page_title: Dan Wheldon
section_title: Personality and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Dan Wheldon / Personality and legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial plaque for Dan Wheldon, located in St. Petersburg, Florida
context_page_description: Daniel Clive Wheldon was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner of the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing.
  Wheldon began competitive karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to open-wheel car racing in the U.S. F2000 National Championship, the Toyota Atlantic Championship and Indy Lights. He began driving in IndyCar with Panther Racing in 2002. The following year, Wheldon moved to AGR, finishing as the runner-up in the 2004 series championship. He won the drivers' title in 2005 with the record for most victories during a season. In the 2006 season, he moved to CGR, tying Sam Hornish Jr. in points but finishing second because of count-back on the number of victories taken by both drivers. During the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Wheldon's form lowered but he won four additional races and placed fourth in points in both years.
  He returned to Panther Racing for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, failing to win a race but taking a further four podium results during this period.
context_section_description: Marcus Simmons, a writer for the British motor racing magazine Autosport, called Wheldon "one of a golden crop of richly-talented British drivers to graduate from karting to junior single-seaters in the mid to late-1990s", and, "a man who embodied the ideal of the immigrant to the 'New World' fulfilling the American Dream." Although he had a brash and confident persona that made him "cocky yet likeable", journalist Maurice Hamilton noted that Wheldon was seen by many as "a devoted family man, deeply respected and universally liked despite, or perhaps because of, a cheeky sense of self-awareness and a clever cultivation of his image". He had charisma, a sense of humour and warmth that made him a favourite amongst motor racing fans and the media, despite being unrecognisable in England due to Formula One being the country's most popular motor racing series. Wheldon was a keen learner, and was focused on accomplishing his objectives.
  Two days after his death, Dallara named their new one-specification chassis in Wheldon's honour. The DW12, with the new bumper/nerf bar section being featured, was designed to prevent many similar single-seater crashes such as the one that killed him. A charity race in Wheldon's honour was held in Milton Keynes on 6 December with drivers such as Franchitti, Button and Anthony Davidson competing. Proceeds from the event were donated to a charity selected by Wheldon's family. That month, Wheldon was posthumously awarded the Gregor Grant Award for his lifetime career achievements that his father Clive and Franchitti collected. Former racing driver Mark Dismore's New Castle Motorsports Park, which organises the Robo-Pong 200 endurance karting event that Wheldon won in 2005, named the trophy the Dan Wheldon Cup in 2012. The Wheldon family added a Wheldon Memorial Pro-Am to the event in 2013. On 7 March 2012, Wheldon's widow Susie and mayor Bill Foster unveiled a street sign in St. Petersburg, Florida. Named "Dan Wheldon Way", the sign was placed at the corner of Bayshore Drive and Albert Whitted Park (turn ten). A permanent memorial is also located across from the Salvador Dalí Museum.
  Franchitti won the 2012 Indianapolis 500 on 27 May and dedicated his victory to Wheldon and wore white sunglasses in his honour. That year Wheldon was memorialised by a resolution passed by the Indiana Senate. A memorial plaque featuring his likeness and career achievements was unveiled in St. Petersburg outside the second turn of its street track in March 2013 and a wall in which each of the winners of the race was etched. Four months later, Autosport magazine named Wheldon one of the 50 greatest drivers to have never raced in Formula One. The Wheldons were honoured with the "Dan and Susie Wheldon Make a Difference Award" in September 2014. This included a $1,000 donation to charity and became part of the annual IndyCar Series prize-giving banquet. During the 2016 Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, pit lane reporter Jamie Little and motorsport publicist Brent Brush placed a Dan Wheldon Memorial plaque outside turn two, near the point where he was killed. In May 2016, a book entitled Lionheart: Remembering Dan Wheldon covering his life and career with contributions from the motor racing community was published. Wheldon was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in May 2019.
caption: A memorial plaque dedicated to Wheldon's memory in 2013
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