Two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon has died of injuries he sustained in a massive 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Indy 300 earlier today.

Wheldon’s car had catapulted over other cars during the crash, which occurred on Lap 12, catching part of the fence outside Turn 2. Wheldon was airlifted to a local hospital in “serious” condition, but later succumbed to his injuries. Randy Bernard, IndyCar CEO, made the announcement of Wheldon’s death and cancelled the race after a five-lap tribute.

Earlier this year, Wheldon, 33, scored a storybook Indy 500 win, which he later dedicated to his mother, who’d recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Replaced at Panther racing by J.R Hildebrand early in the season, Wheldon then landed a seat with Bryan Herta Autosport. Wheldon won Indy when Hildebrand crashed out on the last lap.

Without a ride for the rest of the season, Wheldon had been eligible for Bernard’s offer to award $5 million to any non-regular series driver who won the season finale at Las Vegas.

In his Associated Press obituary, Wheldon is said to have moved to the U.S. from his native England hoping to win the Indy 500, which he eventually did, twice — in 2005 and 2011. He also scored 16 career IndyCar wins, and won the series championship in 2005.

Wheldon is survived by his wife Susie and two sons: Sebastian, 2, and Oliver, 6 months.

via Jalopnik, By Mike Spinelli

See you at the Track
Bob Cook

See you at the Track
Bob Cook

The final 2011 AABLM “Airport Auto Brokers Late Models” race at All American Speedway was a race to remember, rookie Jeremy Doss made victory lane in front of his extended family after just his 3rd start in a late model. You could tell that the AABLMs were in town, everywhere you looked there were AABLM shirts representing the teamwork we strive for. This is why the AABLM is a fun class to race in; the drivers can have time with their families while still racing at different the facilities.

The fast time plaque, sponsored by Speedy Signs, went to Junior Roddy who qualified first quick with a 13.278. Following was AABLM 2011 Champion Trevor Cristiani, who brought a 13.497, Jeremy Hopkins with a 13.577, All American Speedway’s own Thomas Martin with 13.612, Corey James with a 13.636 and Jeremy Doss rounded out the top six with 13.672.

Cristiani won the dash over Roddy, Hopkins, Jeremy Doss, and James. Martin broke on the warm up laps, giving him time to fix his car for the feature

Airport Auto Brokers Late Models return to All American Speedway for the “Taxtec 75 laps Feature Event”. New comer Andy Vanderveer had the pole and Stanislav Osterlund on his outside. Vanderveer got the jump on the start and led the first 20 laps until a caution came out. On the restart, we saw Cristiani take the lead over from Vanderveer, lap 25 saw another caution and that put Cristiani and Hopkins on the front row. Lap 33, Rookie Jeremy Doss was making his move around Dave Miller when they made contact, bringing out the caution and sending them both to the rear of the field. The next 40 laps saw some good side by side between Cristiani, Roddy and Hopkins. The final caution was on lap 74 with rookie Jeremy Doss making his way up to fourth. On the restart Johnny Miskill waved the white and green flag with Cristiani and Roddy on the front row, Hopkins right behind Cristiani and rookie Jeremy Doss sitting in the cat bird set just waiting for the action. And action is what we got in turn 2. Hopkins gets under Cristiani, making contact and spinning Cristiani around into Roddy, and believe it or not, rookie Jeremy Doss took the high groove, passed all the carnage and raced back to the checkered for the win. Following were Vanderveer, Hopkins, Cristiani and Roddy rounding out the top five. Jeremy Doss also races in our tow-along series AABLS “Airport Auto Brokers Legend Series,” he handily won the Legend car feature giving him enough points to clinch that championship with one race to spare. You could see Jeremy’s ear-to-ear pride to have his family present during his double feature win.

Our next race is at Ukiah Speedway September 10, 2011 featuring Northern California Pro-4 Modifides, Airport Auto Brokers Legend cars, Bud Bombers and of course the Airport Auto Brokers Late Models.

See You at the Track
Bob Cook

And since we were to busy working on our cars last week,
Here’s some Photos from Ukiah

With the culmination of the race at Shasta, our Photo Gallery now has now passed the 10,000 mark and to celebrate we’ve created a Photo Mosaic that includes all the pictures taken so far in the AABLM Series. The following version are available:

20 MegaPixels  5,290 x 3,778
40 MegaPixels  7,483 x 5,344
60 MegaPixels  9,165 x 6,545
80 MegaPixels  10,583 x 7,557
100 MegaPixels  11,833 x 8,450