Wheldon Wins Again Indy 500:Rookie Loses Crash on Last Turn

A 23-year-old rookie, had much more on his mind late Sunday afternoon than just completing one smooth turn that would have won the Indianapolis 500. He was low on fuel. He was swooping in on lapped traffic. And Dan Wheldon was closing fast.
So Hildebrand, driving flat out, decided to pass Charlie Kimball, in a slower car, on the high side at the fourth turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hildebrand hit the “marbles,” bits of tires that settled near the walls, skidded on his worn tires and thudded into the wall with a flash of fire.
A gasp rose from the estimated crowd of 300,000. Hildebrand, the right side of his car mangled, made it to the finish line — but not before Wheldon, a 32-year-old Briton, passed him to win the Indy 500, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.
“Is it a move I would do again? No,” Hildebrand said. “I think the only reason I did it in the first place is that it had worked at different stages earlier in the race. But in hindsight, I think with the tires being as used as they were at that stage, that last run after the caution being so long, it’s obviously a learning experience for me.”

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