakable tragedy…..This young man was a godsend and a delight to all racing fans worldwide….His professional demeanor and unflappable wit to say nothing of his immense skill in a racing car were among the most memorable in my 60 year career as a racing fan. We so often take for granted the safety issues in this wonderful spectator sport and it is brought home to us so devastatingly how very dangerous it is when we lose a man of Dan’s worth and caliber….To all his friends and family my tears and heartwrenching pain join yours…..This was a man!