Today is a very sad in sports as Dan Wheldon died today at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and I was there to see the tragedy unfold.
As a former firefighter and EMT, I have been to death scenes but never before have I saw a man killed before my eyes. (However, when I was about 9, I saw a boy killed by a car in Milwaukee) Now, of course, everything happened so fast and we were far away, about a 1/4 mile or so, that I was insulated from the site, somewhat.
The family (my wife Cathy, my 2 kids and myself) got to the track early and we watched the end of the Indy Lites race and afterwards, we got out of the sun for about an hour.
We went to our seats at the beginning of the driver introductions and I can remember seeing Dan Wheldon so happy up on the stage because he was going for $5 million dollars and he seemed happy to be back with the Indy car drivers.
After the drivers got into their cars and they did their parade laps and then the green flag fell. The drivers weren't in perfect order, but it was close.
I tried to keep an eye on Wheldon the first few laps because he is one of my favorite Indy drivers. Us Dan's have to stick together. I noticed he had moved up a few positions.
And then the fateful 13th lap began and the cars seemed to be stretching out. The lead cars were at least a 1/2 straightaway ahead of the crash. All of sudden, I saw the crash and it is still clear in my mind. I can't remember if I had heard anything, but all of a sudden I saw cars spinning and then flying and flipping. I saw, what I know now, was Wheldon's car on fire as it flew in the air. I saw another car that looked to be upside down. I then saw several other cars on fire and one of those on fire and it travelled down the whole backstretch before stopping in front of the fire trucks.
I've been to numerous racing events, including NASCAR, Indy in Milwaukee and to short tracks. When there is a crash, everyone yells, "Oh yeah, that was cool". Not this time. Everyone sensed immediately that something bad had happened.
The safety crew was on the scene immediately and they sent all the fire and safety equipment to the crash site. The cars not involved in the crash completed 1 more lap and they saw all the damage and some saw how bad Wheldon's accident was.
Within 5 minutes of the crash, the Med-Evac helicopter started warming up. In about 10 minutes the first ambulances pulled up to the infield care hospital- two of them. Within another 10 minutes, the helicopter was on it's way to UMC Trauma Center.
At first the track announcers downplayed the accident. They said everyone was awake and alert, about 25 minutes after the crash. However they interviewed a driver, maybe Scott Dixon, who relayed that Wheldon was doing very badly. From then on, the track announcer said the situation was very serious. About 45 minutes, the first hint that Wheldon may have passed was when the track announcer said that Wheldon was a good man and driver- using past tense.
Meanwhile, the track was being cleaned up. The cars were taken away. They put a tarp on Wheldon's car, and with the tarp, you could see the car was horribly damaged- it looked smaller, like it was compacted from the top. Some other cars were partially damaged and others were completely destroyed.
What was troubling was within 10 minutes of the crash, they showed a video on Indy car crashes through the year to advertise the safety crew. I bet they regret doing that.
About 1 hour and 20 minutes after the crash, the track announcer started giving hints that Wheldon did not make it. He would say despite rumours, they didn't have any official information about Wheldon. During this whole time, most of the fans either stayed in their seats, went to the concourse to get out of the sun or some went home. But everyone was respectful, no one was complaining about the delay and it was pretty quiet.
After 2 hours, the drivers and owners went to a meeting and it was evident that Wheldon had died by the way the announcer was talking. He had said that Danica Patrick broke down and cried after talking to Roger Penske. The he said that good news travels fast and there was no good news to report.
Then the announcement- everyone was quiet and then when we were told, everyone just sat down and were just stunned. Dan Wheldon had passed and that the race was over. Then the announcer gave a brief history of Wheldon and after mentioning the 2011 Indy 500, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Then the drivers decided to do a 5 lap memorial tribute to Dan Wheldon. The crews got the cars ready and then all the crew members, safety crews and other infield staff, family and friends gathered along the track as the Indy car drivers slowly did 5 laps, side by side by side. Every time the cars went past, the crowd gave a standing ovation to the drivers.
After the 5 laps and everyone was parked, the crowd silently, for the most part, left the LVMS, in a somber mood from what they had witnessed.
I know my 2 kids are going to have a problem handling this. They never have seen a man die before, except on TV. And I am sure this will be true of other kids in attendance.
So, to Dan Wheldon's family, friends and fans our prayers are with you. Thank you for the excitement you have given us.
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