After Dan Wheldon’s deadly accident last weekend in Las Vegas, his friends, peers and the community of Indianapolis threw a special celebration to honor his life cut too short.
Wheldon died after blunt head trauma in the final IndyCar series race of the season…not quite the thrilling, down-to-wire finish the series had in mind. About 2,500 fans were on hand for the 90-minute tribute to the 33-year-old at Conseco Fieldhouse Sunday.
I am very proud to work for the Indiana Pacers and with the great folks at Conseco Fieldhouse. Not only is it a first-class organization and facility, but the good people have stepped up in times of need. Not just for Wheldon, but in memory of those lost in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse and plenty other times. The city of Indianapolis is lucky to have these caring people that donate the fieldhouse and were able to make the unexpected tribute, so fitting.
Nobody wants for events like this to have to happen. It had to be extremely tough for those close with the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion. I watched the entire program and it hit hard. I interviewed Wheldon a handle of times over the last three years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and he certainly left a mark. He always was genuinely interested in the conversation and anxious for what was to come on the track.
He constantly carried himself with a positive attitude and a wide smile. He was very stylish, a neat freak, and one of those guys that was always up to something.
Fellow drivers Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti along with owner Bryan Herta spent their time on the stage recounting many of the most memorable times they shared with Wheldon — most of which included a prank of some kind.
Kanaan and Franchitti were former teammates with Wheldon, which was how they all got so close. Dan even bought each of them Indy 500 champion rings after winning his first in 2005 because he said they meant so much to him and helped him to get that point. Kanaan joked about his neediness, saying Wheldon had more hair care products than all the woman in attendance combined. And finally, they smiled at the fact that they thought Wheldon was high-maintaince…at least until Marco Andretti became their teammate.
Their best story came from a recent race in Japan. Kanaan went to the hotel front desk pretending to be Wheldon and he said the language barrier helped his cause. So Kanaan and Franchitti had the key to Wheldon’s room when he was out touring around. Herta helped the cause by encouraging Dan to look into specific things at some museum. While he was away, his friends turned the heat up, moved things around and took the left shoe from all pairs he brought with them. They then FedEx’d those back to the U.S. Having adjoining doors, they waited for Dan to return and when he did, he was furiously shouting expletives. Wheldon moved to another floor, and Kanaan said he never again could get anything from the front desk, even for himself. Everybody laughed.
The guys also laughed about how tight of race suit Wheldon wore…they said nobody wore one with less room to breathe than Wheldon. Often times, he also would take friends’ cell phones and make calls, texts and schedule appointments. He was a jokester.
It was a touching ceremony, full of laughter and tears as everyone recalled some of their best times with the late Dan Wheldon. IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President and CEO Jeff Belskus were also notable speakers that share their thoughts. Reba McEntire, The Band Perry and Garth Brooks each performed one song in his memory.
Terrific work by the IndyCar Series, drivers, Indianapolis and the people of Conseco Fieldhouse who were able to make the event so spectacular.
Dan Wheldon meant a lot to so many people. He made others a priority, going out of his way to make sure everyone was happy. Friends however would admittedly say, he was a cocky son of a gun.
“Dan would have been honored by the turnout here today,” Dario Franchitti noted. “He would have said, ‘see bro? I told you… I’m HUGE in Indy.'”