BELLA VISTA — In the decades Bella Vistan Jake Greeling has been attending Indy Racing League events, he has seen hundreds of crashes. But what he experienced the afternoon of Oct. 16 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was by far the worst he has ever seen.
It was on the 1.5-mile oval, on lap 11, that a multi-car crash occurred - a crash that ultimately took the life of two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon, 33.
Greeling, 68, has seen his fair share of races, including attending the Indy 500 in Indianapolis 32 times. This was his first trip to the Las Vegas venue.
Greeling said the race started on time and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except perhaps for the number of cars entered in the 300-mile race.
Normally, on a track the size of the one in Las Vegas, there would be 22 to 24 racers, he said. That day there were 34.
Greeling and wife Karen had seats along the front stretch, across fromthe pit road exit and 32 rows above the track. That vantage point afforded him a good view of the race.
Greeling shot a few photos of the race from the very beginning, then settled in to see how the day would unfold.
“I started watching turn one around lap six or seven. The first eight or 10 cars had pulled away from the others, but from there back they were allbunched up.”
At that point, Greeling set up his camera and started watching closely.
The first sign of trouble came when drivers Wade Cunningham and James Hinchcliffe touched tires, sending Cunningham sideways.
“He got (hit) by JR Hildebrand, and the melee got started,” Greeling said.
Greeling said the drivers down low on the track were able to drive through the debris without any problem.
“Dan went low, but cars were sliding down off the 20-degree banking, and he hit one of them. He got airborne and hit the catch fence, cockpit first.”
The catch fence is erected on top of the outside wall of the track as another safety device for drivers and spectators.
Greeling’s camera was set to shoot four frames per second, going off like a machine gun on full automatic.
It was over in seconds.
“The first picture I shot (according to the camera’s internal clock) was at 12:55 and 46 seconds. The last one was 12:55 and 53,” he said.
What Greeling saw through his camera lens was “just like a bomb had exploded.”
He recalled seeing as many as five cars on fire at any given time, as thecrash came when they all had nearly a full load of fuel.
“It was absolutely the worst I’ve ever seen,” Greeling said. “I’ve never seen that many cars (wrecked at one time).”
Those cars still running completed one more lap before the red flag was waved, stopping the contest and directing the cars into the pits.
“When they throw the red flag, you know something is wrong with the track and it’s going to be a long time,” Greeling said. “There was a lot of debris on the track, and I knew it would take them a long time to pick it up.”
In the minutes following the crash, reports of the condition of those involved were given over the public address system. Nothing specific was said about Wheldon.
Then, Greeling heard something that caused him grave concern.
“Paul Tracy (former driver turned announcer) came on and said, ‘Dan needs our prayers.’ That was the first clue that Dan was in bad shape.”
Greeling said he couldn’t see which drivers had gotten out because the cars slid toward the bottom of the track.
“I could just see the (rescue) trucks moving,” he said.
He then noticed the Medevac helicopter next to the infield hospital starting up.
“You hadn’t been told anything, but you knew it was bad,” Greeling said.
As the cleanup wound down, work began on the catch fence and the track. Greeling said that after about 40 minutes, he doubted the race would resume.
They still had heard nothing definitive about Wheldon’s condition.
Then, when the drivers and owners were summoned for a meeting, Greeling knew his worst fears had been realized.
“It was then I began to suspect there was a fatality,” he said.
Not long after, an announcement was made that Wheldon had died at the hospital and the race was being terminated.
The drivers returned to their cars and, lined up three abreast, took five laps around the track as a memorial to their fallen comrade. All the while, Wheldon’s car number, 77, was displayed atop the scoring pylon.
The Greelings stayed for the tribute, as didthousands of others that day.
Greeling met Wheldon on a number of occasions and was impressed with him.
“He was such a nice young man, a great ambassador to the sport,” Greeling said.
This is the second time Greeling has attended a race during which a driver lost his life. The first was a Craftsman Truck Series event at the Texas Motor Speedway.
He has also attended races at Kansas City, Pocono, Pa., Milwaukee and Daytona for both IRL and NASCAR.
Greeling realizes the danger involved in the sport.
“There is a high risk in any kind of racing. You just don’t expect to see anyone get killed. But it’s gotten safer,” he said.
Greeling said he is still trying to get over Wheldon’s untimely death, but he won’t let it stop him from enjoying his love for the sport.
“I’ll continue to go, but it’s hard to put this behind me right now because of who he was,” Greeling said.
Wheldon leaves behind a wife and two young boys.
News, Pages 2 on 10/26/2011