Dan Wheldon

Dan Wheldon
Dan Wheldon in Washington, D.C. in February 2010
Nationality	British
Born	(1978-06-22)22 June 1978 Emberton, Olney (Milton Keynes District), England, UK
Died	16 October 2011(2011-10-16) (aged 33) Las Vegas, Nevada, US
IRL IndyCar Series
Years active	2002–2011
Teams	Panther Racing (2002, 2009-2010) Andretti Green Racing (2004-2005) Chip Ganassi Racing (2006-2008) Bryan Herta Autosport/Sam Schmidt Motorsports (2011)
Starts	128
Wins	16
Poles	5
Best finish	1st in 2005
Previous series
2005–2008 2001 2000 1999	Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Indy Lights Toyota Atlantic Championship U.S. F2000 National Championship
Championship titles
2005 1999	IndyCar Series Champion U.S. F2000 National Championship
Awards
2003 2005 2006 2011	IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year Indianapolis 500 Winner 24 Hours of Daytona Winner Indianapolis 500 Winner IndyCar Series Most Popular Driver (posthumously)

Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was an English racing driver. He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion, and a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. Wheldon died from injuries shortly after a collision at the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 16 October 2011, at the age of 33.

Early life and career

Wheldon, who was born in Emberton, near Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, took up karting at the age of 4 with funding from his father. He progressed through the junior ranks of motor racing during his school years. Attending Bedford School until he completed his GCSEs at age 16, he frequently took time off to race. During his early career in open wheel racing, he developed a rivalry with Jenson Button before ultimately leaving the United Kingdom to race in the United States. The reasoning behind the move was that the level of investment needed to fund his racing career in the UK was beyond his family's resources.^[1] Moving to the United States in 1999, he spent several years in lower open-wheeled circuits like the U.S. F2000 National Championship,^[2] the Toyota Atlantic Championship and Indy Lights.

IRL IndyCar Series

Wheldon's 2004 Dallara IR3, in which he earned his first IRL win at Twin Ring Motegi.

In 2002, Wheldon moved up to the IRL IndyCar Series for two events with Panther Racing as teammate to Sam Hornish, Jr. Wheldon joined Andretti Green Racing the following year, taking the spot of Michael Andretti following his retirement, and collected league Rookie of the Year honours. In 2004, he won his first IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan; ultimately finishing as runner-up to teammate Tony Kanaan in the championship with three wins.

He won the Indianapolis 500, as well as the IndyCar Series championship, in the 2005 season. His six victories in 2005 also broke the record for most victories in one season (under IRL sanction), previously held by Sam Hornish, Jr. with 5. His win at Indy was the first for an Englishman since Graham Hill's victory in 1966. In November 2005, it was announced that he would be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series in 2006. Shortly after his first test with Ganassi, in February 2006, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance sports car race with Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Casey Mears.

He began the 2006 season by beating Hélio Castroneves by 0.0147 seconds in the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway; a sombre race due to the earlier death of Paul Dana in a practice session. Wheldon retired from the Honda Grand Prix due to contact with Sam Hornish, Jr. during a caution period. At the end of the season, Wheldon and Hornish were tied for the lead with each driver having 475 points. In the event of a tie, the driver with the most wins for that particular season is declared the champion. Hornish had four wins for the 2006 season to Wheldon's two; therefore Hornish was declared the 2006 IndyCar champion.

During the 2006 season, he was offered a place in the BMW Sauber Formula One team, but declined on discovering he would not be assured a regular drive. "I do want to race in F1. When my contract expires with Chip, I'll take a serious look at Formula One."^[3]

Wheldon practicing for the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

Dan Wheldon signs autographs for fans following Pole Day qualifications at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2007.

Commenting in 2007 on the perception of him as 'difficult', Wheldon said "I put everything into my racing, and I expect the same back. If I see people who aren't giving it I'm not afraid to say so but that sometimes comes out a little brash. That could be improved a little bit."^[4]

On 22 June 2008, his 30th birthday, Wheldon took his 15th career victory in the IndyCar Series after winning the Iowa Corn Indy 250 over Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti. He donated his winnings to help the victims of the recent tornadoes and flooding which had occurred in Iowa.^[5]

Wheldon was released from his drive at Ganassi on 2 September 2008.^[6] He was replaced by Dario Franchitti. "I have enjoyed these last three seasons with Target Chip Ganassi Racing but will be moving on to pursue a very exciting opportunity for 2009," Wheldon said. This would later turn out to be a return to former team Panther Racing.^[7] Wheldon drove the Panther car to a second place finish in the 2009 Indianapolis 500; the second Indy 500 runner-up finish in a row for the team. However, his strong start to the season faded and Wheldon failed to crack the top 10 in 7 of the last 8 races. The following year, Wheldon finished second at the 2010 Indianapolis 500 to good friend Dario Franchitti of his former team, Chip Ganassi Racing; his second place finish and Franchitti's win was overshadowed by Mike Conway's horrific crash. This gave Panther its third straight runner-up finish at Indy. Wheldon remained competitive all year; challenging for wins on the oval tracks. Despite strong showings with Panther Racing, Wheldon still failed to win a race during his time with the team which frustrated his bosses. This led to his sudden firing from Panther Racing and was replaced by rookie J.R. Hildebrand; leaving Wheldon without a full-time ride for the 2011 season.

Wheldon won his second Indianapolis 500 in 2011 in a one-off entry for the Bryan Herta Autosport team.

Wheldon attempted and won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Bryan Herta Autosport during the weekend of the 100th anniversary of the race, after J.R. Hildebrand hit the wall in the fourth and final turn on the final lap after trying to pass the decelerating Charlie Kimball, and slowly slid towards the finish; allowing Wheldon to pass en route to his second Indy 500 victory. This race was the fourth straight runner up for the team in the Indy 500.^[8] With the win, Wheldon became the first driver in Indy 500 history to win the race by leading a single lap.

The National Guard pit team for Hildebrand congratulated Wheldon on his win but when Wheldon was celebrating in victory lane he heard Panther Racing's staff say that he made an illegal pass under yellow. IndyCar denied this and said that the yellow was not thrown until after Wheldon had won the race and even if it was thrown before the pass Hildebrand's car was wounded and therefore be allowed to be passed in the race. Wheldon was very emotional after the win, due to his not having a ride for the rest of the season and the news that his mother had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.^[9] It was Wheldon's first series win in three seasons, his 16th win in the IndyCar Series and the final win of his racing career.

Over the rest of the 2011 season, Wheldon helped IndyCar and Dallara test the new IndyCar chassis that was to debut in 2012.^[10]

Personal life

In 2008, Wheldon married his long-time personal assistant, Susie Behm, originally from Armstrong, British Columbia.^[11] They had two sons: Sebastian, born in 2009, and Oliver, born in 2011.^[12] The family lived together in St. Petersburg, Florida.^[13]

Death

This accident resulted in Dan Wheldon's death. His car, at the bottom of the picture, has just left the racing surface on its way into crashing into the catch fencing at rear.

The same image as above, cropped to focus on Wheldon's car (the car in mid-air)

At the IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 16 October 2011, Wheldon was involved in a 15-car accident during lap 11 of the race, in which Wheldon's car flew approximately 325 feet (99 m) into the catch fence with the cockpit area first into a pole lining the track before landing back on the ground.^[14] The carnage and ensuing debris field resulted in race officials throwing a red flag almost instantly.^[15][16][17] Wheldon was extricated from his car by the Holmatro Safety Team and their Las Vegas-based colleagues and was airlifted to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada for his critical injuries.^[18] After interviewing the championship contenders, Randy Bernard, president of IndyCar, announced to the officials, drivers and fans that Wheldon had died from the accident after being pronounced dead on arrival.^[19] He was 33 years old.^[20][21]

Officials, after input from drivers and team owners, declared that the race would be abandoned, and that a five lap, three-car–wide formation salute would be held in Wheldon's honour, with his number 77 being displayed alone at the top of the scoring pylon.^[17] He had been the only driver participating in Go Daddy's IndyCar Challenge where he and a randomly selected fan would have been eligible for US$2.5 million each if he had won the race starting from last place.^[22][23]

An autopsy conducted on 17 October 2011 concluded that Wheldon died of blunt force trauma to the head.^[24] Wheldon's head suffered two distinct impacts while his vehicle was airborne; the second impact, with the post of the catch fence, caused the fatal injury.^[25]

Wheldon's funeral was held on 22 October 2011 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Fellow drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan attended the funeral, and served as pallbearers along with Wheldon's brothers.^[26] IndyCar held a public memorial service for Wheldon a day later at Conseco Fieldhouse (now known as Bankers Life Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.^[27]

Wheldon was the fifth Indianapolis 500 winner to die in a racing accident in the same year as winning the race, and the first multiple winner to do so. Preceding him were Gaston Chevrolet (1920), Joe Boyer (1924), Ray Keech (1929) and George Robson (1946).^[28]

Aftermath

After Wheldon's death, Michael Andretti revealed that Wheldon had officially signed with Andretti Autosport on the morning of 16 October 2011 for a multi-year deal to replace driver Danica Patrick beginning with the 2012 season.^[29] Andretti Autosport, previously known as Andretti Green Racing, was the team with which Wheldon won both the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship in 2005. James Hinchcliffe was named his replacement. As a result of the crash IndyCar declared that starting in 2012 they will not race at Las Vegas for an indefinite time.

Dario Franchitti, who was a personal friend of Wheldon, won the 2011 IndyCar championship due to Will Power's involvement in the crash; it was declared that the crash was an accident and that Franchitti would have won regardless if the race continued. Indy Racing League, LLC delayed all official prizegiving, choosing instead to conduct it during the annual State of INDYCAR speech in February 2012. Franchitti did not celebrate his championship win until the week after the next week and in the days that followed said that the day was the worst possible day he has felt.

On 18 October 2011, Dallara announced that their new chassis would be named in honour of Wheldon. The DW12, with the new bumper/nerf bar section being featured, was designed to prevent many similar single-seater crashes such as the one that killed Wheldon.^[30] The nomenclature is similar to that of the old Formula One team Ligier, whose cars were labelled JSxx in memory of Jo Schlesser after his death at the 1968 French Grand Prix.

On 5 December 2011, a charity race honouring Wheldon was held in Milton Keynes in England.^[31] The location of this race was less than 10 miles (16 km) from where Wheldon was born and raised. Notable drivers in this race included Dario Franchitti (who took part in the race where Wheldon was killed), Anthony Davidson and Jenson Button.^[32] All money earned by this charity race was donated to a charity chosen by Wheldon's family.

In 2013, the Wheldon family began organising the annual Dan Wheldon Memorial Pro-Am, held as a support race at Mark Dismore's New Castle Motorsports Park, the Robo-Pong 200 endurance karting event that Wheldon won in 2005.

Hélio Castroneves won the 2012 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg; the first race held after Wheldon's death. This picture was taken during Castroneves' post race celebration as he pays respects to Wheldon, who was honoured by having a section of the course named after him.

On 7 March 2012, Wheldon's widow Susie and Mayor Bill Foster unveiled a street sign in St. Petersburg, Florida, the city where Wheldon lived during the final years of his life. Named Dan Wheldon Way, the sign was placed at the corner of Bayshore Drive and Albert Whitted Park (turn 10 of the IndyCar circuit.) This is the same spot where, in 2005, Wheldon made a crucial pass on Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan with nine laps remaining to win the inaugural IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. A permanent memorial is located across from the Dali Museum.^[33] On 25 March 2012, the upcoming IndyCar Series season began with the 2012 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg; the first race held since Wheldon's death. Wheldon's youngest sister, Holly, waved the green flag to start the event. Hélio Castroneves, known for climbing fences following race victories, won the event, and climbed the fence where the Dan Wheldon Way sign stood after the race. "No question about it, this is for our friend upstairs, Dan Wheldon," Castroneves said afterwards.^[34]

On 27 May 2012, the 96th Indianapolis 500 was held; the first without Wheldon in the field following his death. Dario Franchitti won the event, and paid tribute to Wheldon afterwards by wearing white sunglasses. "Everybody up there was a friend of Dan's, and that about sums it up. Everybody loved him," Franchitti said as bagpipes played over the public address system. "I think D-Dub would be proud of that one."^[35]

In July of 2013, Autosport magazine named Wheldon one of the 50 greatest drivers to have never raced in Formula One.

Dan Wheldon International Driver Trophy

The Dan Wheldon International Driver Trophy is awarded to the best performing international driver over the race weekend of the Australian V8 Supercars Gold Coast 600. The trophy was named for Wheldon after his death, which occurred one week prior to the 2011 event in which he was scheduled to race in with the Holden Racing Team. The international drivers' trophy had been unnamed when debuted in 2010, but has been referenced.

Season	Driver	Team	Notes
2010	Andy Priaulx	Triple Eight Race Engineering	[36]
2011-2012	Sébastien Bourdais	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Bourdais became the first driver to win at Surfers Paradise in both a Champ Car (in 2005 and 2007) and a V8 Supercar (2011). Bourdais repeated the feat in 2012.

Other projects

Wheldon was a guest star in the voice cast for the TV series Hot Wheels Battle Force 5.^[37]

On 9 August 2011, Ignite Game Technologies announced that Wheldon would assist the physics development for its online auto racing game Simraceway. Wheldon commented, "It was pretty obvious that Ignite was not looking to build just another racing game, so the opportunity to influence Simraceway's physics directly was pretty appealing."^[38] It later emerged Wheldon would also be playing a role in the company’s performance driving centre at Infineon Raceway.

Motorsports career results

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

U.S. F2000 National Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
1999	Jayhard/Primus Racing	PHX 2	LOW1 2	LOW2 1	MOS1 24	MOS2 1	MDO1 2	ATL1 26	ATL2 24	TRR 3	MDO1 1	MDO2 2	PIK 1	SEB1 1	SEB2 1	1st	315

Toyota Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2000	PPI Motorsports	HMS1 1	HMS2 2	LBH 4	MIL 13	MTL 3	CLE 6	TOR 3	TRR 2	ROA 2	LS 1	GAT 7	HOU 4	2nd	159

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2001	PacWest Lights	MTY 5	LBH 2	TXS 10	MIL 3	POR 10	KAN 3	TOR 7	MDO 2	GAT 1	ATL 1	LS 5	FON 2	2nd	149

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2002	Panther Racing	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI 10	TX2 15					36th	35
2003	Andretti Green Racing	HMS	PHX	MOT 7	INDY 19	TXS 20	PPIR 19	RIR 8	KAN 21	NSH 4	MIS 20	STL 5	KTY 8	NZR 7	CHI 4	FON 4	TX2 3				11th	312
2004	Andretti Green Racing	HMS 3	PHX 3	MOT 1	INDY 3	TXS 13	RIR 1	KAN 9	NSH 13	MIL 18	MIS 3	KTY 3	PPIR 3	NZR 1	CHI 4	FON 3	TX2 3				2nd	533
2005	Andretti Green Racing	HMS 1	PHX 6	STP 1	MOT 1	INDY 1	TXS 6	RIR 5	KAN 2	NSH 21	MIL 5	MIS 2	KTY 3	PPIR 1	SNM 18	CHI 1	WGL 5	FON 6			1st	618
2006	Chip Ganassi Racing	HMS 1	STP 16	MOT 2	INDY 4	WGL 15	TXS 3	RIR 9	KAN 2	NSH 2	MIL 8	MIS 3	KTY 4	SNM 6	CHI 1						2nda	475
2007	Chip Ganassi Racing	HMS 1	STP 9	MOT 2	KAN 1	INDY 22	MIL 3	TXS 15	IOW 11	RIR 3	WGL 7	NSH 8	MDO 10	MIS 12	KTY 17	SNM 7	DET 3	CHI 13			4th	466
2008	Chip Ganassi Racing	HMS 3	STP 12	MOT1 4	LBH1 DNP	KAN 1	INDY 12	MIL 4	TXS 4	IOW 1	RIR 4	WGL 24	NSH 2	MDO 17	EDM 7	KTY 5	SNM 4	DET 20	CHI 6		4th	492
	Panther Racing																			SRF2 11
2009	Panther Racing	STP 14	LBH 5	KAN 10	INDY 2	MIL 10	TXS 7	IOW 4	RIR 10	WGL 10	TOR 14	EDM 15	KTY 11	MDO 16	SNM 12	CHI 22	MOT 8	HMS 21			10th	354
2010	Panther Racing	SAO 5	STP 20	ALA 11	LBH 9	KAN 15	INDY 2	TXS 9	IOW 11	WGL 6	TOR 10	EDM 20	MDO 14	SNM 25	CHI 2	KTY 3	MOT 10	HMS 9			9th	388
2011	BHA with Curb Agajanian Sam Schmidt Motorsports	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 1	TXS1	TXS2	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHM	SNM	BAL	MOT				28th	75
	Sam Schmidt Motorsports																	KTY 14	LVS3 Canc

^a Wheldon lost the title on the tiebreaker—he won only two races compared to Sam Hornish, Jr.'s four after the two tied on 475 points

¹ Run on same day

² Non-points race

³ Event cancelled after a 15-car incident on Lap 11 involving Wheldon, who would later succumb to injuries sustained in the accident.

** Podium (non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Sports car racing

24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Class	No	Team	Car	Engine	Co-drivers	Laps	Position	Class Pos.
2005	DP	2	Howard-Boss Motorsports	Crawford	Pontiac	Dario Franchitti Milka Duno Marino Franchitti	528	33 DNF	16 DNF
2006	DP	02	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus	Scott Dixon Casey Mears	734	1	1
2007	DP	02	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus 5.0L V8	Scott Dixon Memo Rojas	538	41 DNF	21 DNF
2008	DP	02	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus 5.0L V8	Scott Dixon Alex Lloyd Salvador Durán	515	44 DNF	18 DNF

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

See also

• Driver deaths in motorsport
• Indianapolis 500 firsts
• Indianapolis 500 records
• List of Indianapolis 500 lap leaders

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dan Wheldon.

• Official website
• ESPN Profile
• Dan Wheldon on Twitter
• Dan Wheldon driver statistics at Racing Reference
• Dan Wheldon at Find a Grave
• Audio Interview with Dan Wheldon Dan Wheldon talks about his karting days
• Audio Interview with Dan Wheldon Dan Wheldon looks forward to a new challenge