The racing world lost another great champion today. Dan Wheldon, 2005 IRL Champion and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, died today due to injuries sustained in a horrible 15-car crash 12 laps into the final race of the season.
The race was supposed to be a celebration in many respects. The season-long battle for the championship was still being hotly contested. Danica Patrick was making her last full-time start in the series, as she'll be moving over to NASCAR's Nationwide Series next year (and, if the stories were to be believed, Dan was in line to replace her at Andretti Motorsport, a team he had driven for previously). The Rookie of the Year was still being contested. In addition, IndyCar had offered a large reward to any non-series drivers who could come to Las Vegas and win. And, if that weren't enough, they also offered $5 million dollars to Dan–he would start the race from the back, and if he won, he'd share the money with "one lucky fan"–all a result of his shocking win at Indy last May. He'd made it up to 24th in the race. Then…
It was to be anything but a celebration. 10 laps in, the racing was getting a bit too racy for some. Ryan Briscoe and Alex Tagliani touched wheels, sending Tags swerving into Ryan Hunter-Reay. But the worst was yet to come–Rookie Wade Cunningham touched wheels with James Hinchcilffe. Cunningham then spun into Charlie Kimball's car. Havoc ensued. At one point during the wreck, three cars, including Wheldon's, went airborne. When the smoke had cleared, the wreck had taken ames Jakes, Vitor Meira, Wade Cunningham, JR Hildebrand, Townsend Bell, Jay Howard, Tomas Scheckter, Charlie Kimball, Paul Tracy, EJ Viso, Alex Lloyd, Pippa Mann, and Buddy Rice out of the race. It also took Will Power out of the race, ending his bid for the series Championship. And, Dan's car was among the wrecks…
Now, I don't like it when race cars get covered with tarps after major wrecks. I had a bad feeling when Wheldon's car was draped with a yellow tarp. The few races I've seen where cars were draped with tarps did not end well–one of those times was after the wreck that killed Dale Earnhardt, the other was the wreck that effectively ended Steve Park's racing career. A bad feeling gnawed at me all afternoon. The race was red-flagged in order to clean up the debris from 15 race cars as well as to effect repairs to the track–the catch fence had been damaged, the SAFER barriers needed attention, and the racing surface itself was in need of several patches.
The shot of the Medivac helicopter leaving tightened the knot in my gut. This could not end well. A shot of Danica being consoled by her husband jerked that knot even tighter. Then, several drivers were summoned to the IndyCar trailer. A drivers meeting was convened. By that point, I knew. It was driven home to me when Tony Kannan exited the drivers meeting and broke down on the pit wall. I knew. Bad news.
Randy Bernard simply confirmed what we all knew. He said that Dan had died due to "unsurvivable injuries". The drivers were polled as to whether to continue the race. They were divided on the issue until Bernard and Brian Barnhardt entered. The decision was made for the remaining cars to run a five-lap salute to their fallen comrade.
Goodbye, Dan. Thanks for the hours of entertainment you provided, both on the track and behind the microphone as a color commentator. The racing world has lost a great man.
Be good to one another. I bid you Peace.