2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship

2011 Las Vegas

Race details
17th round of the 2011 IndyCar Series season
Date	16 October, 2011
Official name	IZOD IndyCar World Championship
Location	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada
Course	Oval 1.500 mi / 2.410 km
Distance	200 laps 300.000 mi / 483.000 km
Pole position
Driver	Tony Kanaan (KV Racing Technology)
Time	222.078 mph (357.400 km/h)
Podium
First	Race abandoned
Second	Race cancelled
Third	None

The 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship was the final race of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar series schedule. The race took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The race was red-flagged following a fifteen-car pile-up on lap 11 that was triggered by drivers trying to avoid light contact between Wade Cunningham and James Hinchcliffe, and was formally abandoned after two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and 2005 series champion Dan Wheldon died of injuries sustained in the crash.

Report

Background

The Las Vegas race was added to the schedule for the 2011 season and replaced the event at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the final event of the IndyCar season. The races at Homestead and at the International Speedway Corporation tracks were removed from the schedule following the 2010 season. Las Vegas Motor Speedway was returning to the schedule for the first time since 2000, and a race in the Las Vegas metro area was returning for the first time since 2007. The race was scheduled for 200 laps around the 1.5 mile oval, totaling 300 miles. ABC was awarded broadcast rights for the season finale after several years of the final race airing on Versus.

On May 3, 2011, IndyCar president Randy Bernard issued a challenge to the world's top drivers by declaring that a $5,000,000 (USD) prize would be awarded to any driver who was not a regular driver on the IndyCar circuit to come to the race at Las Vegas and start from the back of the grid. He wanted to attract NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers to come to the track, but none took up the challenge; NASCAR would be in the Chase for the Sprint Cup portion of the season and had a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway scheduled for the night before, which may have caused a conflict between the two series, though Bernard dismissed the suggestion.

Wheldon, who had been driving a part-time schedule after losing his ride at Panther Racing and who had won the Indianapolis 500 already that season, was the only driver to take the challenge. He announced that he would split the $5,000,000 US prize with a fan if he were to win.

Entering the race there was a two-way battle for the IndyCar Championship between Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti and Team Penske's Will Power. Entering the race, Franchitti was eighteen points ahead of Power, having leapfrogged him for the series points lead with a second-place finish at Kentucky Speedway. Power was still mathematically in the points race despite a poor finish at Kentucky.

Qualifying

Tony Kanaan, driving the #82 GEICO Dallara for KV Racing Technology, qualified on pole for the race and shared the front row with Oriol Servia, driving the #2 Telemundo Dallara for Newman Haas Racing. Power and Franchitti qualified on Row 9, in seventeenth and eighteenth respectively. Wheldon qualified twenty-ninth, driving car #77 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

Lap 11 Incident

Multi-car pile-up on lap 11

The accident began on the front stretch, approaching the first turn when James Hinchcliffe was clipped by Wade Cunningham. Cunningham and J.R. Hildebrand then made contact when Cunningham swerved and Hildebrand drove over the rear of his car. Hildebrand's car became airborne and Cunningham crashed into the wall, causing a pileup behind them as Sebastian Saavedra attempted to avoid the accident. A second pile-up took place further behind as a smaller group of drivers took evasive action of their own.

"I could see within five laps [that] people were starting to do crazy stuff. I love hard racing, but that to me is not really what it's about. One small mistake from somebody [...] right now I'm numb and speechless. One minute you're joking around in driver intros and the next he's gone. He was six years old when I first met him. I told his son Thursday night at the parade on The Strip that I’ve known his dad since he was about your size. And then I talked to a friend of mine, Jesse Spence, that I used to race go-karts with that we’ve known him since he was this little kid. His mouth worked plenty good, but he was just this little kid and the next thing you know he was my teammate in IndyCars. We put so much pressure on ourselves to win races and championships, it’s what we love to do, it’s what we live for, and then on days like today it doesn’t really matter. Everybody in the IndyCar Series was Dan's friend."

Dario Franchitti, describing his feelings in the aftermath of the accident.

Wheldon, at the time, was racing with Will Power and both became involved. Power made contact with Alex Lloyd's car and tumbled into the catch fence in the air (his in-car camera view showed that he had in fact left the racing surface), suffering a back injury. Wheldon was still traveling at race speed when the accident happened and did not lift off the throttle, running over E. J. Viso's car (though Paul Tracy believed that Wheldon had hit him). Wheldon was launched into the air, barrel-rolling and flying into the catch fencing on the outside of the second turn. Fifteen cars were involved in the accident, with the most severe injuries suffered by Wheldon, Power, Hildebrand, and Pippa Mann. Wheldon's injuries were severe enough that he was unable to exit the car without assistance and had to be extricated and airlifted to a local hospital where he died two hours later. Mann and Hildebrand were later taken to the hospital for overnight observation, while Power was evaluated and released. Tracy, Viso, and Tomas Scheckter were also injured, but were treated at the track.

The race was red-flagged following the incident as the track maintenance crew began working to repair the track, which included patching several holes the crashing cars had put in the asphalt. Eventually the drivers were called to a meeting by IndyCar director Brian Barnhart, though it was not made clear what was said to them. After the meeting was over an emotional Bernard called a press conference where he relayed the following:

IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute in his honor.

ABC did not cut into the press conference until after the announcement, and lap-by-lap commentator Marty Reid relayed word of Wheldon's death to the audience:

Alright, we came in late on that, and...(sighs) folks, this is the hardest part of our job...and the last time I had to do this was 2006 with Paul Dana, but we have lost Dan Wheldon today here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tragic accident on Lap 13 [sic], and Dan Wheldon killed here today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The nineteen cars that were not damaged in the accident took to the track again several minutes after the announcement, running in a three-wide formation at pace-lap speed for five laps as a mark of respect. The track took down all the car numbers from the scoring tower and placed Wheldon's car number at the top. "Danny Boy" and "Amazing Grace" were played at varying intervals on the Bagpipes while the cars paraded around the track.as o

"The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere."

Ryan Briscoe's reaction to driving through the scene of the accident, one lap after the collision.

As only 11 laps were completed, there was no official result (an official race would require 101 laps be completed). Kanaan was leading the race when it was abandoned.

As Reid noted in his report, Wheldon's death was the first suffered by an IndyCar driver since Paul Dana was killed in a practice crash at Homestead-Miami in 2006. His death was also the first major racing series fatality at any American motorsports facility since Scott Kalitta was killed at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey in 2007.

Drivers involved in accident

Number	Driver	Team	Condition
77	Dan Wheldon	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Critically injured, later died of injuries
4	J.R. Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Injured, held under hospital observation
30	Pippa Mann	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Injured, held under hospital observation
12	Will Power	Team Penske	Injured, later released from hospital
57	Tomas Scheckter	Sarah Fisher Racing	Injured, treated at circuit
8	Paul Tracy	Dragon Racing	Injured, treated at circuit
59	E. J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	Injured, treated at circuit
22	Townsend Bell	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Uninjured
17	Wade Cunningham	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Uninjured
06	James Hinchcliffe	Newman/Haas Racing	Uninjured
15	Jay Howard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Uninjured
83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Uninjured
19	Alex Lloyd	Dale Coyne Racing	Uninjured
14	Vitor Meira	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Uninjured
44	Buddy Rice	Panther Racing	Uninjured

Championship resolution

Franchitti clinched the championship after the accident as no points were awarded and he was the points leader before the race. This was Franchitti's third consecutive championship and fourth overall. As Power was involved in the lap 11 crash, Franchitti would have won the championship regardless if the race had continued.

Reactions

At the time of his death, Wheldon had been working with IndyCar officals to develop the ICONIC chassis, with the intention of improving safety in the sport.

Prominent figures within the IndyCar fraternity and the wider international motorsport community expressed their condolences to Wheldon and his family. Wheldon had been scheduled to take part in the Gold Coast 600, a round of the V8 Supercars championship, on October 22, racing alongside his friend James Courtney. Upon hearing of Wheldon's death, Courtney described the accident as a sobering reminder of the dangers faced by racing drivers. Tony Kanaan, who had also been scheduled to race in Australia, announced his withdrawal from the event out of respect for Wheldon.