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Racing has always been a dangerous affair and IndyCar drivers are aware of the risks they face regularly on track. One wrong step and they could be airborne and in a snap their lives could end in front of their eyes.
With recent improvements to safety, such incidents have reduced over the past few years, but the following are three fatal IndyCar crashes that shocked the racing world:
#3 Justin Wilson
Justin Wilson was a British driver who also had experience driving an F1 car. He joined the open-wheel racing scene in America in 2008. Since his venture into IndyCar, he quickly established his name as a force to be reckoned with.
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Justin Wilson joined Andretti in 2015 and participated in a few races throughout the year. Unfortunately, the IndyCar race at Pocono became his last race ever as he was caught in a crossfire from debris veering onto the track after Sage Karam crashed ahead of him.
Karam's nose cone hit Wilson and knocked him unconscious. His car then crashed with a barrier and slid across the track. The British racing driver was extracted from his car and airlifted for emergency treatment, but was pronounced dead a day later.
#2 Greg Moore
Moore was considered to be one of the best drivers to come out of Canada ever. In his junior racing days, he used to light up timing screens and win races from unbelievable spots on the grid.
Moore won the Indy Lights Championship in 1995 and subsequently joined the Champ Car grid a year later with Forsythe Racing. However, in his final race of the 1999 season at the California Speedway fate was already telling him to not participate in the race.
The Canadian driver was already suffering from injuries but decided to go through with the race. Moore climbed back up the grid from his last-row start but lost control of his car on lap 10 and crashed with a 154G force with a concrete wall and died from blunt force trauma as his car split up into a myriad of pieces.
#1 Dan Wheldon
Wheldon had amassed a big name in the racing world. He had won the IndyCar Drivers' Championship in 2005 and had two Indy 500 victories under his belt.
Dan Wheldon had semi-retired from IndyCar in 2010, but came back for the Indy 500 in the subsequent year and intended to continue his Indy 500 driver role only. However, after a challenge from Randy Bernard, he decided to get back behind the wheel in Las Vegas.
On lap 11, a multi-car wreck broke out with James Hinchcliffe being the first link in the chain. This caused a massive pileup, where Wheldon collected a tire that launched him airborne with his car tilted towards the catch fence. This led to a horrible accident in which the British driver was struck with the catch fence on his head two times, leading to his demise.
