I remember watching the final race of the 2011 IndyCar season. I remember watching it to see if Dan Wheldon would win the $5-million bonus that he had been given the shot at. I remember watching because of the controversy that had started to bubble up around the race because of things the drivers were saying about the track itself, the number of cars racing, and more. Basically I was tuned in because of the hype IndyCar had created around the event, intentionally or not.
We all know what happened that day. There were too many cars on the track, there was insane pack racing, and ultimately there was a dead Dan Wheldon. It was one of the saddest things I think I have ever seen in racing and it was the culmination of a lot of small bad events that created a perfect storm of a monster singular bad event.
Nascarman history is one of my favorite YouTube channels because of content like this. The research the context, and the work done to create this documentary are amazing. If you have ever wondered what in the world happened in Las Vegas, this is the whole story and it’s incredible to watch.
