Indy 500 Race Car Driver Dies From Horrific Race Car Crash (VIDEO)

A popular race-car driver died in an horrific 15-car pile up...

Dan Wheldon, who won the Indianapolis 500 for the second time in May, died Sunday in a fiery 15-car accident early in a 300-mile IndyCar Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Wheldon’s car went airborne and hit the catch fence 12 laps into the race, which was scheduled to run 200 laps at the one-and-a-half-mile oval. He was airlifted to the hospital, and his death was announced about two hours later. The race, the last of the season, was stopped for more than an hour as the track was cleared and repaired.



After series officials met with drivers, a decision was made not to continue the race, and the drivers did a five-lap tribute to Wheldon as his car number, 77, flashed alone on the scoring pylon at the track.

Wheldon's last post on his blog read,

This is going to be an amazing show. Honestly, if I can be fast enough early in the race to be able to get up there and latch onto those two, it will be pure entertainment. It's going to be a pack race, and you never know how that's going to turn out.

As long as I can find some speed and keep up with the pack, I'll do everything I can to put on a show.

Wheldon, 33, is probably the most well-known driver to die in a race in the United States since Dale Earnhardt died on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.