Indy 500: On this date in 2011 – Dan Wheldon wins as J.R. Hildebrand crashes

By Asher Fair | May 29, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 29: Dan Wheldon of England, driver of the #98 William Rast-Curb/Big Machine Dallara Honda, celebrates in victory lane after winning the IZOD IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500 Mile Race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 29, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /

Eight years ago today on Sunday, May 29, 2011, Dan Wheldon earned arguably the most shocking victory in Indy 500 history when race leader J.R. Hildebrand crashed.

With just over three laps remaining in the 95th running of the Indianapolis 500 back in 2011, Bertrand Baguette held a lead of over 14 seconds over IndyCar rookie J.R. Hildebrand. But Baguette was short on fuel needed a caution flag period to make it to the end of the race without making another pit stop, which would have made him the race winner.

That caution flag period did not come, and the then 25-year-old Belgian pulled his #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda into the pits, relinquishing the lead to the then 23-year-old Sausalito, California native.

Hildebrand had just passed Dario Franchitti for second place. Both he and Franchitti were questionable when it came to having enough fuel to make it to the end of the race. But as Hildebrand continued to lead the race in his #4 Panther Racing Honda, Franchitti faded, as his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was quickly running out of fuel.

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The race was Hildebrand’s to lose. He took the white flag with a lead of over three seconds over Dan Wheldon, who had worked his way up to second place in his #98 Bryan Herta Autosport Honda.

Hildebrand, who started the race in 12th place, needed to complete one more lap around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana to become the first rookie winner of the Indy 500 since Helio Castroneves won the 85th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 2001.

He worked his way through turns one, two and three with success, and almost everyone if not everyone had him penciled in as the race winner. What, at this point, could possibly go wrong?

Everything.

Entering turn four on lap 200 of the 200-lap race, Hildebrand caught lapped traffic in the form of the #83 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, which was driven by Charlie Kimball. He tried to work his way around Kimball, who was clearly running out of fuel, on the outside, but he entered turn four way too high.

He could not recover.

As a result, Hildebrand slammed into the turn four wall. His car was ruined, but he still had a chance to win the race, as his #4 Honda was still heading straight toward the finish line. But just a few hundred feet away from the finish line, Wheldon passed him before crossing the finish line as the race winner, and he made the pass before the caution flag flew. Hildebrand still managed to finish in second place in a damaged car.

Here is a video of this unbelievable finish (start at 3:02:00).

By winning this race, Wheldon became just the second driver in Indy 500 history to complete a winning pass on the race’s final lap, as Sam Hornish Jr. passed Marco Andretti coming to the checkered flag to win the 2006 Indy 500, and he became the first driver in Indy 500 history to win the race after leading only its 200th and final lap. He did so by leading the race for all of about three seconds.

Wheldon, whose victory in this race made him a two-time Indy 500 winner, as he also won the 89th running of the race back in 2005, passed away roughly four and a half months later, as he was fatally injured in a massive 15-car accident in the 2011 IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was 33 years old.

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Eight years after this crazy finish to the Indianapolis 500, it is still hard to believe that it actually happened. J.R. Hildebrand has still not yet gotten redemption by winning the Indy 500 in any of his eight Indy 500 starts since this crash. In fact, he has not yet won an IndyCar race in 64 career starts. Will either of these things ever change?