Major crash interrupts IndyCar finale

UPDATE #3 Wheldon was flown to the hospital and his injuries are said to be serious. Pippa Mann and J. R. Hildebrand were taking by ground to the hospital complaining of dizziness.

"Just a horrendous accident," said Paul Tracy, who was involved in the accident. "Lot of prayers right now for Dan, because it's going to be a long recovery. They're scrambling in there right now. There's 20 doctors in there.

"I've never seen such a mess in my entire career on the race track," said Danica Patrick, in her final IndyCar race before heading to NASCAR. Really concerned about Dan right now."

"I'll tell you, I've never seen anything like it," Ryan Briscoe said. "The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there's just stuff everywhere. Crazy."

"I could see within five laps people were starting to do crazy stuff. I love hard racing but that to me is not really what it's about," Franchitti said. "You saw what happened, one small mistake from somebody …."

10/16/11 The concern is Dan Wheldon – a lot of doctors are working on him and his car went into the catch-fence, which is never good. A helicopter is waiting to fly Wheldon out. 13 cars are out but 15 cars were involved. The wreck between Turn 1 and Turn 2 on the 12th lap left Townsend Bell upside down, smoldering cars strewn all over the track and debris nearly halfway up the back straightaway of the 1.5-mile oval. Wheldon was in line to win $5 million had he won the race.

10/16/11 The following cars are definitely out of the race:
Car No. Driver
17 Wade Cunningham
4 JR Hildebrand
22 Townsend Bell
15 Jay Howard
57 Tomas Scheckter
83 Charlie Kimball
8 Paul Tracy
59 EJ Viso
77 Dan Wheldon
19 Alex Lloyd
30 Pippa Mann
12 Will Power
44 Buddy Rice

10/16/11 A major crash involving up to 15 of 34 cars has brought out the red flag on lap 13 of the IndyCar finale and Will Power was caught up in the accident ending his hopes of winning the championship. Dan Wheldon is trapped in his car and the medics are working on him. Pippa Mann was badly shaken up and the medic had to help her to the ambulance. The accident saw cars flying through the air for as much as 200 yards, some going upside down and some on fire. More to follow……