Rank: 10 Points: -219
In 2010 Dan Wheldon competes for the second year with Panther Racing. Last year Wheldon posted three top-fives, and nine top-tens. In the off-season, the driver was very busy go-karting in several events, including the PRI event in Orlando, and SKUSA SuperNationals in Vegas, and finding great success overall.
Wheldon finished fourth in the points for the 2008 season, running under the Chip Ganassi Racing banner. The driver garnered two victories (Kansas and iowa), ten top-5’s and twelve top-10’s. Wheldon competed in the SKU SuperNationals karting event in Vegas, and the PRI All-Stars Karting Classic in Orlando, where he finished 13th.
Dan was brought up around motorsports with one parent racing, and another as a timer at a local track. Wheldon’s race career in the United States began in 1999 when he claimed the US Formula 2000 Championship with six wins and eleven podiums to capture Rookie of the Year and Road to Indy titles. He followed that up with successes as runner-up in both the Toyota Atlantics and Indy Lights Championships.
After making his debut in the IRL with Panther racing in 2002 for the final two events of that season, Wheldon joined Andretti Green Racing the following year. He competed in 14 of 16 IndyCar Series events during the 2003 season, finished 11th in the standings for AGR and won Rookie of the Year honors after earning five top-five and nine top-10 finishes, including a career-best third in the season finale at Texas.
Wheldon captured the 2005 IRL Driver's Championship by recording six wins in 17 races, breaking Sam Hornish Jr.’s IRL record for most wins in a season. In May, the driver won the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500 in only his third attempt, becoming the first Englishman to accomplish this since Graham Hill in 1966. In addition, Wheldon became the first driver since Jacques Villeneuve in 1995 to win both the Indy 500 and a major Driver's Championship in the same season. By accomplishing this, he joined the ranks of such racing legends as A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser, Louis Meyer and Wilbur Shaw .
Wheldon has certain prerace practices, such as tapping the car three times, and buckling from the left side first. His helmet bears the image of Richard the Lionheart, a man the driver describes,”fought with his heart, not with his head, which made him a formidable opponent.”
Dan has quite the collection of watches(around 25…although he blames that interest on Kanaan and Franchitti) and shoes(at last report, between 200-300), and has an affection for cars. Dan and wife, Susie welcomed a son, Sebastien, on Feb. 2 of 2009. For more info on Wheldon, check out http://www.danwheldon.com/ and his twitter page at http://twitter.com/danwheldon |
