What a sad day in car racing! Yesterday two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Dan Wheldon, perished in a car crash at the IndyCar World Championships in Las Vegas. Dan’s car was travelling over 220 miles per hour and climbed the back of another racer’s car and burst into flames, flipped over and slammed into a crash fence. The British racer was 33 years old and was competing to earn a $5 million bonus that was part of a league promotion for drivers who didn’t compete full-time in the series this year.
In an eerie twist of fate, before the race Dan blogged for USA Today and indicated he wasn’t going to be able to accelerate to the necessary speed. He indicated at a recent race in Kentucky that he and his team “just didn’t have the speed.”
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Dan wrote ”So far, things haven’t been going very well as we’ve started our pursuit of the GoDaddy IndyCar Challenge this weekend…but I’m confident in the ability of the guys at Sam Schmidt Motorsports to find the problem and get it fixed.”
“It’s actually been a very difficult weekend for us so far. Basically we carried over our problem from Kentucky Speedway, where we just didn’t have the speed and never really found it.”
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During the crash, as reported by ABC, Dan’s car was thrown into the air and hit the “catch fence.” This fence is supposed to give cars a type of cushion if they crash into it. Immediately after hitting it, workers on the racetrack ran over and waved for more help but his injuries were too grave.
Dan was airlifted in the early afternoon and taken to University Medical Hospital. He was the first IndyCar driver that perished on the race track since 2006. He passed away with his wife Susie and sons and his two brothers and sister at his side. May he rest in peace.
