Motor Racing: Wheldon Joins Britain's Indianapolis Immortals

When Dan Wheldon roared out of the last corner on Sunday and flattened the throttle of his Dallara-Honda for the final sprint to the chequered flag in the Indianapolis 500, America's most famous motor race, he was entering the history books as only the fourth British-born driver to have triumphed at the daunting banked oval track in 89 runnings of this uniquely challenging event.

Yet the texture of the international motorsport landscape has changed beyond belief in the 39 years separating Wheldon's triumph from Graham Hill's 1966 victory at the wheel of a Lola-Ford. Back then Hill had already won a formula one world championship, was at the height of a grand prix career which would see him win another title in 1969 and competed at Indianapolis at a time when the 500 represented something of a new frontier to European drivers, albeit a financially lucrative one.

In contrast, Wheldon is one of a new generation of drivers who decided to throw all their efforts into making a career in the Indy Racing League, rather than fruitlessly pursuing a formula one dream which might never be realised. Whereas Hill played the part of the moustachioed British diplomat, trumpeting his outrage that the Indianapolis paddock loos lacked doors, Wheldon is now resident in that midwest city and as much a part of the US racing scene as the homegrown competitors who surrounded him on the grid.

On Sunday the 26-year-old from Emberton in Buckinghamshire also out-ran his fellow Britons Dario Franchitti and Darren Manning on his way to victory. The win came two years after he flipped upside down in his maiden Indy 500. Franchitti, who led briefly, eventually finished sixth but Manning retired with mechanical problems. Wheldon has now won four of the five IRL races this season and looks set for the title.

"It was clear to me almost from the outset that Wheldon looked the favourite to win it," said Sir Jackie Stewart, a spectator in Indianapolis. "The Andretti Green team does an incredible job with four drivers - Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta as well as Dan - but I think Wheldon was on a hot streak. He kept in touch with the leading bunch for the whole race."

Stewart recalled how he nearly won the '66 race, a victory which eventually fell to Hill, and is mindful of the special challenge of the super-fast American speedway. "I was two laps ahead in my Lola with eight laps to go," he said, "and, even though I retired then, I was still classified sixth. It taught me the discipline you need when you are running close to a concrete wall. Indianapolis is certainly one of a kind, a real challenge, and Wheldon handled it with great composure."

Britain's influence at Indianapolis can be traced back to 1961 when Jack Brabham, then formula one world champion, took on the traditional front-engined roadsters with a modified Cooper formula one car. He finished only ninth but the agility of the rear-engined British car shook the US racing establishment to its core. In 1963 Jim Clark arrived with another formula one-style Lotus-Ford, finished second and would have won had the officials not declined to disqualify Parnelli Jones's victorious Watson roadster which had been leaking oil for many laps. Clark came back two years later to win commandingly, followed in 1966 by Hill's success.

More recently Nigel Mansell dominated the 1993 race only for his Newman Haas team Lola to be overtaken by Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk when he was slow to regain racing pace after a yellow-flag-caution-spell late in the race. So the history books had to wait for Wheldon to become the next British winner on Sunday.

Wheldon began racing in karts at the age of four in the UK and was tipped as a young star at an early age, poised to make his way up through the single-seater ranks here. Instead he thought he would have more chance of making his mark on the other side of the Atlantic and consequently switched to the US formula Ford series in 1999.

He dominated the series with five pole positions, six wins and 11 podium finishes. It was a success which eventually brought him into the Indy Racing League in 2002, when he competed in the final two races of the season with the Panther Racing team. Then he moved to his current team, Andretti Green Racing, at the start of 2003 and has never looked back.

"This has been a dream come true for me," an emotional Wheldon said after the traditional milk-drinking celebrations on the Indianapolis podium after his victory. "I've loved the Indianapolis 500 ever since I was a little kid in England. And you can see what a race it is. The best drivers in the world are here.The best teams in the world. I'm having an emotional moment. I'm just so glad."

Thirty-nine years ago this winner's ceremony was conducted with less pathos but more of Hill's dry wit. When the second-place finisher Jim Clark stepped forward to query the official lap charting, politely suggesting that he might really be the winner, Hill fixed him with an icy stare. "No way, mate," he replied. "I just drank the milk."