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Chicagoland Indy 300
The Wheldon File
There weren’t many spectators in the crowd at Gateway International Raceway during the Indy Lights race held there in 2001, but one person in particular watching that afternoon was taken by the winner of the race, a young British driver who would eventually finish runner-up in the championship. Surely, Dan Wheldon was satisfied with his first Indy Lights race win that afternoon. Since the days he watched his father Clive race back home in England, to when he started wheeling a kart around himself at a young age, he’s been driven by one thing – winning. But it wasn’t just the victory that day that set his career path in a new direction, because what caught the eye of Barnes was the fight he put up during the race, and his refusal to finish runner-up without exhausting every overtaking option. It was not his mere arrival at Victory Lane that changed the course of his IndyCar career, it was the path in which he got there that accomplished much more than any Indy Lights victory ever could.
John Barnes wasn’t concerned with the final running order when the race concluded. Barnes knows that in developmental races, like the one that day in St. Louis, winning often comes down to the team and the car more than it does pure driver talent – which is just what he was looking for, and found, in Wheldon that afternoon.
Less than a year later, Barnes secured Wheldon as a test driver for his Panther Racing team while it was in the thick of the IndyCar Series championship battle with Team Penske. As the title bout heated up at the end of that year, so did Wheldon’s career, when he made his IndyCar debut at Chicagoland Speedway in Panther’s No. 15 car and also raced the following weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, where Panther and Hornish secured the team’s second-consecutive IndyCar Series Championship. Lost in the team’s celebration with Hornish that day in Texas was the fact that the open-wheel career of Wheldon, who grew up dreaming of someday racing in the Indianapolis 500, was underway.
The Rise of a Champion
With no sponsorship available to keep him at Panther, Wheldon quickly found a drive at Andretti Green Racing, where in 2003 he was slated to replace legendary driver Michael Andretti, who was retiring after the Indianapolis 500 that season. His accent to the tops of the IndyCar Series record book followed immediately. In 2003, despite competing in just 14 of the season’s 16 events, Wheldon captured IndyCar Rookie of the Year honors after collecting five Top Five and nine Top Ten finishes. The Rookie the Year honor marked the fourth consecutive series where he had won the same award, including Indy Lights, Toyota Atlantics and U.S. Formula Ford 2000.
In 2004, Wheldon’s star reached a new height, as the AGR pilot captured his first career victory in Japan, marking the first time engine manufacturer Honda had won at their home track, Twin Ring Motegi. He collected pole awards at Phoenix and Japan and had two more wins that season; at Richmond, after starting 20th, and at the final race at Nazareth Speedway. Wheldon also started on the front row at the Indianapolis 500 that year, and finished third after leading 26 laps, the first of many laps he would lead at the World’s Greatest Racecourse. The stage was set for Wheldon to reach new heights the following season, just as teammate and 2004 champion Tony Kanaan had predicted, but nobody knew just how shattered the IndyCar Series record book would be once Wheldon was finished with the 2005 season.
Wheldon tore into the beginning of the 2005 season, winning four of the season’s first five races, none more monumental than the 89th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Wheldon had started all the way back in 16th position, but if ever the Briton’s resolve and determination was on display for millions of race fans, it was on the afternoon of May 29th that year. By the mid-point in the race, he had reached the lead of the 33-car field and finally, with just seven laps remaining, he made one final move down the front stretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, past the Yard of Bricks, and directly into motorsports history. For Wheldon, winning the Indy 500 was the mountain top, and the subsequent championship he collected at the end of the year was icing on the cake of an unforgettable season where he set IndyCar records for race wins (6), races led (15), points (628) and earnings.
In a surprising move that offseason, Wheldon moved to Ganassi Racing, where his run of success would continue for the next three years. Even before making his IndyCar debut with Ganassi, Wheldon captured another historic victory at the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona, alongside teammates Scott Dixon and Casey Mears. And by the end of the 2006 IndyCar Series campaign he was tied with Hornish Jr. for the championship lead, but the title went to the Team Penske driver because he had more victories during the season. In his final two seasons with Ganassi, Wheldon collected four more victories; his third-consecutive at Homestead-Miami Speedway (from the pole), two straight at Kansas Speedway and another at the bullring at Iowa, where he donated his entire race winnings to victims of a flood that devastated the area in the week leading up to the IndyCar race. He finished fourth in the championship standings both seasons, and with his contract expiring at the end of 2008, he had plans of making a reunion with the team that gave him his start.
Coming Home
Not many in the IndyCar paddock expected Wheldon to walk away from a contract offer from Ganassi, but in a career of bold driver moves – Wheldon made his boldest. With the final race of the season just a week away, Panther Racing announced that Dan Wheldon, one of the top three winningest drivers in IndyCar Series history, and the league’s most dynamic personality, would return home to Panther in 2009, the newest pilot of the No. 4 National Guard entry.
With the next chapter of their championship-laden histories set to merge again, Wheldon and his Panther teammates prepare to meet the height of their expectations, silence their critics, and add to their collection of race victories, championships and Indianapolis 500 history – together.
Year-by-Year Career Highlights
2008
• Won races at Kansas Speedway, his second straight win at the track, and Iowa Speedway, while securing 10 Top Five and 12 Top Ten Finishes.
• Finished season fourth in the IndyCar Series Championship standings for second consecutive year, and led a total of six races for 164 laps, increasing his career total to over 2,700.
• Started on the front row for third time in career in the 92nd Indianapolis 500, led 30 laps before shock failure forced him to a 12th-place result.
• Signed a multi-year contract to return to Panther Racing on September 2, 2008.
2007
• Won third-consecutive race at Homestead-Miami Speedway from the pole position, his league-record third consecutive win at the 1.5-mile oval.
• Finished season fourth in the IndyCar Series Championship standings, after earning six podium finishes and leading a total of 10 races for 605 laps.
• Won at Kansas Speedway in April; started fourth and led a total of 177 laps.
2006
• Won races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway and collected pole awards at Kansas and Nashville, while earning nine Top Five finishes and leading a total of 11 races for 761 laps.
• Finished season as IndyCar Series Championship runner-up, tied in points with Sam Hornish Jr., who collected the title because he had more race victories.
• Started on the outside of the front row in the 90th Indianapolis 500, led race five times for a race-high 148 laps. Punctured tired late in the event put him in fourth position, ending chance to win back-to-back Indy 500s.
• Was second only to teammate Scott Dixon in laps completed during the 2006 IndyCar with 2451 of a possible 2510 laps (97.6%)
2005
• Won the 89th Indianapolis 500 from the 16th starting position in his third Indy 500 start; first Englishman to win since Graham Hill in 1966.
• IndyCar Series Champion with six victories, 12 Top Five and 15 Top Ten finishes.
• His first nine career wins came in a 30-race span, the best streak in the history of the IndyCar Series.
• Set IndyCar Series records for victories (6), races led (15), points (628) and earnings ($2,711,005).
• Completed 3,007 of a possible 3,140 laps in 2005 (95.8%).
2004
• Finished second in the IndyCar Series Championship, while collecting 12 Top Five and 13 Top Ten finishes.
• Won first career race at Twin Ring Motegi, and a total of three races on the season, including Richmond International Raceway and Nazareth Speedway.
• Started on front row in the 88th Running of the Indianapolis 500, led a total of 26 laps before finishing in third position.
• Won pole awards at Phoenix International Raceway and Twin Ring Motegi, led 11 races for a total of 433 laps.
• Finished the season with seven consecutive top-five finishes.
2003
• IndyCar Series “Rookie of the Year” with five Top Five and nine Top 10 finishes while competing in just 14 of the season’s 16 races.
• Made debut with Andretti Green Racing at Twin Ring Motegi, finishing in the seventh position.
• Qualified fifth in his Indianapolis 500 debut, and finished 19th after accident in the third turn.
• Led first career IndyCar Series laps (32) at Chicagoland Speedway before finishing fourth.
2002
• Named as test driver for defending IndyCar Series champion Panther Racing, and later as a teammate to champion Sam Hornish, Jr. for final two events of season.
• Made IndyCar Series debut with Panther at Chicagoland Speedway in No. 15 Pennzoil car, qualified seventh and finished 10th. Started final race of season at Texas Motor Speedway from the rear of the field, finished 15th.
2001
• Named Indy Lights “Rookie of the Year” with PacWest, while finishing runner-up in the championship with victories at Gateway and Road Atlanta and seven podium finishes.
• Won Bosch Platinum Speedway award for driver with most points on oval races.
2000
• Toyota Atlantic Championship runner-up with two victories, four poles and seven podium finishes.
• Won “Rookie of the Year” title, becoming the first driver in Toyota Atlantic history to win their first career race.
1999
• Dominated the US Ford Formula 2000 Championship in his first year racing in America with six victories and 11 podium finishes to claim the championship, winning both “Rookie of the Year” and “Road to Indy” titles.
