An IndyCar champion was killed today after his vehicle burst into flames following a high-speed 15-car pile-up.
Briton Dan Wheldon died while competing in the Las Vegas Indy 300 where drivers reach speeds of up to 222mph.
The 33-year-old’s Dallara-Honda car was catapulted over another racer and hurled into fencing, where it went up in flames.
Horror crash: Flames and sparks fly everywhere as 15 cars pile into each other in Las Vegas
Smashed to pieces: Wheldon's car is shown at the top of the picture
Family man: Dan Wheldon of England poses with his family, wife Susie (L) holding son Oliver with older son Sebastian (R), next to the BorgWarner trophy the day after winning the Indianapolis 500 earlier this year
Mr Wheldon, a former private school pupil originally from Buckinghamshire, was rushed to hospital in a helicopter but died as a result of his severe injuries.
The fiery pile-up, on the 13th lap of the 300-mile race, involved almost half of the race’s 34 participants.
The married father-of-two, who is survived by his wife, Susie, and two sons, Sebastian, two, and six-month-old Oliver, had been in line for a $5million bonanza if he was first across the finishing line.
IndyCar chief executive Randy Bernard confirmed Mr Wheldon’s death at a press conference.
He said: ‘IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today.’
Officials decided to end the race but, after learning of his death, Mr Wheldon’s fellow drivers went on to perform a five-lap salute in his honour.
The tragedy comes just months after Mr Wheldon won the famous Indianapolis 500 in May for the second time.
Shocking aftermath: Cars are scattered on the track after a 15 car crash during the Las Vegas Indy 300
No chance of survival: Wheldon, front, gets tangled up with Will Power's car
Video replays showed Wheldon's car turning over as it was airborne and sailed into what's called the 'catch fence,' which sits over the safety barrier that's designed to give a bit when cars make contact.
Mr Wheldon, who lived in St Petersburg, Florida, won the entire IndyCar series championship back in 2005, when he also enjoyed his first triumph in the Indy500 race.
Organisers of today's race had offered a $5million bonus to any non-regular IndyCar drivers who won, but with the handicap of starting at the back of the field.
Despite his success this year, Mr Wheldon was not a regular driver this season and accepted the offer, leading to speculation this pushed him to drive faster than normal.
Born in Emberton, Buckinghamshire, Mr Wheldon attended the fee-paying Bedford School and started karting at the age of four.
After an early racing rivalry with contemporary and Formula One ace Jenson Button, he left the UK in 1999 for the more lucrative racing scene in the USA.
Three other drivers, including championship contender Will Power, were hurt in the accident.
Mr Wheldon is the first IndyCar driver to die on the track since rookie Paul Dana was killed in practice on the morning of race day at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2006.
Today, as word began to spread that his injuries were fatal, those at the track could not control their tears.
Television cameras captured Ashley Judd, the wife of IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, dabbing at her eyes shortly before the official word came.
The remainder of the race was cancelled.
Drivers solemnly returned to the track for a five-lap tribute to Wheldon, almost all of them hiding their eyes behind dark sunglasses after being told their colleague was gone.
When drivers returned to the track, Wheldon's No. 77 was the only one on the towering scoreboard.
Franchitti sobbed uncontrollably as he got back into his car for the tribute laps.
Over speakers at the track, the song Danny Boy blared, followed by Amazing Grace as hundreds of crew workers from each team stood solemnly.
Rescue workers were at Mr Wheldon's car quickly, some furiously waving for more help to get to the scene.
Mr Bernard said the driver's injuries were 'unsurvivable.'
Wheldon's first Indianapolis 500 victory was in 2005 - he passed Danica Patrick with less than 10 laps to go that year - and his win at the sport's most famed race this year was one to particularly savour.
It came in perhaps the oddest of fashions, as he was the beneficiary of a huge gaffe by someone else.
Mr Wheldon was in second place, far back of rookie J.R. Hildebrand approaching the final turn - when Hildebrand lost control and clipped the wall.
He zipped past, and the only lap he led all day at Indianapolis was the last one.
Stunned and tearful: Drivers take five tribute laps in Las Vegas on Sunday in honour of Dan Wheldon
Touching tribute: Teams line up on pit row as drivers take five laps in honour of Wheldon
He returned to the track the next morning for the traditional photo session with the winner, kissing the bricks as his two-year-old son Sebastian sat on the asphalt alongside him, and wife, Susie, held their then-2-month-old, Oliver.
Mr Wheldon was almost resigned to finishing second at Indy for the third straight year, before misfortune struck Hildebrand.
'It's obviously unfortunate, but that's Indianapolis,' he said.
'That's why it's the greatest spectacle in racing. You never know what's going to happen.'
Such was the case again today.
Mr Wheldon was well behind the first wave of cars that got into trouble on the fateful lap, and had no way to avoid the wrecks in front of him. There was no time to brake or steer out of trouble.
'I saw two cars touch each other up in front of me and then I tried to slow down, couldn't slow down,' driver Paul Tracy said.
'Then Dan's car, from what I saw in the videos, came over my back wheel and over top of me. Just a horrendous accident.'
Even as a former series champion and one of the sport's top names, Wheldon did not have the financial backing to secure a full-time ride for himself this season.
He kept himself busy by working as a commentator for some races and testing prototype cars that the IndyCar series will be using in the future.
IndyCar will have new cars in 2012, much of the changes done with a nod for safety.
Out of control: Dan Wheldon goes airborne before hitting the barrier and bursting into flames
It had been a passion of Wheldon's in recent months, and he once quipped that he was a 'test dummy' for the new cars by working with engineers as often as he was.
Mr Wheldon moved to the United States in 1999, quickly trying to find sponsor money to fund his dream, and by 2002 - after stints in some lower-profile open-wheel series, such as the F2000 championship, Toyota Atlantic Series and IndyLights - he was on the IndyCar grid for the first time.
Wheldon got his first IndyCar Series ride, in 2002, for two races with Panther Racing, then replaced Michael Andretti when Andretti retired the next season and won Rookie of the Year.
His first victory came the next season, in Japan, and he finished second in the championship standings behind Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan.
The race to save his life: Dan Wheldon is loaded into a medical helicopter and airlifted to hospital
Popular: With his love of racing and golden boy looks, Wheldon was loved among followers of the sport
The next year, he was its champion. NASCAR teams talked to him about changing series. So did Formula One organizations.
In the end, he decided IndyCar was his calling.
'The biggest thing for me is the Indianapolis 500,' Wheldon said in 2005, not long after becoming the first Englishman since Graham Hill in 1966 to prevail at the Brickyard. 'It would be really difficult to leave this series because of that race.'
As evidenced by the difficulty in finding sponsorships this season, it was also difficult for him to stay in the series.
Even though he finished among the top 10 in IndyCar points annually from 2004 through 2010, Sunday was only Wheldon's third start of 2011.
Off the track, Wheldon had varied interests, some of which had almost nothing to do with his driving.
In 2010, he released a photo book he called Lionheart, a coffee table book that he described as 'almost like a photo biography from my career in IndyCars up until this point.' He spent years editing the book, which included dozens of photos of his life away from the track, including images from his wedding.
'I wanted it to have a lot of my input,' Mr Wheldon said last year. 'Obviously, it's a reflection of me.'
He also wanted that book to provide his fans with a glimpse of his life that they would never have known otherwise.
'There's a lot of my wedding in there,' Wheldon said.
'I wanted there to be a lot of photos of my wife. She was the most beautiful bride on her wedding day the world had ever seen.'
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