Dan wheldon hurt and taken to hospital by helicopter

[tech fan]

I agree

Indycar owners were in a bad spot they are losing ratings Drivers are leaving to go to NASCAR so they are trying to get ratings up and thinking this was an idea that might get racing closer together but these cars cant race this close.

[10DimeBry]

Just got back from the Falcons game and just saw where all the drivers are heading into a drivers meeting. Hopefully it's to talk about awareness and racing stuff instead of bad news about Wheldon.

the falcons still have a team? who knew?

[Spark]

[tech fan]

Nascar races sometimes the difference between 1st and 2nd are under a second in INDYCAR a 5 second win is usually considered a close race.Its not as exciting as Nascar so they tried to come up with something that will make INDYcar this exciting,Really hope it does not cost someones life.

i really hate how they were showing his familys reaction.They only did it twice and i am sure they decided that it was not tasteful.

[moondog22]

wow!

[Spark]

Paul Tracy, who was involved in the wreck, said a team of doctors was working on Wheldon, but there was no word of his injuries. A helicopter lifted off from the speedway, and an IndyCar official confirmed Wheldon was onboard.

Pippa Mann and J.R. Hildebrand also were transported to a hospital after complaining of dizziness.

The wreck left Townsend Bell upside down, smoldering cars strewn all over the track and debris nearly halfway up the straightaway of the 1.5-mile oval. The race was red-flagged following the pileup while crews cleaned up the debris and worked on the fences.

“Just a horrendous accident,” said Tracy, who was involved in the accident. “Lot of prayers right now for Dan, because it’s going to be a long recovery. They’re scrambling in there right now. There’s 20 doctors in there.”

Wheldon had to start in the back of the field as part of the promotion and had quickly worked his way through the 34-car field before the big wreck.

“I’ve never seen such a mess in my entire career on the racetrack,” said Danica Patrick, in her final IndyCar race before heading to NASCAR. “Really concerned about Dan right now.”

There were 34 cars entered in the season finale—one more entry than the Indianapolis 500 had on a far more crowded track than usual. There were 29 entries two weeks ago at Kentucky and 26 at Japan a month ago.

Drivers had been concerned about the high speeds on the 1.5-mile oval after they reached nearly 225 mph during practice.

Their concerns became reality when contact in 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.”

Wheldon bumped Alex Tagliani from his ride with Sam Schmidt Motorsports and raced two weeks ago at Kentucky as a warmup for Las Vegas.

The accident also collected championship contender Will Power, who sat for a long time in his car in disbelief. Points leader Dario Franchitti avoided it and seemed stunned as he waited out the cleanup on pit road.

“I could see within five laps people were starting to do crazy stuff,” Franchitti said. “I love hard racing, but that to me is not really what it’s about. You saw what happened, one small mistake from somebody.”

Wheldon was replaced by Hildebrand at Panther Racing at the start of this season and failed to land another ride. He put together a deal for the Indianapolis 500 with Bryan Herta Autosport, then won the race in dramatic fashion when Hildebrand wrecked going into the final turn. Wheldon sailed past for his second Indy 500 victory.

Despite the win, he was unable to put together anything for the rest of the season and spent the last several months doing television work and helping Herta Autosport test the prototype car the team will use next season.

Then he laid claim to IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard’s offer to pay $5 million if any non-regular series driver entered and won the season finale at Las Vegas. Although Wheldon, winner of 14 career races on ovals, didn’t meet the spirit of the promotion, Bernard let him participate in the challenge.

[vols fan]

I hope they don't put them back on the track. Tony Kanaan is shook up as bad as anyone. None of them will be focused to run 220 mph.

[tech fan]

wheldon did not make it very sad day for racing

[vols fan]

Rip Dan Wheldon!!! Just horrible.

[tech fan]

They said they are going to have a 5 lap tribute salute to him.Drivers are really shook up

[tech fan]

glad they are canceling the race.Damn this was the last race of the year.I am not sure but they were doing some kind of promotion where Wheldon started in the back of the pack and if he won today he would win $5 million and a fan would win 2.5 million.

[moondog22]

He just died

[kbsooner21]

Indycar officials in my opinion caused this,They were trying to put 34 cars on a mile and a half track kinda do the short track version of nascar,but these cars can not bump and bang like nascar cars can

They race at mile and a halfs all the time. This is not the officials fault at all.

[kbsooner21]

Wow, RIP Wheldon

[10DimeBry]

They race at mile and a halfs all the time. This is not the officials fault at all.

do they? i dont follow this stuff. i did hear a interview a few minutes ago stating that not this many cars are normally on the track for these races....is this true?