Wheldon began the race at the back of the field, but he made his way into the middle of the pack by the eleventh lap.  That was when chaos ensued, as several cars in front of him collided and veered out of control, making it impossible for the 33-year-old, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner to avoid the wreckage.

Rescue workers made it out to Wheldon’s car quickly and were seen waving frantically for more help to arrive on the scene.  Unfortunately, it was to no avail, as Wheldon was airlifted from the track to the University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead moments later.

After IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard made the announcement that Wheldon had passed approximately two hours later, the drivers took to their cars for a five-lap tribute to mourn the loss of a fellow driver and close friend.

JR Hildebrand, Pippa Mann and Will Power were also injured in the accident.  Power was released from the hospital after being evaluated, while Hildebrand and Mann remained in the hospital overnight, but are expected to be released today.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Dan Wheldon.

Here is a look at the fatal crash and the reactions from fellow drivers following the tragic accident.

Professional race car drivers have two things going for them when it comes to shagging and/or shacking up with hot women. One, they have dangerous and exciting careers. Chicks dig that. Two, they’re wealthy. Chicks dig that too. So it’s not hard to understand why NASCAR drivers would have exceptionally hot wives and girlfriends.

For us regular, non-race-car-driving guys of average wealth, this situation can be pretty maddening. I mean, have you ever seen Kyle Busch? I don’t mean to pick on him, but the dude is definitely below average in the looks department. Yet he’s got a crazy hot babe for a wife (#5). The difference between him and you (and me)? A kajillion dollars.

However, here is one thing us regular dudes have going for us: no one is making lists of our wives and girlfriends for the whole world to ogle. So consider this list of 9 Smoking Hot NASCAR WAGs a way of balancing out the injustice of the universe. Enjoy.

9. Athena Barber

Athena Barber was the longtime girlfriend of driver Clint Bowyer, but they broke up in 2007. Sometime after that, Barber dated—or at the very least mated with—Alex Gordon, because she had his son in January of 2010. Apparently Gordon now has some other girlfriend, but I figure being the baby mamma of a NASCAR driver is good enough to get this FHM model on this list.

8. Kate Edwards

You may not spot Kate Edwards in any revealing outfits any time soon, because doctors are usually too busy saving lives and whatnot to prance around in bikinis. That’s right, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards’ wife Kate is an MD. So, she’s really beautiful and smart. Nice catch, Carl.

7. Chandra Johnson

Four time NASCAR driver of the year Jimmie Johnson got himself one of those classy hotties for a wife. Chandra is another one you probably won’t see laying on the hood of a car any time soon. But that doesn’t mean this model-turned-mom isn’t super sexy.

6. Lynne Kushnirenko Allmendinger

Lynne Kushnirenko Allmendinger: how’s that for a mouthful? Lynn Kush, as she is more often called, is a Canadian Playboy model. Oh, and a chiropractor. I wonder which line of work attracted husband A.J. Allmendinger more? Normally, I would assume it was the Playboy modeling. But I suspect NASCAR drivers often suffer from chronic back pain and stiffness, so the fact that Lynne is a chiropractor might have been a big selling point as well. (On a related note, I would think being a former Playboy model would be bad for the chiropractic business. Seems like you’d be getting all these pervs coming in expecting something more akin to a sensual massage than a realignment.)

5. Samantha Busch

Surprise, surprise, another NASCAR driver with a model wife. In this case, we’re looking at the worst hot-to-not ratio of any couple on the list. I’d put Mrs. Busch at about an 8, while Mr. Busch is probably no better than a 3. That’s why I included the second picture of these two lovebirds together. I wanted you to experience the disparity in attractiveness for yourself.

4. Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd’s husband Dario Franchitti currently races on the IndyCar circuit, but he used to race in NASCAR. So I applied to the government’s Bureau of Internet Affairs, Hot Women Division, for permission to include her on this list anyway. My application was accepted. They said since it would be theoretically possibly for Franchitti to switch back to NASCAR at any time, it is permissible to include her here. So, yeah, here she is. Freaking gorgeous, right? Right.

3. Ingrid Vandebosch

Jeff Gordon’s first wife, Brooke, was pretty. Jeff Gordon’s second wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, is off the charts. Hell, you know what I’m talking about. You’re looking at her right now. Anyway, it usually makes me uncomfortable when guys dump one wife and marry someone hotter. It just seems kind of slimy. In this particular case, there is one redeeming factor: at least Gordon didn’t dump his wife for someone younger and hotter. That’s right, the soon-to-be 41-year-old Vandebosch is actually one year older than husband Jeff.

2. Jordan Fish

Denny Hamlin’s girlfriend (or possibly financee by now) is a dancer for the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. Or she was at one point. Hell, I don’t know what Jordan’s up to these days. But I bet whatever it is, she still looks damn sexy doing it. Congratulations, Denny.

1. Niki Taylor

If it seems like Niki Taylor has been around forever, that’s because she has. The 35-year-old swimsuit model has been one of the world’s most recognizable faces since she was just 15. The still ridiculously gorgeous Taylor has been married to NASCAR “driver” Burney Lamar since 2006, and together they have one daughter. Now, I put “driver” in quotations there because old Burney isn’t racing much these days. He’s been a free agent since being released from Braun Racing in 2009. Still, not matter how poorly his career is going, he can always remind himself, “I am married to a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.”

So how does one “lose” the Indy 500?  Simple.  Crash out on the final turn of the final lap while holding a rather sizable lead.

You can watch Hildebrand do just that in the video below.

Pay special attention to the IndyCar security chief who simply laughs as a fuming Castroneves grabs him by the collar (52 second mark).  He’s not the only one who thought it was funny.

Hat Tip – [TSN.ca]

Total Pro Sports – What better way to get people to switch their mobile phone plans than have a sexy female athlete signing some man boobs.  That’s what Boost Mobile had in mind when they made the commercial featuring Danica Patrick signing the breasts of some of her “chesty” male supporters.

The commercial opens with the Indy Racing star signing the breasts of one man, as he holds them together in place.  I’m not sure what is funnier about him.  His unbelievably woman-like honkers, or his incredible wife-beater tan line.  If that wasn’t enough, he then sends what we believe to be his son over to Patrick.  The breast gene is strong in that family.

It is quite surprising that this commercial has made the air without being deemed offensive to some viewers.  If the FCC is so hard against women’s breast, they should be terrified of the possibility that some children are viewing these much more grotesque boobs without any warning.  Now that is injustice.

Mario Andretti the grandfather of Marco Andretti thinks his grandson is a great fit for the team.  But Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor the majority shareholders behind the team they call USF1 think differently. Windsor a former team manger for Ferrari and Williams and current F1 pit reporter for speed TV said plans are to hire “2 American Drivers”.

A few names that have been talked about are were former F1 driver Scott Speed, NASCAR star Klye Busch and IndyCar beauty Danica Patrick.  Neither of them once mentioned Marco Andretti the up and coming 22 year old star of IndyCar and grandson of 1978 F1 world champ Mario Andretti.

“She’s great and gets a lot of press,” Anderson said earlier this week. “Indy Racing League chairman Tony George would be pretty mad with me if I took her out of the IRL but we’ll see.” [Setanta]

Mario Andretti said “every time I mention formula one, he says I’d give anything to have this opportunity,” talking about Marco Andretti.  Mario went on later to say,

“if i were to design a formula one driver today, i would design Marco.We’ll see what the future brings for him.”

But in the end this is a business and for a business in F-1 to succeed the best drivers are needed for the team to make the most money.