Wheldon Wins Centennial Anniversary Indianapolis 500; Heartbreak for Hildebrand

INDIANAPOLIS—Dan Wheldon, an unemployed driver running only one race all year, beat all the full-time drivers across the finish line to win the Centennial Anniversary Indianapolis 500 after rookie JR Hildebrand crashed a few hundred yards from the finish line while leading the race.

“What a Cinderella story,” Wheldon told the post-race press conference.

“We took on the might of Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi—and I don’t think I swap Penske in front of me once in the race. That’s a testament to this team. It’s tough to beat these big teams.

"On the radio with 20 laps to go they said, ‘Some people are going to try to make it on fuel. You’re one of the guys that can make it to the end, but you’ve got to get everything out of the car that you possibly can.'

"I said to myself, ‘I’m going to move the weight jacker every lap to optimize every single corner, adjust the roll bars, just maximize everything.’

“As I was coming through Turns Three and Four I saw [JR Hildebrand] hit the fence. At that point I knew it was mine.

 “Everyone on the team has worked phenomenally well, has worked very, very hard— they’ve done everything in their power to give me the fastest race car possible, and I was going to drive that thing like I stole it until I saw the checkered flag.”

I knew we when I started this race that I wanted to do everything in my power to deliver a win—for not just myself; for such a great group of people, and you can think that I am giving you the cheesy media line, but it’s not like that.”

From Zero to Hero

Dan Wheldon couldn’t find a team to hire him for the 2011 season. He did find a small team, Brian Herta Autosport, to hire him for one race—the Indy 500.

Wheldon, who finished second here in 2009 and 2010, started sixth and ran in the top five most of the day. With ten laps to go he lay sixth; as one car after another slowed or pitted to pit for a splash of fuel, Wheldon advanced, until he was second behind rookie JR Hildebrand, driving for Wheldon’s old team, Panther Racing.

Entering the final lap it seemed Dan Wheldon was going to play bridesmaid for the third year running, and JR Hildebrand, with nearly a four-second lead, was going to win his first time in the Indianapolis 500.

Hildebrand had driven with patience throughout the race. He ended up in first place because of patience, going slowly to conserve fuel, knowing it would pay off in the end. Then on the final turn of the final lap, with only a few hundred yards between him and the checkered flag, Hildebrand got impatient when he came upon the slower car of Charlie Kimball.

Hildebrand tried to pass on the high side in Turn Four, a treacherous place to drive. Once he hit the marbles, the Indianapolis rookie had no control. His car drifted up, slammed the wall, and slid across the finish line on the three wheels—in second place.Hildebrand described the incident on ABC.

“I thought, ‘I’m just going to get around Charlie’ [Kimball]—I knew the guys behind me were humming. And I thought ‘I don’t want to have to stop going through Turn Four and have the guys get back up on me.’ I went to the high side and as soon as I got up there I got into the marbles and pushed up into the wall.”

“This team deserved to win,” he continued. “They’ve come in second the last three years in a row and I didn’t want to be the next bridesmaid.

“When it came to the end there, if we were running great and we finished fifth and that was the best we could get, that’s what you get—but to have a chance to win, for a team like this, on Memorial Day weekend, I felt like I really owed this to the team. It’s just a bummer to come home second again."

Dan Wheldon waited until he was on the final straight, pulled around and passed Kimball, and motored home to win his second Indianapolis 500

“I was just trying to go as hard as I could I knew it was the last lap and I knew a lot of those guys were a struggling on fuel—I just kept pushing,” Wheldon told ABC.

After being sure he was going to finish second it was a huge relief to see his competitor hit the wall, he said.

“I knew he was okay, because I could see him moving. It’s an incredible feeling. I’ve been runner-up for two years before this, and I never gave up.”

Despite his joy at winning, Wheldon broke into tears when he said, “I want to say ‘Hi’ to my mother and thanks the Alzheimers Foundation for giving me the opportunity to represent them.” Wheldon promotes the cause because his mother was recently stricken.

Next:  Ganassi Dominates, Then Fades