IndyCar has released the cause of Dan Wheldon’s death as a non-survivable injury when his head hit a post in the fencing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The two-time Indianapolis winner was killed in a 15-car accident at the October 16th race when his car was launched into the catch fence.

Beyond that, details were light and unfortunately no one reason could be singled out as the cause of the accident – making it difficult for Las Vegas Speedway to potentially make any changes in order to make the track safer. Investigators referred to the accident as a “perfect storm” and IndyCar said that ”impossible to determine with certainty that the result would have been any different if one or more of the factors did not exist.”

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard reiterated that the size of the field and the banking itself were not the sole responsible for the accident.

[Source: Fox News]

In the wake of the tragic crash that caused Dan Wheldon’s unfortunate passing, the IndyCar Series has decided to remove the Las Vegas race from its 2012 schedule. 2011 was the first year Las Vegas Speedway’s oval was used for open-wheel racing since 2005, and a massive 15-car accident was the result, involving the death of Dan Wheldon (above).

Currently officials have been testing at the Vegas track to see what can be done, if anything, to make the oval safer. But for now, IndyCar plans to stay away from the track.

[Source: Autoblog]

With 2012 just around the corner now, Chevrolet is hyping up its return to IndyCar where they haven’t been racing for six years. Their return also means the development of a new engine for the racing series, where they hope to take what they learn on the track and apply it to their passenger vehicles.

Their upcoming IndyCar campaign will be powered by a brand new, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 powerplant that runs on renewable E85 ethanol fuel. The excitement and buzz surrounding the program couldn’t be more optimistic, as Chevrolet hopes to transfer a lot of that technology to the street in their upcoming production models.

And if their proven success with their ALMS Corvettes is any indication of what’s to come in production tech-transfer, most of us will be wishing Chevy didn’t take a six year hiatus from IndyCar.

Check out a video after the break showing off what Chevy has in store for the 2012 IndyCar season.

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Legendary racing outfit Newman/Haas is closing its doors after nearly 30 years in business, after the team failed to find sponsorship for the coming season.

Founded by Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman, the team had a solid record throughout its life – with 107 wins and 8 championships – but never managed to win an Indy 500 victory. Drivers like Nigel Mansell, Sebastian Bourdais, Mario Andretti and Paul Tracy were some of the top-name talent that drove for the team during its heyday.

With Newman’s death in 2008 and Haas reportedly ailing, the team’s closure seems inevitable, but does not bode well for the Indy Car series.

Dan Wheldon was one of the driving forces behind the new-for-2012 Indy Car chassis, completing countless laps in pre-season testing.

But with Wheldon’s tragic death at the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16th looming over the series, chassis maker Dallara has decided to honor Wheldon by naming the 2012 chassis after him.

“Dan lives in the memory of everybody at Dallara. He has been a true champion; not only because of his many victories, but and above everything else, because he has been a true and warm man to all the people he encountered,” said company boss Gianpaolo Dallara.

Wheldon achieved all 16 of his victories with a Dallara chassis. The official name of the car has yet to be announced.

[Source: Autosport]

Finishing runner up two years in a row, Dan Wheldon topped the podium at the Indy 500 earlier this year. Wheldon’s life ended tragically today during the final race of the 2011 IndyCar season.

The British-born driver of the Bryan Herta Autosport car was involved in a terrifying 15 car accident during the Las Vegas 300. Airlifted to hospital he eventually succumbed to his injuries.

Wheldon’s career highlights include another Indy 500 win back in 2005.

Born in 1978 Wheldon leaves behind his wife Susie Behm (whom he married in 2008), as well as his two sons, Sebastian (born on February 1 2009) and Oliver (born March 19th of this year). Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

In NASCAR they always talk about “The Big One”. But it was this weekend’s series finale of the IndyCar Series that saw a catastrophic crash totaling 15 cars. Included in the mess was Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon who suffered what could be serious injuries and has been airlifted to hospital.

Other drivers involved in the pile-up that saw several vehicles take flight at 200-mph include James Jakes, Wade Cunningham, Paul Tracy, Vitor Meira, JR Hildebrand, Townsend Bell, Jay Howard, Tomas Scheckter, Charlie Kimball, EJ Viso, Alex Lloyd, Pippa Mann, Will Power and Buddy Rice.

***UPDATE: Dan Wheldon has died. Click here for full story ***

Watch the video after the jump:

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Multi-talented driver Tanner Foust is looking for a new challenge in 2012, hoping to get himself behind the wheel of an Indy Car towards the end of this year. With a busy schedule of rally racing this year, Foust put aside the sport of drifting (where he is a two-time champion) this year and it looks like drifting will be without Foust for at least another year.

The interview with Foust was conducted at this past weekend’s X-Games 17 courtesy of MotorWorldHype and Foust looks determined to get an Indy Car ride for 2012. He did state that he would like to return to drifting down the road, saying that he misses the sport and the driving, but it’s a very good chance it won’t happen for 2012.

Check out the interview after the break.

[Source: Youtube via Wrecked Magazine]

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Lotus has announced that it will join the big boys in 2012, racing against both Honda and Chevy in the Indy Car series.

Indy Car has seen its fan base diminish over the years and the fans called for an end of the spec series. Finally the governing body decided to take action, opening up the series to other engine manufacturers, and in 2012, new chassis manufacturers as well.

Recently Chevy announced it would return to Indy Car to compete with Honda (which has been the sole supplier of engines for the series over the past few ears). Now Lotus will do the same – although this news is somewhat perplexing as Lotus does not build its own engines, even for its road cars.

Executives didn’t comment on where the engines could come from, although it’s possible that the Lotus tie-up with Cosworth could be exploited. Another guess is that Toyota (which supplies engines for Lotus’ road cars) could be involved.

Today at the LA Auto Show, Lotus CEO Dany Bahar announced that Lotus will campaign its own engines and chassis in the 2012 Series. Bahar broke the news to reporters at the Lotus both, joined by INDY Car series head Randy Bernard and former Lotus driver Parnelli Jones.

Over the past year Lotus has campaigned a team in the Indy Car series, although as a spec series the move was largely entirely symbolic.

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Chevrolet is set to return to Indy Car Racing in 2012, breaking Honda‘s monopoly on engine supply for the American racing series. Chevrolet is expected to partner with well known engine contractor Ilmor to produce a twin-turbo V6 engine, as the Indy Car series moves away from V8s and towards smaller four and six cylinder engines.

Erik Berkman, head of Honda Performance Development, welcomed Chevrolet in a statement, saying “”We have repeatedly and unequivocally expressed our desire for engine competition within the series, dating even from our first days of sole supply, in 2006,” Berkman said. “We look forward to renewing our relationship with Chevrolet as competitors on the race track and giving the fans of open-wheel racing a spirited and challenging rivalry.”

The new engine formula, which allows for the smaller engines, with a maximum displacement of 2.4L, will encourage more OEMs to support Indy Car racing.

[Source: Inside Line]

Along with its announced plans for Formula One next season, British sports car maker Lotus is also looking at expanding its racing efforts to include IndyCar, GT and Le Mans racing. Newly appointed company CEO Dany Bahar made the announcement to employees, stating that Lotus is studying expanding its racing efforts under a new corporate outlook.

Bahar, who comes from working for Red Bull’s Formula 1 team and as the former head of marketing for Ferrari has ambitious plans to return Lotus to its former position as a motorsports leader, using motorsports as a way to brand the company’s road cars, while using technology gained from racing efforts to help improve those very cars and develop new ones.

Lotus has made known plans to field a two car Evora team at next years Nürburgring 24 Hour race but now it appears as though as more long term plan may be coming into place.

No official decision has been made but we expect to see Lotus cars racing in the European and American Le Mans series in the near future.

[Source: AutoCar]