On October 16, 2011, the IndyCar World Championship at The Las Vegas Motor Speedway became the stage for one of the darkest days in motor sport history. A catastrophic 15-car crash on the 11th lap of the race tragically claimed the life of Dan Wheldon, a two-time Indi 500 champion and one of the sport’s most respected figures. Known for his fearless driving and warm personality, Wheldon left an indelible mark on IndyCar racing. His untimely death sent shockwaves through the racing community, prompting profound reflection and significant safety changes that would reshape the future of the sport but what exactly happened that day? Let’s talk about it—this is the IndyCar World Championship Disaster, the infamous death of Dan Wheldon
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his head waa pancaked,it was impossible to get helmet off,when they did,brains spilled out..we knew then,he waa gone.RIP!
Keep going buddy you are a beacon shining on how pods should be done 🤘😎🎄🕊
Starting 34 cars on a track like this was not just a bad decision, it was suicidal, whatever were the organisers thinking of?
Yeah car racing is definitely dangerous sports and there are a lot of tragedies specially Dale Earnhardt Sr was one of them and were changes in racing but yes car racing is brutal
I watched the Nascar Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega, and I saw everyone pay their tribute to Dan Wheldon. I gave my condolences to Dan Wheldon as well, he's a good guy to watch, I was shocked about the lap 11 crash that took his life, and nobody liked it. Great Britain in Europe was saddened to see that fellow driver get killed in a 15 car accident.
Reversing the oval footage is driving me nuts.
AHEHEHEHEHEHOHOHO
Absolutely no way this generation of IndyCar should have been racing at Vegas. I’m still angry about this accident and Dan’s death (we could quite easily have lost Will Power too) as it shouldn’t have been allowed to happen.
Buck-in-ham-sher
Why are many of the clips playing horizontally flipped ?
Good stuff, no AI bulls..t
You got a sub👍
Not the worst Indycar accident though, remember reading about one where a driver had got launched into the fencing and when his car came to rest, rescue services obviously saw blood on the track but were confused by this odd other liquidy type stuff smeared on the track, turns out when the driver hit the fence his helmet got ripped off and the strange stuff on the track was parts of his brain where the circuit had scalped him as his car slid down the track.
Hell half of the video clips are reversed. That needs fixed!!!
Most gruesome racing death for me was Russell Phillips in 1995, Charlotte North Carolina, NASCAR. Wish I'd never learned about it or saw footage of what remained of him when his car finally came to a stop.
That said, this accident was truly tragic.
You neglect to mention that prior to Indy Lights, he competed in the 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship. He was very quick. I know this because I was competing in the Atlantic series at that time.
i was at this race. He was trying to pass the one driver and clipped the other driver. the whole race he was speeding to pass other drivers. honestly, he was bound to get hit. Now at the speed way they have taller walls and wided parts of the track to help others pass. They did have the race at a later date.
He died on my birthday.
In the middle of the race, they switched from counterclockwise to clockwise then back again. Was that a factor in the crash? Is this normal?
You neglected to mention that due to the high downforce package the IRL ran to force their artificial side by side racing, las vegas with its high banking was unsuitible for those cars and those cars only
A lot of us pointed this out when the date was announced and were decried as naysayers and ridiculed, its one of the things I've been most furious about in Motorsport and that feeling of anger combined with sadness hasn't really gone away every time i think of this
It could've been prevented but stupid people continued on for their own reasons, mainly money
Its the IRL version lf the Challenger incident
"Ignore the safety concerns, we must save face and the show must go on"
CART at least had the guts to cancel Texas 01 when they found out it was dangerous.
Irl never had that sense
I was at the race. 34 cars on a 1.5 mile speedway. There was no room. There were to many cars on a track that small. I elbowed my buddy and pointed to the accident as it started. I watched the whole accident happen. The wait for the word seemed forever. And then what fell over the track, the drivers, the fans. It was unbelievable. And we saw Dan next to his car with his crew the day before the race at the speedway. I went to my first race in 1960 when I was a kid. I will never forget that day
Welcome to the “YouTubers can’t even say the word death” era.
Death at high speed is sad
Too bad they discontinued use of the rear pods covering the rear wheels, that Dan helped to develop to help cut down on cars getting airborne !!!
Seems odd to say he passed because of a head injury…seems way more catastrophic than that. RIP Dan.
I’ll never forget that day. I was in my basement watching the ABC broadcast of the race, and I had this strange feeling about the race, like I was going to see this huge accident. Those cars were positioned in an incredibly dangerous way- it was a pack race- those cars were often 3-wide and as a result, too close. Then, it happened. I just remember watching it in stunned disbelief- we all knew there was going to be a multi-car accident, but nothing like that. It looked almost apocalyptic- like something out of one of the Terminator movies. I just could not believe how many cars were involved. I also remember how quickly that right after the accident happened, people were talking about Dan and his condition, and that it “looked bad”. And then we got the news. I just had to get out of my house and go for a long walk, just to process what had happened. Seeing the drivers- especially Dario as emotional as they were on TV was an unpleasant and heartbreaking sight.
Indycar car should have been charged with criminal negligent.
0:09 "One of the darkest days in motorsport history." Yeah, not even close.
Racing is a passion , every driver knows the risk and would likely leave this world doing what they here passionate about
RIP Dan.
I saw the race and when he crashed, I saw Paul Tracy talking to another driver and he jestured his arm from his chest to his head while saying: "everything from here to here was gone." Such a tragic event!
I remember press photos being circulated just after the crash. One showed Weldon in his car and you could see the top of his helmet was missing. Very sad. Horrific impact.
WHAT is that thumbnail???
Did u really have to "head crushed" into it?
To get a couple more views?
Grow some respect dude ..
Indycar ran at texas which is basically identical until 2022. Only stopped because the track wasn’t drawing spectators. They finished the season at Nashville super speedway this year so the idea they stopped racing at this type of track is completely false.
You’re using a driver death to get cheap clicks. You know nothing about this.
Possibly for the sake of his two young boys ( who race ) and his widow, and all of us who race formula cars you could change the shock value title. His boys just dont need to see that headline. Please please just change the title only.
😥
RIP, Dan Wheldon.
I'm gonna be honest, hearing you repeat "this is not an AI channel" over and over again is almost more annoying than if you did use an AI voice.
I'm puzzled by the bizarre choice of showing so many clips of the race running in a reverse direction.
I KNOW THAT NO DRIVER IN ANY FORMULA GOES OUT TO CRASH – BUT PLEASE KEEP SEB & OLI WHELDON SAFE !
Me and a friend attended the race that day and we were in the infield between turns 1 and 2 when on lap 11 hell on earth reared it's deadly face. The event we saw in front of us is something that should be so easy to explain yet impossible to relay . We knew before Dan's car stopped moving he was unfortunately gone as our eyes told us this was not survivable. There are parts of the scene nobody talked of to the media which I don't believe I would be able to speak as it was beyond gruesome and deadly. I called home and informed my gf what happened and tell her I won't be home as planned due to being beyond distraught. I have been to 500+drag races as my father is a world champion driver and we went to many facilities and witnessed 5 drivers lose their lives so I was somewhat used to seeing death and destruction on a high performance level but what we saw in Vegas took things to a higher mental level as I decided to go to a therapist it was that bad. 2 years of therapy helped but in the end a human was taken very violently and it could have been averted. R.i.p Dan you was truly a badass with pure love and emotion as well as a 500 champion.
Can you do a video on the three Hikers Who Saved Saylor Gulliums Life On A Hiking Trail?
Also RIP to Dan Wheldon 😢
You suck. Your channel sucks. And what the hell is up with the video itself? All the cars are going backwards to the way they should be going. This is America not England.
I knew it was really bad when they showed loading him into the helicopter and his head was covered with a towel
since we are on racing deaths maybe a justin wilsion video in order?
"The Halo hurts racing"
How many deaths have we had since? Would have helped this, all the multiple tire to helmet deaths, etc.
But who cares right? Best part of racing is the deaths right? /sigh
I always wanted to be a racer. F1 or Motogp. But I'm just a poor peasant. Well, at least I'm still alive.