Dan Wheldon Memorial

October 18, 2011

The Izod IndyCar Series said Tuesday it launched an investigation into the horrific 15-car wreck that claimed the life of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas.

"We hope to have preliminary findings to report within the next several weeks," IndyCar said. "In the meantime, it would be inappropriate to comment further until the investigative team has had the opportunity to conclude its work."

Wheldon, 33, succumbed to injuries Sunday when his car was involved in the crash early in a race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

IndyCar also said it would hold a public memorial service to celebrate Wheldon's life Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.

IndyCar said the governing body for Formula One racing, along with the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States, an umbrella organization of racing sanctioning bodies, would assist in the probe.

"The safety of our drivers, their crews, IndyCar staff, racetrack staff and spectators is always our paramount concern," the series said.

Wheldon's death sparked debate about whether it was too dangerous for 34 cars to be traveling at 220 mph and faster at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval. NASCAR stock-car racing champion Jimmie Johnson suggested IndyCar avoid oval tracks.

But two legendary open-wheel drivers, A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti, defended oval racing.

"I don't think Jimmie Johnson knows what he's talking about," Foyt, a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, told USA Today. "You could say the same about stock cars. I've drove both, and I've been hurt real bad in both."

Andretti told the newspaper that Wheldon's crash was "a fluke, freakish accident" and that while there is always room for safety improvements, to say "we don't have the knowledge to make these things safe enough for ovals is absolutely absurd."

Dan Wheldon was killed when his head hit a post in the fencing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- contact that created a "non-survivable injury" to the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.

The cause of death was revealed Thursday when IndyCar presented its findings of the Oct. 16 accident. The crash in the series' season finale included 15 cars, including Wheldon's, who came from behind the initial contact, launched over spinning cars and sailed about 325 feet into the catchfence.

Although the contact with the post killed Wheldon, the investigation determined several factors contributed to what became a "perfect storm."

"The accident was significant due to the number of race cars damaged, but more importantly due to the non-survivable injuries to Dan Wheldon," the report said. "While several factors coincided to produce a "perfect storm," none of them can be singled out as the sole cause of the accident.

"For this reason, it is impossible to determine with certainty that the result would have been any different if one or more of the factors did not exist."

While several factors coincided to produce a 'perfect storm,' none of them can be singled out as the sole cause of the accident. ... For this reason, it is impossible to determine with certainty that the result would have been any different if one or more of the factors did not exist.

The race had a season-high 34 cars, but IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said Thursday the field could have had as many as 37 drivers based on the size of both the track and the pit lane. The season finale was held on Vegas' high-banked 1.5-mile oval with multiple racing grooves, which IndyCar president Brian Barnhart said created "nearly unlimited movement on the track surface under race conditions."

That, not the construction of the fencing, played a larger role in Wheldon's death.

Barnhart said he wonders every day whether there was anything he could have done to prevent the crash that killed Wheldon.

Barnhart, pausing to collect his thoughts, said Thursday the death was "devastating" and that getting through the emotions of the past two months has been "extremely difficult and challenging."

Barnhart admitted IndyCar was not prepared for the drivers to have free reign on a wide-open race track.

Most ovals have only one or two racing grooves, which the report said "restrict drivers' naturally aggressive racing behavior (and) make the location of other competitors' cars on the race track predictable."

Because this was IndyCar's first visit to Las Vegas since 2000, the majority of the field was not experienced on the variable banking or wide surface.

But drivers did predict racing at Las Vegas could be hairy as early as preseason testing. Marco Andretti was one of the first drivers to publicly question the track, which would "be easily wide open, which is going to create a big pack. It's going to be fun for the fans. I like those races, but it'll be dangerous."

That mantra was repeated in the buildup to Las Vegas by many top-name drivers and all weekend as speeds inched toward 220 mph in practice sessions.

Yet IndyCar was surprised when the race began.

"I don't think we were expecting it to be any different from what we'd experienced in the last decade at places like Chicagoland, Kentucky, Fontana and Texas; places like that where while there is the ability to run flat and there's multiple grooves, you couldn't run from the top of the race track to the bottom," Barnhart said.

Barnhart stressed IndyCar "never" gets a chance to duplicate race conditions, so no amount of testing or practice would have prepared anyone for what happened when the race began.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway president Chris Powell said track officials will work with IndyCar in hopes "the series might return to LVMS in the future."

To do that, Barnhart said it's imperative for IndyCar to establish guidelines for the drivers to follow going future on surfaces such as Las Vegas, and the series needs to look at aerodynamic changes that make the cars "more challenging to drive."

"We need to create a limit," he said. "They have to understand there is a line they can't cross."

IndyCar also addressed the $5 million promotion that featured Wheldon.

Wheldon was making just his third start of the season and chasing the incentive offered by Bernard to any non-IndyCar regular who could drive from the back of the field to win the race. Wheldon would have split the money with a fan selected in a random drawing.

Allowing Wheldon to take the challenge was a stretch -- he won 14 races on ovals, including the Indy 500 earlier last season -- but because he sat out the season, he technically qualified for the bonus.

But Wheldon felt he was up for the challenge.

He was the in-race reporter for ABC during the event, and spoke with the announcers during the warm-up laps. In a brief interview, Wheldon defended his participation and the entire IndyCar Series.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think that I could win," he said from his car. "Certainly I am not underestimating the talent of the other drivers in the field. I think IndyCar has got a phenomenal field right now."

Wheldon was killed minutes later when the crash began ahead of him at the start of the 12th lap. He had picked his way through the field and gained at least 10 spots when he came upon the accident and had nowhere to go to avoid the spinning cars and flying debris.

The report found that although Wheldon stayed low on the race track and appeared to be attempting to avoid the cluster of cars spinning toward the top -- he had slowed from 224 mph to 165 -- his path was blocked by other cars. His first contact with another car sent him airborne.

Questions remain about Las Vegas' future on the IndyCar schedule.

Bernard had a three-year lease agreement with the track to stage the season finale at Las Vegas through 2013 but came to an agreement with SMI last week to buy out next year's portion of the contract.

"I think Las Vegas is a great city, a resort destination, and our fans and sponsors -- everyone loves the city," Bernard said. "But I don't want to go back there if the conditions aren't right, it isn't safe, for our race cars."

IndyCar plans on judging all high-banked ovals individually going forward and said the Wheldon accident could not be blamed on the banking. That leaves room for a deal to be worked out with Texas Motor Speedway, one of the most popular venues on the IndyCar schedule.

No sanctioning agreement between Texas and IndyCar has been worked out, but Bernard indicated he'd like to have the 2012 schedule announced by Friday.

See Accident Report Video!

Dec 22, 2011 - As promised, INDYCAR released its 2012 schedule on Thursday, with the IZOD IndyCar Series breaking in a new venue in China and returning to two venues not seen in several years.

The 15-venue schedule has just four scheduled ovals, a recognition of both market factors and the need to evaluate all tracks after the death of Dan Wheldon in the 2011 series finale at Las Vegas.

INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard said the series could be adding up to more races, saying:

"INDYCAR is excited about the confirmed races announced today. With the new car and engine manufacturer competition, we believe they will be tremendous events that will help INDYCAR grow.

"We are exploring adding additional events to the 2012 schedule. We're in the process of confirming a 16th event, while also considering adding a 17th race to the calendar."

As the schedule presently stands, the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season will open on March 25 on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The first four races of the season will all be on road/street courses, as the series returns to Barber Motorsports Park, the Streets of Long Beach and the Streets of Sao Paulo before venturing onto an oval for the first time in 2012.

That oval will be none other than the hollowed grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place on May 27. Wheldon will be the first defending champion to miss the race due to an on-track fatality since George Robson in 1946. Still, Wheldon will be memorialized on the tickets for the race, which will mail in the early part of 2012.

After the 500, INDYCAR will return to a venue it has not been since 2008, heading north to the Raceway at Belle Isle Park, outside of Detroit.

Six days later, the series will stage a night race at Texas, in what has become an annual tradition. After last year's doubleheaders, however, the schedule made no mention of doing so in 2012. Texas is the lone 1.5-mile oval presently on the schedule.

INDYCAR will be three-quarters of the way through its ovals after June 23, when the series rolls through Iowa Speedway for another night race.

July takes the series through its Canadian swing, as two week gaps separate the Streets of Toronto (July 8) and Edmonton City Centre Airport (July 22) venues.

INDYCAR will log major frequent flyer miles in August, starting the month at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Aug. 5) before flying to Qingdao, China, for the series' first foray into the Asian mainland. Indy cars will cover the 3.87-mile street course on Aug. 19, before returning for the Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 26.

Surprisingly, the INDYCAR race at the Streets of Baltimore remains on the schedule, given the Labor Day slot on Sept. 2. High attendance and viewer turnout buoyed the race, which has been plagued by financial problems since its completion.

The IZOD IndyCar Series World Championship is presently slated for Sept. 15 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., outside of Los Angeles. INDYCAR will be returning to the facility for the first time since 2005, having competed at Fontana from 2002-05.

With new engines and chassis in 2012, the series is poised for continued growth, as evidenced by its increased television viewership and attendance numbers in 2011. The TV schedule will be released soon, with the first open test of the 2012 Indy car taking place March 5-8 at Sebring International Raceway.

2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Schedule

1. March 25, Streets of St. Petersburg, 1.8-mile street course

2. April 1, Barber Motorsports Park, 2.3-mile road course

3, April 15, Streets of Long Beach, 1.968-mile street course

4, April 29, Streets of Sao Paulo, 2.536-mile street course

5. May 27. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2.5-mile oval

6. June 3, Raceway at Belle Isle Park, 2.1-mile street course

7. June 9, Texas Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval

8. June 23, Iowa Speedway, .875-mile oval

9. July 8, Streets of Toronto, 1.755-mile street course

10. July 22, Edmonton City Centre Airport, 1.973-mile airport course

11. Aug. 5, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 2.258-mile road course

12. Aug. 19, Streets of Qingdao, China, 3.87-mile street course

13. Aug. 26, Infineon Raceway, 2.303-mile road course

14. Sept. 2, Streets of Baltimore, 2-mile street course

15. Sept. 15, Auto Club Speedway, 2-mile oval