ALTERNATE CUT WITHOUT CHAT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfmZGU07Odk In memory of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon, who lost his life ten years ago today. On Sunday, October 16, 2011, I logged onto a motorsports chat room as I tuned into watch the IZOD IndyCar World Championships in Las Vegas. The resulting chat transcript provided a first-hand account of the emotions of that awful day, and I saved a copy of it when the race was called. Now, a decade later, I'm sharing that transcript for the first time, plus my own personal memories from that day, synced up to the original ABC broadcast. In the interest of time, these are only excerpts from the chat, but represents most of its length. And in the interest of an accurate historical record, these excerpts are otherwise unedited, and have been synced up to the approximate moments in the broadcast, where possible. THOUGHTS AFTER THE ACCIDENT (October 16, 2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjVpE6BuxNQ BSGN TRIBUTE TO DAN WHELDON (October 17, 2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXDo1jEUo7Y For more on the story behind this race, please check out NASCARMAN History's excellent video "PERFECT STORM: INDYCAR'S LAS VEGAS NIGHTMARE," which is narrated by me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsgl-o7gHsM MUSIC: "The Quiet Aftermath" - Sir Cubworth “Tuff Data” - Vans In Japan BOOKS: Hallberry, Andy and Jeff Olson, ed., "Lionheart: Remembering Dan Wheldon," Lionheart Books, Inc., 2016. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZQnMo0uMCFOLFNjS1qeqhvVL7iDAygs PHOTOS: *Alamy Stock Photo *Dan Wheldon on Twitter *Google Images ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2L0ntqKl_Q

Of all the “field fillers” of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, none endured a more difficult season than Andy Hillenburg and Hover Motorsports. But to say they struggled doesn’t mean they were inexperienced. For more than a decade, both driver and team had amassed several impressive accomplishments - particularly in the ARCA Menards Series, where the two first joined forces. Time and again, Hillenburg and Hover crossed paths – particularly on a certain one-mile oval in North Carolina--- SPECIAL THANKS *Bryan Hallman at the BRH Racing Archives for his many photos *Matt Mielke and NASCARMAN History for sharing their photos of Hover’s team ARTICLES *Campbell, Angela. “Andy Hillenburg: The Man behind Bringing NASCAR back to Rockingham Speedway,” Speedway Media, March 8, 2012. https://speedwaymedia.com/2012/03/08/andy-hillenburg-the-man-behind-bringing-nascar-back-to-rockingham-speedway/ *James, Brant. “NASCAR fills up on scrappy teams,” Tampa Bay Times, August 27, 2005. https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2004/03/14/nascar-fills-up-on-scrappy-teams/ *Laurence, Dave. “Underdog of the Week: Tony Ave,” RacingUnderdog.com, August 17, 2004; https://web.archive.org/web/20050529235406/http://www.racingunderdog.com/uotw/040817.htm *Long, Dustin. “Ex-driver buys track at Rockingham,” Greensboro.com, October 2, 2007; https://greensboro.com/sports_professional/auto_racing/ex-driver-buys-track-at-rockingham/article_0de8f7f7-b8b2-56d3-b2ba-a2511abc8d11.html *Newberry, Paul. “ ‘Indiana Andy’ Hillenburg finally in the 500,” May 25, 2000. http://indymotorspeedway.com/v1/00andy.htm *Spencer, Lee. "Field fillers becoming dangerous," The Palm Beach Post, April 2, 2004. UNCREDITED ARTICLES “Boat qualifies with assist from Foyt,” Associated Press, May 21, 2000. “Darlington field filler bites Gordon,” Motorsport.com, March 22, 2004. “Field filler’s days numbered?” Crash.net, 2004. “Gordon questions ‘field filler’ role after shunt,” Crash.net, 2004. “IRL: Andy Hillenburg to drive for new team in Indy 500,” March 22, 2000. https://us.motorsport.com/indycar/news/irl-andy-hillenburg-to-drive-for-new-team-in-indy-500/1793514/ WEBSITES *Fast Track High Performance Driving School, https://www.fasttrackracing.com/fast-track-racing-c66t *Hover Race Cars, https://www.hoverracecars.com/ MUSIC “Get Tough” – TrackTribe “Come On Out” – Dan Lebowitz VIDEOS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZQnMo0uMCH_8xEd6L0lHv-ug0IC_4A2 PHOTOS *Al Messerschmidt *Andy Hillenburg on Twitter *AutoRacing1.com *Big Al’s Photos *Bryan Hallman, BRH Racing Archives *Getty Images *Jayski’s Silly Season Site *Joel Bray *Matt Mielke *Motorsport.com *@nascarcatholic *NASCARMAN History *Rand Thompson *rare.nascar on Instagram *Shutters ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RwGdHWsghI

Roval! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QURwnApNa2M

Saturday at Richmond, Michael McDowell and the #66 HP Racing Team came home 39th after completing 46 of the 400 laps. Before going behind the wall, McDowell found himself right in the middle of the action as five cautions flew for accidents in the first 52 laps. This video contains radio transmissions from the #66 team during the first 30 minutes of Saturday's Wonderful Pistachios 400, starting from just after the green flag through Brian Vickers' colliding with Marcos Ambrose. The person you hear hooting and hollering in the background is me; I tried to cut that out of the video as much as possible. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPa_yOai3xY