IndyCar officials called the race after word of his death, but drivers performed a five-lap tribute to Wheldon, one of open-wheel racing’s most popular drivers.

IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard said:

IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute to in his honor.

Wheldon became the first IndyCar driver to die on the track since 2006, when rookie Paul Dana was killed in morning practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Wheldon was competing in his third race of the reason, to win the $5 million bonus that was a league promotion to any driver who didn’t compete full-time in the series this year.

Wheldon was expected to replace Danica Patrick, who is moving full time to NASCAR in 2012, at Andretti Autosport. The deal was agreed to before Sunday’s race and was expected to be signed after the race.

The wreck started when Wade Cunningham appeared to swerve on the track on lap 11. JR Hildebrand drove over Cunningham’s left rear. Cunningham hit the wall and Hildebrand went airborne.

As the cars wrecked, debris spread across the track and some cars burst into flames.

Wheldon’s car went airborne and flipped as it hit the catch fence.

Several drivers openly wept at the news of Wheldon’s passing. Dario Franchitti said:

One minute you’re joking around at driver intros. The next, Dan’s gone. I lost, we lost, a good friend. Everybody in the IndyCar series considered him a friend. He was such a good guy. He was a charmer.

Danica Patrick tweeted:

There are no words for today. Myself and so many others are devastated. I pray for Suzi [Wheldon's wife] and the kids that god will give them strength.

Juan Pablo Montoya tweeted:

life is not fair…. we are gonna miss a really great guy…….. Dan we r gonna miss u…

Brad Keselowski tweeted:

Nice touch with the 5 lap salute. Kudos to indycar and most importantly the Wheldon family.

Jimmie Johnson tweeted:

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Wheldon family… My heart hurts for all of the IRL community.

Denny Hamlin tweeted:

Life shouldn’t be one of those things [that we take for granted]. We lost a great driver in motorsports and he will not be forgotten. Rest in peace Dan Wheldon

Penske Racing, JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Whitney Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and others took to Facebook to express their condolences.

NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France also issued a statement:

NASCAR offers its deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of Dan Wheldon, his teammates, and the entire IndyCar Series community for their tragic loss today. They will be in our thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time.

With all of the technology and safety innovations in use and being developed today, sometimes we take for granted how dangerous auto racing really is. At the end of the day, though, no matter how much safety equipment you have, these guys and girls are still strapping themselves to 650 HP, carbon fiber machines and hitting 220+ mph.

Rest In Peace, Dan Wheldon. You will be missed.

Andretti has driven in nine Indy 500s, including the last two years. He finished fifth in the race in 1991. Last year he finished 16th. He also has 10 NASCAR starts at the track. His best finish in a stock car at the track is seventh. 

A news conference is scheduled for Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Peter Windsor

Former Formula One team manager Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, a former F1 team engineer, announced that they would start their own team, USF1, based in Charlotte, NC.

While no official announcements were made of drivers, and the team did not mention any drivers they approached, Windsor threw out a few names during the press conference.

He said:

We haven’t made any decision on drivers yet. … All the drivers out there, if one had to take names now … the next generation looks really good. You’ve got Alex Rossi, who obviously won a lot of races in Formula BMW. You’ve got Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden … really three talented young guys. Gabby Chavez is also very good. And if you take a level slightly higher than that, you have Jonathan Summerton, who has won at the international level already in A1GP driving for Team USA .

While those names mean little to NASCAR fans, the next group of names were quite interesting.

Windsor continued:

Scott Speed has Formula One experience. We know Scott. He’s a very talented guy. He’s doing very well in NASCAR right now. It would be interesting to know if he is totally comfortable where he is right now. There are NASCAR drivers out there right now who I really think if they wanted to switch to Formula One, we could groom them and help them make that change. We were chatting with Dave Despain the other night about Kyle Busch for example. What a great star he would be. Formula One would welcome anything like that.

Windsor also added Danica Patrick’s name to the mix.

A report in India says that Anderson would like to offer Patrick the chance to drive. But, no where in the story is Anderson quoted as saying he would like her to.

The news of USF1′s interest in Patrick came as news to her. In an AP report, she said:

You know, it starts with a phone call, and I haven’t heard anything. It’s funny how these things get going. But I’m happy driving in the IndyCar Series, I’m happy in North America.

And, someone has gone so far as to petition fans to get Busch out of NASCAR and into F1.