Dan Wheldon perishes in fiery IndyCar crash

The 33-year-old Englishman on Sunday died from injuries he received after he became caught up in the grisly pile-up, his car spinning into the catch fenching around the track. Several cars were sent flying while others careered down the track in flames, littering the track with smoking debris.

"IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries," IndyCar chief executive Randy Bernard said.

Wheldon's fellow drivers had been informed of his death shortly before Bernard made his announcement.

"IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute in his honor," Bernard said.

The crash started at Turn 2 of the 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) Las Vegas oval on the 12th lap of the race.

The chain-reaction appeared to begin when Wade Cunningham's car swerved and J.R. Hildebrand drove over Cunningham's car. Hildebrand went airborne while Cunningham went into the wall.

"It was debris everywhere across the whole track, you could smell the smoke, you could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car," said Danica Patrick, who was in her final race as a fulltime IndyCar driver before heading to NASCAR stock car racing. "There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered," added Patrick, who was among the drivers who predicted a chaotic race given the high speeds in qualifying and the jam-packed 34-car field.

Wheldon, traveling behind the cars that initiated the chaos, couldn't avoid the crashes in front of him.

The official confirmation of his death came some two hours after the race was stopped.

Source: Yahoo news