Who is 2011 indycar champion

Lionheart forever. The lasting impact of Wheldon's accident is still felt throughout IndyCar today. His death led to a movement against high speed ovals, which are now hardly a part of the IndyCar schedule. The magnitude of the crash that took Wheldon's life had a profound impact on those involved, as driver Townsend Bell -- now an IndyCar TV analyst -- admitted he dealt with trauma for years afterwards.

It was a really unpleasant event for a lot of people. A really vivid and deeply disturbing kind of moment, etched in my mind, that I didn't really know how to deal with. Wheldon's impact has also been felt through safety advancements not simply in IndyCar, but also in open wheel racing as a whole: in , IndyCar debuted the DW12 chassis, which had been tested by Wheldon and was subsequently named in his honor.

The chassis featured a new bumper and nerf bar across the back, which was specifically designed to help prevent cars being launched by wheel-to-wheel contact and the sort of accidents that killed Wheldon. Wheldon's accident, along with separate ones that killed Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi and IndyCar driver Justin Wilson, was also a factor in the introduction of halos and aeroscreens to open-wheel cockpits as a means of protecting the driver's head from flying debris or other intrusions.

Such objects have since been praised as having saved numerous drivers, most notably Romain Grosjean, who credited the F1 halo with saving his life when his car crashed into and penetrated the underside of a steel barrier during the Bahrain Grand Prix. But Wheldon's legacy is perhaps felt in no greater way than through his two sons, who have followed their father into racing.

Sebastian and Oliver Wheldon, now 12 and 10 years old, are currently competing in karting and were both signed to developmental deals by Andretti Autosport earlier this year. Wheldon had driven for Andretti early in his career, and had signed on to return to the team for the season to drive the car that was being vacated by Danica Patrick's full-time move to NASCAR. As they get older, I think they'll understand things a little more and be able to really decide if it's something they want to do, or it's something they feel they have to do to stay connected to their dad.

In all, Dan Wheldon's racing career included 16 IndyCar wins with two Indianapolis triumphs, the IndyCar Championship, as well as a win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and several championships in developmental series. His epitaph is a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which states that " To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.

Dan Wheldon's grave is in Clearwater, Florida not my photo , and his epitaph is tremendous: It's a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson which I think encapsulates being a man beautifully. What a life he led. By Steven Taranto. Oct 16, at pm ET 6 min read.

Getty Images. Superstar Racing Experience: Schedule. Santinio Ferrucci injured in Indy practice crash Steven Taranto 1 min read. So Sunday, October 16, hurt a lot more than I ever could have imagined, because what had happened was, to me, impossible. The following year, one of the writing assignments in school was a memoir. With the crash still a fresh wound despite a relatively clean season, I knew exactly what to write about — which was quite rare for me in regard to any kind of school writing assignment at that time.

The following is from a memoir completed on Monday, January 21, It was first publicized on Wednesday, October 16, October 16th, It was going to be the absolute best day of my life.

The battle for the championship was as tight as cattle. Church had just ended. I was thrilled that all I had to do now was wait for the big race. That was the only thing I had to do. The race broadcast had just come on Channel 6, ABC. The butterflies in my stomach had started to fly quicker as the seconds ticked by. I marveled at the amazing, giant 1.

Five hours down, thirty minutes to go before the green flag would wave. Only 1. Tick, tock. I turned up the volume so that the television blared the most famous words in motorsports. The butterflies in my stomach continued to fly, but their flight speed increased each second as I watched the 34 well-built machines circle the track for a few warm-up laps. The drivers lined up in 17 rows side by side off of turn four. At once, 34 roaring monsters began to accelerate. The margin was 2.

The field was packed tight, with the two championship contenders, Dario Franchitti and Will Power, running in 17th and 18th positions, respectively. The television had gone to one of their on-board cameras with one of the cars. The car they currently had an on-board camera on was the car of series veteran Dan Wheldon.

He had started in the back, 34th position, and had advanced 10 spots in as many laps. As I watched from his point of view the car circling the track, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that caught my attention.

Gray clouds began rising up from a few cars way in front of Wheldon. The race broadcasters saw this too, so they switched from the onboard camera back to the normal race view mode. The screen went black, or so I thought.

But in the midst of all that blackness, I saw red, orange, and yellow. Then I saw what all of those colors were. The crash began, full-force.

The race was stopped as the red flag came out on lap 13 of after fifteen cars, the No. All 19 of the remaining cars that were intact drove into the pits and removed themselves from their cars. All but one of the drivers were in attendance. It was announced that the driver who was airlifted to a nearby hospital was Dan Wheldon.

Was he okay? Was he injured? Would he ever drive an IndyCar again? Those were some of the flashing thoughts that conquered my brain for the next hour and forty minutes. ABC News came on in a flash. I figured there had to be something reported about the colossal IndyCar wreck from a few hours before. So, I continued to watch the broadcast patiently. The broadcast had begun talking about a robbery as I was now getting annoyed that nothing had been said about the wreck. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today.

IndyCar, its drivers and team owners, has decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute in his honor. It will take place in approximately ten minutes. I knew that the long 5-month offseason would be a long and hard time for all of the drivers and teams.