Dan Wheldon: British racing driver

He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion. He was also the winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011. He was killed at the age of 33, in a 15-car crash at the IZOD IndyCar World Championship.

Dan Wheldon
Wheldon in Washington, D.C. in February 2010
Nationality	British
Born	(1978-06-22)22 June 1978 Emberton, Buckinghamshire, England
Died	16 October 2011(2011-10-16) (aged 33) Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
IRL IndyCar Series
Years active	2002–2011
Teams	Chip Ganassi Racing Andretti Green Racing Panther Racing Bryan Herta Autosport Sam Schmidt Motorsports
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 (after his death)

Wheldon was born in Emberton, near Olney, Buckinghamshire, England. He started go-kart racing at the age of four. At the beginning of his career in open wheel racing, he had a rivalry with Jenson Button before he left the United Kingdom to start racing in the United States. He moved to the U.S. because he thought the chance for success there were greater than in the UK. He moved to the United States in 1999. He spent many years racing in lower open-wheeled circuits like the U.S. F2000 Championship Series, the Toyota Atlantic series and the Indy Lights series before moving to a higher series.

In 2002, Wheldon moved up to the IRL IndyCar Series for two races. He drove for Panther Racing with his teammate Sam Hornish Jr. In 2003, he joined Andretti Green Racing, winning the Rookie of the Year award. In 2004, he won his first IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. He finished the 2004 season second in points with three wins.

In 2005, Wheldon won the Indianapolis 500. He finished the season first in points winning the IndyCar Series championship. He won six races during the season, breaking the record for most victories in one season. In November 2005, it was made known that Wheldon would be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series in 2006. He went on to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning the race with Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Ganassi NASCAR driver Casey Mears.

Wheldon began the 2006 IndyCar season by winning the race at Homestead–Miami Speedway. This was a sombre race, as Paul Dana had died earlier while practising for the race. At the end of the 2006 IndyCar season, he and Sam Hornish Jr. were tied for the lead in the points. They both had 475 points. Hornish had four wins for the 2006 season, and Wheldon only had two. Because Hornish had more wins than Wheldon, he was made the 2006 Indy Car Champion.

The BMW Sauber Formula One team gave Wheldon the chance to drive for them, but he turned down their offer. They could not give him a ride for the whole season, so he decided to continue to focus on Indy.

 

On 22 June 2008, Wheldon won his 15th IndyCar Series race in the Iowa Corn Indy 250. He donated all of the money he won to help the victims of the tornadoes and flooding which had just happened in Iowa.

On 2 September 2008, Wheldon left Chip Ganassi Racing. He was replaced by Dario Franchitti. He had chosen to return to Panther Racing. He finished second in the 2009 Indianapolis 500. However, Wheldon did not finish in the top 10 in seven of the last eight races of the year. The next year, he ran well again at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, finishing second. He finished the 2009 season 9th in the series points. He ran well with Panther racing in 2009 but he did not win a race during his time with the team. Panther Racing decided to replace Wheldon with J. R. Hildebrand. He raced in the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Bryan Herta Autosport, winning the race after J. R. Hildebrand crashed going into the final turn. He was very emotional after winning the race. He did not have a ride for the rest of the season. He was also worried about his mother who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He dedicated his win to his mother. It was his first series win in three seasons.

On 16 October 2011, Wheldon was part of a 15-car wreck on lap 11 of the IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His car went into the air and hit the catch fence. He was taken by helicopter to the hospital. When he was taken to the hospital, he was declared dead from blunt force trauma to the head. He was 33. He is buried at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Clearwater, Florida.

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

Wheldon married his long-time personal assistant, Susie Behm, in 2008. The couple had two sons, Sebastian (born 1 February 2009) and Oliver (born 19 March 2011). His family lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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	TXS 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	NWH	SNM	BAL	MOT				28th	75
	Sam Schmidt Motorsports																	KTY 14	LVS3 Canc

^a Wheldon lost the title on the tiebreaker. Wheldon won only two races while Sam Hornish Jr. won four, giving him the championship.
¹ Run on same day
² Non-points race
³ Event cancelled after a 15-car incident on Lap 11 involving Wheldon, who later died from his injuries.

** Podium (non-win) means 2nd or 3rd place finishes.
*** Top 10s (non-podium) means 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500