Daniel Clive Wheldon, better known as Dan Wheldon, was a British racing driver.
Among his most outstanding achievements is being champion in the 2005 IndyCar Series, 1st place in the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011 and champion of the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2006.
As for his career, in his early days in motorsport, he developed a rivalry with fellow Briton Jenson Button while they competed in local championships.
In 1999, Dan entered Formula Ford 2000 in the United States. In 2000 he competed in Formula Atlantic, where he finished runner-up with two wins, one at Homestead and the other at Laguna Seca, as well as taking two 2nd and two 3rd places.
For 2001, he moved up to the Indy Lights, where he obtained a new runner-up position after obtaining two victories, one at Gateway and the other at Road Atlanta, in addition to three 2nd places and two 3rd places.
In 2002 Dan was hired by the Panther Racing IndyCar Series team to contest the last two rounds of the 2002 season.
In 2003 he joined the Andretti Green Racing team to fill in for Dario Franchitti who was injured on the third date, but Dan competed the entire remaining year replacing Michael Andretti. In this year he was named rookie of the year with a 3rd place in Texas and 3 4th places as best results, he was also number 11 in the global classification.
For 2004 Dan won three races, one at Motegi, Richmond and the last one at Nazareth, as well as eight third-place finishes in 16 races, earning him the runner-up spot.
By 2005 Dan became IndyCar Series champion with six wins, one at Homestead, the second at St. Petersburg, the third at Motegi, the fourth at Indianapolis, the fifth at Pikes Peak and the last at Chicagoland, he also participated of the year in the Race of Champions.
For 2006 Dan won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Target Ganassi Racing Riley-Lexus. Following this championship, Dan joined the Chip Ganassi Racing team in IndyCar.
In 2007 Dan only had two first places at Homested and Kansas, he also had one 2nd place and three 3rd places, finishing the season in 4th place.
For 2008 Dan again finished the season in 4th place with 2 wins at Kansas and Lowa, a 2nd, a 3rd and five 4th places.
For 2009 Dan returned to Panther Racing, which was his first team in the series finishing 10th overall.
For 2010 it came in 9th place overall without getting any first place.
On May 29, 2011 Dan became champion of the IndyCar Series, but on October 16 of the same year he died at the age of 33 after suffering an accident in the Las Vegas race. The crash involved 15 cars causing a red flag, as a result Dan was unable to get out of the car and was taken to a hospital where he was described as having serious injuries. After this, he was pronounced dead at 5 pm due to head contusions and later the drivers decided to make a 10-minute salute in his honor by circling the oval 5 times where they were racing.
Due to Dan's accident, both Formula 1 and NASCAR and other categories judged IndyCar and its circuit for not having the necessary requirements for safety.
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