IndyCar: Why one car was excluded from the Dan Wheldon tribute

On the afternoon of October 16, 2011, a Sunday 13 years ago today which was supposed to end in celebration and the crowning of an IndyCar champion, two-time Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car crash in the opening laps of the season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

To some, it seems like much longer than 13 years. To others, it seems more like 13 months. Depending on the day, you may easily find yourself on either side of the spectrum.

After Wheldon was extricated from his car by the trackside safety team and airlifted to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, and his death was ultimately announced to the public at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval, the remainder of the race was called off.

Later reports stated that he died on impact.

However, in Wheldon's honor, the drivers and teams remaining in the race decided to do a three-wide, five-lap salute, resembling the start of an Indy 500.

This race was the final race for the outgoing Dallara IR-05 chassis, so there were 34 cars entered, more than even the Indy 500 – in fact, more than any IndyCar race since 1997.

With 15 cars involved in the wreck, 19 undamaged cars were left to take part in the salute, led by polesitter and race leader Tony Kanaan.

However, one of the 15 cars involved in the wreck didn't take much damage, and it was able to take part in the salute as well. That entry, James Jakes' No. 18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing, had received a spare front wing from KV Racing Technology – Lotus.

That theoretically should have brought the number to 20 cars. However, it was instead kept at 19.

Wheldon won the 2011 Indy 500 driving the No. 98 Honda for Bryan Herta Autosport. At the time, it was a one-off entry, but that changed for the season finale.

In the penultimate race of the season at Kentucky Speedway, to prepare for the GoDaddy Challenge, Wheldon replaced Alex Tagliani, ironically the Indy 500 polesitter, behind the wheel of the No. 77 Honda for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

The GoDaddy Challenge meant that Wheldon, who had ironically just signed with Andretti Autosport to drive a GoDaddy-sponsored Chevrolet in the 2012 season on the morning of the Las Vegas race, would have split $5 million with one lucky fan if he were to win the season finale after starting last on the grid.

The No. 98 Honda was brought back for the season finale, but with Tagliani behind the wheel; Wheldon remained with Sam Schmidt's team, which had a technical alliance with Bryan Herta's team for the Indy 500.

When the wreck occurred, 10 laps into the race, Wheldon had already managed to work his way up from 34th to 24th place.

Tagliani was running in sixth place when the wreck occurred, so he would have lined up on the outside of the second row for the five-lap salute. Instead, the No. 98 Honda did not participate, so all drivers running from seventh through 20th place, starting with Graham Rahal, moved up a spot.

The reason the No. 98 car was "excluded" was actually to deepen the meaning of the tribute.

Though it was not the exact same car that Wheldon used at Indianapolis that year, he had driven that car number to his second Indy 500 win back in May, leading only the final lap after race leader J.R. Hildebrand crashed in the final turn.

So while the scoring pylon was blanked, except for the top spot, where the No. 77 lit up during the five-lap salute, the No. 98 car remained stationary, honoring Wheldon in its own right as the rest of the field wrapped up the 2011 season in somber fashion, with "Danny Boy" and "Amazing Grace" playing over the track's loudspeakers.