Triumph and Tragedy - IndyCar Racing in 2011

I've always been an open wheel racing fan. Growing up in NASCAR county, that hasn't always been the easiest thing. When I would mention that I had watched a race over the weekend, I would get quizzical looks when I mentioned cheering for Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, or Greg Moore (all IndyCar stars of the 90s). With the disastrous open wheel split of the 1990s and 2000s, NASCAR became the overwhelming leader in American motorsports and the only time open wheel racing would get coverage (aside from the Danica Patrick phenomenon) would be for fluke occurrences or for tragedy. Unfortunately, IndyCar made headlines for both in 2011 and both involved Dan Wheldon.

Even with the lowered profile of American open wheel racing, the Indianapolis 500 still gets significant media coverage every Memorial Day weekend. With the reunification of the IndyCar series and the leadership of IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, the IndyCar series has seen some gains, even if modest. This year's Indy 500 was indicative of the new era that the series faced. Every expert believed that the race would be a two-team show with the Penske and Ganassi teams dueling for the win. So, of course, everyone was shocked when Alex Tagliani won the pole position in the #77 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. The #77 team was formed largely by Tagliani on a shoestring budget and then later sold to/merged with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Truly a case of the underdog rising to the occasion and competing with and getting the better of racing's juggernauts, Penske and Ganassi. Another underdog story for this year's Indy 500 featured 2005 Indy winner Dan Wheldon. At the beginning of the year, he was without a ride when his former team, Panther Racing hired Indy Lights champion JR Hildebrand to drive the #4 car. As most of the top teams already had their driver rosters set, Wheldon was without a drive until his former teammate at Andretti-Green Racing (now Andretti Autosport), Bryan Herta, offered him a chance to drive his car (associated with Sam Schmidt Motorsports) at Indianapolis in a one-off attempt to win the Indy 500. While Alex Tagliani won the pole position, Dan Wheldon qualified the #98 car in a very respectable 6th position.

During the race, the Ganassi team of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon led most of the race. Alex Tagliani's qualifying setup was much better than his race setup and he faded quickly. Dan Wheldon ran in the top 5-10 for most of the race, never running at the front. As has been common recently, the race turned into a fuel mileage race. Inexplicably, Franchitti and Dixon both had fueling issues on their last pit stops and were not able to stay at the front. As the cars cycled into the pits for a splash of fuel, JR Hildebrand found himself in the lead. In the most bizarre turn of events I've ever seen at Indy, Hildebrand ran wide in Turn 4 on the last lap and hit the outside wall. Dan Wheldon then sped by to take the lead and the checkered flag. It was the only lap he led of the race. Unlike in 2005, where Wheldon was with a dominant team, this was a definite upset and was afforded the type of media coverage due such an upset. Wheldon made the interview rounds from ESPN to Letterman and all media outlets in between.

However strong Wheldon's momentum was after the Indy 500, he still didn't have a ride. Bryan Herta still didn't have the funding to run full-time, preferring to focus on securing sponsorship for 2012. So Wheldon also decided to focus on 2012, by testing the new Dallara chassis for the IndyCar series. He also dabbled in commentary, working for Versus at a few races. Searching for more media attention, series CEO Randy Bernard had planned a promotion for the season ending race at Las Vegas, where a non-series regular driver would win a $5 million bonus (to be split with a fan) if they won the race. It was hoped that some NASCAR drivers or maybe some motocross stars would bring their fan bases (and corresponding TV ratings and buzz) to the series to add to the hype around the season finale. Well, NASCAR drivers like Kasey Kahne were not allowed by their teams to participate. Motocross/extreme sports ace Travis Pastrana broke his ankle at the X Games. This left the series in a bit of a bind. Enter Dan Wheldon. He was selected to be the sole participant in the $5 million challenge (to be sponsored by Go Daddy). The IndyCar series selected Sam Schmidt Motorsports to run the car for the challenge, squeezing Alex Tagliani out of his ride. In a strange twist of fate, Tagliani would indeed drive in the Vegas finale for Bryan Herta Autosport. Wheldon ran the season's second to last race at Kentucky, finishing 14th.

The 2011 IndyCar World Championships at Las Vegas was not your garden variety season ending race, even if the $5 million prize were not considered. There was a close championship battle between Dario Franchitti and Will Power. There were a series record 34 entries, as this was to be the last race for the current iteration of the Dallara chassis. After all, upon the completion of the race, all cars would be obsolete. Therefore, many team owners ran their spare cars. Some owners chose experienced drivers like Tagliani or Paul Tracy. Others ran less experienced drivers hoping to find out if their development drivers could compete with the established IndyCar elite. The week of the race featured an unprecedented PR blitz. There were so many driver appearances that it was difficult to keep track. All of the cars were taken to the Vegas Strip. Overall, just an incredible effort to get the word out about the race. The on-track action also made headlines. The practice and qualifying speeds were very high, with Tony Kanaan's pole speed over 222 mph. Dan Wheldon qualified 29th, but by the stipulations of the $5 million challenge, he had to start 34th and last.

I woke up the morning of the race with an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was just stress from work manifesting itself, but I thought a lot about Greg Moore and the accident that took his life at California in 1999. I just felt that with the cars becoming obsolete that the drivers would be more aggressive than normal. I went into work to catch up on some projects while the DVR recorded the race. Then I received a text from one of my non-racing fan friends asking if I was watching the race. Instantly I knew it was bad. My response was, "Recording on the DVR, did someone get killed?", almost like I knew already. At that point, nothing was definite, only that there was a horrific accident with severe injuries. Then it became a festival of Twitter following, hoping, and praying.

We all know the results: open wheel racing lost one of its best drivers and best people. There have been many, many articles, blogs, tweets, etc. speculating on how the accident occurred, why the accident was fatal, and what could be done to prevent such accidents in the future. That process is still going on. The media cacophony of what is wrong with open wheel racing is almost laughable when one considers how little some folks pay attention. Criticism from folks like Jimmie Johnson is valid because he knows racing, he lives racing. However whenever tragedy strikes in racing, there are always the blowhards who couldn't name 3 drivers and all of a sudden knows exactly what the IndyCar series should do. What is important is that the racing community has rallied around the Wheldon family. An online auction has raised a great deal of money to help support the family. The new chassis for the IndyCar series, renamed the DW12 in Wheldon's memory should help prevent cars from interlocking wheels on ovals.

This has been a bit of a ramble. For those of us who are long-time fans of IndyCar racing, the 2011 season really did run the gamut of emotions, from first time winners like Ed Carpenter and Mike Conway, to another back and forth championship battle between Dario Franchitti and Will Power. However, it was the triumph and ultimate tragedy of Dan Wheldon that defined the series in 2011 and will shape the future of American open wheel racing, hopefully, a safer one.