The season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ended after a 15-car crash on lap 11, leaving no winner, a voided race and lasting changes to IndyCar safety.
The 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship finale was run as a 200-lap race at Las Vegas. A crash on lap 11 killed Dan Wheldon, the race was abandoned after 12 laps, and Dario Franchitti was crowned champion by default. No winner was recorded.
The 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship was meant to close the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 16 October 2011. A 15-car crash on lap 11 killed former champion Dan Wheldon, and the race was abandoned after 12 laps. Officials declared no winner, and the title went to Dario Franchitti.
When and where was the final race of the 2011 IndyCar season held?
The race was scheduled for 16 October 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the final round of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series. It was set for 200 laps around the 1.544-mile (2.485 km) oval, a total distance of 308.800 miles (496.965 km).
The Las Vegas event replaced Homestead-Miami Speedway as the season finale. It was the first time since 2000 that the track had returned to the IndyCar schedule, and the first open-wheel race there since the 2005 Hurricane Relief 400 Champ Car event.
The circuit had been reconfigured in 2006, adding banking to encourage side-by-side racing. That banking, which reached between 18 and 20 degrees in the corners, was one of the features drivers would question in the build-up to the race.
Fifteen cars in one lap, a season decided by a red flag and a race that was never officially run: the Las Vegas finale changed IndyCar.
Why did the field grow so large for the finale?
Las Vegas was the final outing for the IR-05 chassis, and its replacement arrived the following season. That status, together with heavy publicity, encouraged several teams to add extra entries. The entry list reached 34 drivers, five more than at the previous event at Kentucky.
The field was the biggest for an American open-wheel race away from Indianapolis since 1993, when the Monterey race at Laguna Seca ran, and the biggest for an IndyCar race since 1997. Part-time teams used the event for one-off entries, and several drivers who had raced only sporadically that season were on the grid.
Danica Patrick was also expected to make her final IndyCar start before moving to NASCAR's Nationwide Series. She had announced a full-time move, and Las Vegas was touted as her likely last race in the series.
What was the $5 million challenge?
On 22 February 2011, IndyCar chief executive Randy Bernard announced a $5,000,000 purse for any driver outside the IZOD IndyCar Series who could win the race from the back of the field. The offer was designed to attract drivers from Formula One or NASCAR.
Several names were approached. Travis Pastrana showed formal interest in July 2011, but he broke his foot and ankle at X Games shortly afterwards, which ruled him out. Alex Zanardi had not raced in IndyCar since 2001 and asked to drive for his former team, which could not be arranged. Kasey Kahne wanted to drive for Team Penske, but a NASCAR race the night before made travel a problem.
Bernard later revised the challenge so that a driver who had raced only part-time in 2011 could take it. On 11 September 2011 Dan Wheldon accepted. He agreed to share the purse with a fan if he won, and he drove the No. 77 car that Alex Tagliani had raced during the season, with backing from Bryan Herta Autosport.
Wheldon had won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 for Bryan Herta earlier that year. He qualified 29th, and then accepted that the challenge required him to start from last, 34th.
How did qualifying and the opening laps set up the race?
Tony Kanaan claimed pole for KV Racing Technology, his 15th career pole and his first since the 2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge. Oriol Servia was second, missing his second career pole by 0.017 mph, and Ed Carpenter qualified third for Sarah Fisher Racing, two weeks after winning at Kentucky.
Alex Tagliani was fourth in the Bryan Herta car. Championship contenders Dario Franchitti and Will Power were well down the order, Franchitti in 18th and Power in 17th. Franchitti led the points by 18 at the start of the day.
The early laps were characterised by pack racing, with three- and four-wide moves as drivers tried to advance. Several championship contenders chose conservative lines, and Power dropped back through the field to avoid trouble. Multiple drivers complained about the aggressive racing afterwards.
What happened on lap 11?
The accident began on the front straight as the field approached turn one. Wade Cunningham tried to pass on the outside of a three-wide battle with James Hinchcliffe. Their wheels touched, and J. R. Hildebrand was sent airborne after driving over the rear of Cunningham's car.
Cunningham then collected Jay Howard and Townsend Bell. Vitor Meira spun while trying to avoid the crash, taking Charlie Kimball and E. J. Viso with him. Paul Tracy ran into the back of Tomas Scheckter's car, and Pippa Mann went over the top of Tracy and rolled towards the SAFER barrier.
Wheldon was travelling at around 220 mph (350 km/h) when he reached the scene. He slowed sharply, but his car went airborne about 325 feet (99 m) after it struck Kimball's car. It came down into the catch fence cockpit first, and the car was sliced apart by the fence.
Power's car ran over the back of Alex Lloyd's car and struck the SAFER barrier, then rolled and lost its front wheel assembly. Wheldon's car came to rest near Power's on the apron at the exit of turn two. In total, fifteen cars were involved, and Wheldon, Power, Hildebrand and Mann suffered the most serious injuries.
How did the officials respond to the crash?
IndyCar stopped the race one lap later and displayed a red flag. Nineteen cars were still running and were called to their pit boxes, while crews began the cleanup. The catch fence had to be repaired, and the asphalt had been gashed by debris, so the delay was long.
The delay stretched to nearly three hours. Team owner Michael Andretti went to the officials' trailer to ask for information, and IndyCar series director Brian Barnhart told him that Wheldon had died on the medical helicopter on the way to hospital. Barnhart then called all race team personnel to the infield media centre.
Randy Bernard then held a press conference and announced that Wheldon had died from his injuries and that the rest of the race was cancelled. Wheldon was pronounced dead on arrival at 1:54 p.m. Pacific time. The Clark County coroner gave the cause as blunt force trauma to the head.
The drivers agreed to hold an on-track tribute, which Bernard had proposed in the meeting. It became a five-lap salute, with nineteen cars taking part behind the safety car. Wheldon's No. 77 was left alone at the top of the scoring tower, and bagpipe music played over the loudspeakers as the cars circled.
Why was the race abandoned with no winner?
The official distance required for an IndyCar race was 101 laps, more than half of the scheduled 200. The race reached only 12 laps, so IndyCar declared it abandoned. No winner was declared, no points were awarded, and no one collected the purse.
The points championship had effectively been settled before the crash. Power's involvement in the incident gave Dario Franchitti the title, his third in a row and fourth overall. It was Chip Ganassi Racing's fourth championship in a row.
The race was erased from IndyCar records, with one exception. Tony Kanaan's pole counted towards his 15 career poles.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Scheduled distance | 200 laps, 308.800 miles (496.965 km) |
| Laps completed | 12 |
| Distance required for an official race | 101 laps |
| Starters | 34 |
| Cars involved in the crash | 15 |
| Pole position | Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology |
| Champion | Dario Franchitti, by default |
What did the investigation find?
Three days after the crash IndyCar announced a full investigation, supported by ACCUS members and an FIA representative. Its results were released on 15 December 2011. Crash investigators concluded that Wheldon died after hitting the catch fencing. The probe was expected to take several weeks.
The report also found that the right front pull rod had penetrated Wheldon's survival cell, without injuring him. It was the first recorded case of its kind in nine years of IR03 and IR05 use. A similar penetration in a DW12 later caused serious injury to James Hinchcliffe in 2015.
Brian Barnhart rejected claims that the banking had contributed to the accident. He said the banking created two predictable racing lines, and that all 34 cars had been behaving as expected.
How did the motorsport world react?
Several drivers had voiced concern before the event. Dario Franchitti said the track was not suitable for IndyCar racing, and Will Power described the race as an accident waiting to happen. After the crash, Jody Scheckter, whose son Tomas had been involved, called the event madness.
Former champion Mario Andretti called the accident a freakish one-off and urged calm consideration of any changes. Former FIA president Max Mosley agreed, asking for a calm and scientific approach to safety measures, including the proposed closed canopies for open-wheel cars.
Criticism also focused on the size of the field, with 34 cars on a track with banking of up to 20 degrees, and on the $5 million prize. Some commentators argued that the prize encouraged drivers with little IndyCar experience to take risks, although Anthony Davidson played down its influence.
What changed in IndyCar after Las Vegas?
IndyCar decided on 9 December 2011 not to return to Las Vegas, and restarts for 2012 were limited to single file. Dallara named the new DW12 chassis in tribute to Wheldon, who had been its development driver. The decision also ended the series' contract with the track.
The rear wheel pods introduced in 2012 were meant to stop cars launching off one another, but they proved ineffective and were eliminated for 2018. IndyCar introduced the Aeroscreen in 2020 as a cockpit protection system, after years of debate about canopies and halos.
Oval racing became less common, and the league avoided pack racing in later years. Mike Conway quit oval racing after the 2012 season, citing Wheldon's death and two major crashes at Indianapolis. Paul Tracy and Tomas Scheckter also ended their careers after the crash.
The track returned to IndyCar's orbit in January 2022, when the Indy Autonomous Challenge was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of the Consumer Electronics Show.
