Indy 500: Hildebrand Crashes In Final Turn, Dan Wheldon Takes Win

By Anne Proffit

Anne Proffit

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3 1,696 views May 29, 2011

Dan Wheldon and engineer Todd Malloy
Photo: Anne Proffit

You couldn't script this!

Picture a rookie leading the final lap of the 100th Indianapolis 500, coming out of the final turn and - smacking the wall.  That's exactly what happened to JR Hildebrand as he came to take the checkered flags, handing the victory to Dan Wheldon in a one-off drive for Bryan Herta Autosport.  

Wheldon, who hadn't won a race in two years and was left on the wayside for the 2011 season, signed with Herta's outfit - one that competes full-time in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship - to drive at Indy after he'd finished second the past two years for Panther Racing.  When they announced the partnership at St. Petersburg in March, Wheldon said he was coming back to win.  

But yeah, we've heard that one before, haven't we?

This time it came true for 2005 Indy 500 winner Wheldon, who started this year's race in sixth place and ran in the top five all through the 200-lap enduro.  

Wheldon was overcome and nearly unable to contain himself as his wife Susie, teammates and William Rast Eyewear sponsors crowded around him.  After swigging the traditional drink of milk, he forced that white liquid down team owner Herta's throat as FA-14 fighter jets roared overhead.

Wheldon led only the 200th lap in earning victory.  "I was just trying to go as hard as I could," he said.  "I knew it was the last lap and I new some of those guys were struggling with fuel.  I just felt a lot of relief (at the checkered flags).  It's an incredible feeling.  I've been runner-up two years before this but I never gave up."

With 20 to go he was told that others were going to be tight on fuel but Wheldon was assured by the team he could make it to the end.  "But you've got to go and you have to make sure you get everything out of the car that you possibly can," he recollected.  Wheldon told himself to "move the weight jacker every lap to optimize every single corner, adjust the roll bars to be able to just maximize everything.  I didn't have a problem.  As Bryan says, you have to make it to the bricks with a car that go forward with all four wheels.  I'm just extremely happy.  This is obviously a very, very special racetrack to me."

But then, Wheldon's contract is up at midnight of race day!  "This is just like a full-time program for one race," Herta noted.  And partner Steve Newey said the team did the full race meeting with a single Honda engine, putting a total of less than 1000 miles to finish first at the Yard of Bricks.  

Hildebrand was 2.1086 seconds behind in second for Panther, Graham Rahal third (on the 25th anniversary of his father's victory) with Chip Ganassi Racing, Tony Kanaan came from 22nd to fourth in KV Racing Technology-Lotus' No. 82 and Oriol Servia finished fifth for Newman/Haas Racing after starting on the front row.  

After leading the most laps, 73, Scott Dixon was sixth for Target Ganassi.  Bertrand Baguette - after a late race stop - finished seventh in Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's car, Tomas Scheckter was eighth for KVRT/SH Racing, Marco Andretti took ninth and Danica Patrick completed the top ten, the latter two for Andretti Autosport.  Ed Carpenter (Sarah Fisher Racing) and Target Ganassi's Dario Franchitti were the final drivers to complete the full distance of the race.

After the checkered flag, IndyCar Series officials said they were looking at the finish, as there were claims Wheldon passed under yellow.  For his part, Hildebrand said he was going through traffic (fellow rookie Charlie Kimball) in the third and fourth turns and used the high side, as he'd done earlier in the race.  He got into the marbles and lost it.  "It's not about me," the rookie said.  "We should have won the race and I'm super disappointed.  This is the fourth straight year Panther Racing has finished second; I'm super-dejected."

The young Californian should have known the move was dangerous.  After all, pole man Alex Tagliani brushed the same wall when making a pass on Hildebrand, bending his right-front suspension in the process and ending his day after 147 laps.

There were plenty of incidents in this centennial Indy 500 on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.  The first came on the 21st lap when Takuma Sato got out of the groove in Turn 1, traveling all the way through Turn 2 onto the backstretch before stopping.  On the lap 28 green following that incident, his KV Racing Technology teammate EJ Viso tried to go three-wide into the same turn with equal result.  

British rookie Jay Howard brought out the third yellow when he lost his right rear tire after a pit stop and hit the inside retaining barrier on the warmup lane.  Canadian rookie James Hinchcliffe ran high out of the Turn 4 groove and he, too, hit that popular wall.

The next caution came from Tagliani's Turn 4 crash and the sixth, on lap 158 occurred when Ryan Briscoe and Townsend Bell collided running side by side into Turn 1.  All drivers were treated on-site, cleared and released to drive, none having sustained concussion in their accidents.  There were a total of seven cautions listed in the official lap report.  

Simona de Silvestro had an early tangle with Indy's concrete walls and only completed 44 laps in the race.  There were no other retirements, and Paul Tracy was the final, 25th place finisher after he, too, brushed the wall and made several pit stops to complete 175 laps.  

The race was run under high clouds, warm, humid conditions with the occasional breeze.  The enthusiastic crowd-count was up for this 100th anniversary race and it appeared up to 90 percent of the seats found occupants.  

The IZOD IndyCar Series regulars have a week to regroup before heading to Texas Motor Speedway on June 11th for the Firestone Twin 275's, the first of three in a row oval contests next month.

© 2011 Anne Proffit

Wheldon said his car was not only pretty, it was fast all month long
Photo: Anne Proffit