Dan Wheldon
Daniel Clive "Dan" Wheldon (born June 22, 1978 in Emberton , United Kingdom , † October 16, 2011 in Las Vegas ) was a British racing driver . He drove in the IndyCar Series from 2002 to 2011 and won the championship title of this series in 2005. In 2005 and 2011 he won the Indianapolis 500 . He died after a mass accident on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway .
Career
Beginnings in motorsport
Wheldon began his motorsport career in 1987 in kart racing , where he was active until 1995. In 1996 he switched to formula racing and immediately became runner-up in the British Formula Vauxhall Junior. He also competed in the regular championship and finished sixth in the drivers' championship. In 1997 he switched to the British Formula Ford and the European Formula Ford. He took fourth place in both series. In the next season he stayed in both series and improved each time to third place overall. One of his rivals this season was Jenson Button . After that season he moved to North America for financial reasons as he did not have enough money to continue his career in the UK.
In 1999 Wheldon started in the US Formula Ford 2000 and won the championship title straight away with six victories. In 2000 he entered the Atlantic Championship . He won two races and was runner-up behind Buddy Rice at the end of the season . In 2001 he switched to Indy Lights and won two races that season. In the end he missed the championship again and was runner-up behind Townsend Bell .
IndyCar Series
After Wheldon had not competed in any racing series in 2002, he took part in the last two races of the Indy Racing League season for Panther Racing as a teammate of Sam Hornish junior . In the following season he stayed in the now renamed IndyCar Series championship and moved to Andretti Green Racing . First he represented the injured Dario Franchitti and then received the cockpit of the resigned Michael Andretti . Wheldon got along better and better with the car and achieved his first podium finish in third at the season finale in Fort Worth . At the end of the season, he finished eleventh overall and won the ranking for the best newcomer.
In 2004 he won his first IndyCar race in Motegi . Two more victories followed during the season. At the end of the year he was runner-up in the IndyCar Series, well behind his team-mate Tony Kanaan . In 2005 Wheldon won the Indianapolis 500 , becoming the first Englishman since Graham Hill 1966 to win this prestigious race. Wheldon won a total of six races this season, setting a new record of victories in one season. As a result, he won the championship title by a clear margin over his team-mate Kanaan.
After winning the championship, Wheldon switched to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006 and became a teammate of Scott Dixon . In early 2006, the two competed with Casey Mears in the Daytona 24-hour race and won the race. In the IndyCar Series, at the season opener in Homestead , where Paul Dana had a fatal accident during training, he won his first win in the new team. With 0.0147 seconds, he had a very narrow lead over second-placed Hélio Castroneves . In the championship Wheldon fought for the title together with Castroneves and Hornish. At the end of the season he and Hornish had the most points with 475 points. Since he had won two races and his rival four, he was runner-up again. Before the start of the season, Wheldon was offered a Formula 1 test driver cockpit with the BMW Sauber F1 Team , but turned it down as he was not guaranteed a regular place for the coming season.
In 2007 Wheldon stayed with Ganassi. He won two races but, unlike his teammate Dixon, had no chance of winning the title. He finished the season in fourth place overall. In 2008 he scored two more wins and was fourth overall. While Dixon was making the league title, Wheldon was told before the end of the season that the team was planning for the future without him and that he would be replaced by Franchitti. He returned to Panther Racing at the race in Surfers Paradise , which is no longer part of the season .
2009 Wheldon no longer built on the successes from the previous seasons. After he was regularly among the top ten drivers in the first half of the season, he succeeded less and less in the second half of the season. The highlight of the season, which he finished tenth overall, was a runner-up at the Indianapolis 500. In 2010 Wheldon stayed with Panther Racing. In the Indianapolis 500 mile race, he once again crossed the finish line in second place. At the end of the season, he finished ninth overall with two further podium finishes.
In 2011 Wheldon initially found no IndyCar cockpit. At the Indianapolis 500 he started and won for Bryan Herta's team , Bryan Herta Autosport , which, after starting at the same place a year earlier, contested its second race in the IndyCar Series. Wheldon sat in what is probably the oldest Dallara chassis (built in 2003) in the whole field. Wheldon was also involved as a test driver in the development work of the new IndyCar chassis. For the last two races he was given a cockpit by Sam Schmidt Motorsports , where he replaced Alex Tagliani . Wheldon also had the opportunity to be the last to start the season finale at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to win five million US dollars, half for himself and half for a fan drawn.
At the season finale, Dan Wheldon was involved in an accident involving a total of 15 racing cars on lap eleven. Wheldon's monoposto was catapulted into the air over the rear of another vehicle and hit the safety fences with the top of the driver's compartment. The race was stopped immediately afterwards. Wheldon was immediately flown to the hospital, where he succumbed to his serious injuries. Wheldon's death was announced two hours later. Severe head injuries were given as the cause of death. Instead of a restart, there were only five laps in his honor, which his driver colleagues had agreed upon in consultation with the race management.
After his death his former team gave Andretti Autosport announced that Wheldon in the morning before the Las Vegas race a contract for the 2012 season as successor to Danica Patrick had signed.
Personal
Wheldon had been married to his long-time assistant Susie Brehm since 2008 and had two sons.
statistics
Career stations
|
|
Individual results in the IndyCar Series
| season | team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th | 18th | 19th | Points | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Panther Racing | HMS |
PHX |
HAIRDRYER |
NZR |
INDY |
TXS |
PPI |
RIR |
KAN |
NSH |
MIS |
KTY |
STL |
CHI 10 |
TX2 15 |
35 | 36. | ||||
| 2003 | Andretti Green Racing | HMS |
PHX |
MOT 7 |
INDY 19th |
TXS 20 |
PPI 19 |
RIR 8 |
CAN 21 |
NSH 4 |
MIS 20 |
STL 5 |
KTY 8 |
NZR 7 |
CHI 4 |
FON 4 |
TX2 3 |
312 | 11. | |||
| 2004 | Andretti Green Racing | HMS 3 |
PHX 3 |
MOT 1 |
INDY 3 |
TXS 13 |
RIR 1 |
CAN 9 |
NSH 13 |
MIL 18 |
MIS 3 |
KTY 3 |
PPI 3 |
NZR 1 |
CHI 4 |
FON 3 |
TX2 3 |
533 | 2. | |||
| 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 |
PPI 1 |
SNM 18 |
CHI 1 |
WGL 5 |
FON 6 |
618 | 1. | ||
| 2006 | Target 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 |
475 | 2. | |||||
| 2007 | Target 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 |
466 | 4th | ||
| 2008 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing | HMS 3 |
STP 12 |
MOT 1 4 |
LBH 1 |
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 |
492 | 4th | |
| Panther Racing | SRF 2 11 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Panther Racing | STP 14 |
LBH 5 |
KAN 10 |
INDY 2 |
MIL 10 |
TXS 7 |
IOW 4 |
RIR 10 |
WGL 10 |
GATE 14 |
EDM 15 |
KTY 11 |
MDO 16 |
SNM 12 |
CHI 22 |
MOT 8 |
HMS 21 |
354 | 10. | ||
| 2010 | Panther Racing | SAO 5 |
STP 20 |
ALA 11 |
LBH 9 |
CAN 15 |
INDY 2 |
TXS 9 |
IOW 11 |
WGL 6 |
GATE 10 |
EDM 20 |
MDO 14 |
SNM 25 |
CHI 2 |
KTY 3 * |
MOT 10 |
HMS 9 |
388 | 9. | ||
| 2011 | Bryan Herta Autosport | STP |
ALA |
LBH |
SAO |
INDY 1 |
TXS1 |
TXS2 |
Mil |
IOW |
GOAL |
EDM |
MDO |
NHA |
SNM |
BAL |
MOT |
75 | 28. | |||
| Sam Schmidt Motorsports | KTY 14 |
LSV C |
( Legend )
- 1 The races took place on the same day.
- 2 No points were awarded.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ “Dan Wheldon: 'Winning at Monaco would be great, but it's nothing next to the Indy 500'” (independent.co.uk on May 25, 2007)
- ↑ "Dan's Indy mood for F1" (thesun.co.uk on March 25, 2006)
- ↑ "Goodbye NASCAR: Franchitti headed back to IndyCar Series" (usatoday.com on September 3, 2008)
- ^ "Doornbos and Wheldon: Everything the same" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 28, 2009)
- ↑ "Reunification: Wheldon starts for Herta" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 25, 2011)
- ^ "Wheldon victory in the IndyCar oldtimer" (Motorsport-Total.com on June 1, 2011)
- ↑ "Next-Generation IndyCar in an oval for the first time" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 23, 2011)
- ^ "Wheldon dies from injuries" (autosport.com on October 16, 2011)
- ^ "Dan Wheldon: Cause of death head injuries" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 18, 2011)
- ↑ "Incredible: Wheldon had signed the Andretti contract!" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 17, 2011)
- ^ "IndyCar - Dan Wheldon had a fatal accident" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on October 17, 2011)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wheldon, Dan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wheldon, Daniel Clive (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British racing car driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 22, 1978 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Emberton , England, UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 16, 2011 |
| Place of death | Las Vegas , Nevada , United States |