Wheldon, 33, was lying 26th in the field of 34 cars when the accident began as two cars touched on one of the oval track's four long banked turns halfway round the 13th lap. One of them slewed sideways, setting off a chain reaction. Travelling at somewhere close to 200mph, Wheldon was unable to avoid the chaotic mass of spinning cars. His own car flew into the air and smashed into the barrier on the outside of the track, appearing to catch fire on impact.
The car of the American driver Townsend Bell finished upside down in the middle of the track. Three drivers besides Wheldon, including the championship leader, Will Power of Australia, suffered injuries. Others, including the Scottish driver Dario Franchitti, managed to pick their way through the wreckage. The race was stopped as Wheldon was taken by helicopter to the Las Vegas University medical centre.
Two hours later his death was announced to his fellow drivers, who staged a five-lap parade in salute to their colleague.
Wheldon had qualified for the race in 28th place but started in last position, as part of a bid to win a $5m prize for coming through the field to finish first. The prize would have been shared with the winner of a competition.
Born in the Buckinghamshire village of Emberton, Wheldon was an early rival of Jenson Button in junior racing. Having failed to find backing for his career in Europe, however, he moved to the United States in 1999, racing in the Formula 2000, Toyota Atlantic and Indy Lights series.
In 2002 he graduated to the IndyCar championship, the top level of single-seater racing in the US, and the following year he joined the Andretti Green team, taking a seat following the retirement of Michael Andretti. That year he won the series' rookie of the year award, followed two years later by victory in the Indianapolis 500, the most important single race in the US and – with the Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans – one of the three biggest in the world.
It made him the first English driver to win the 500 since Graham Hill in 1966, having swapped the lead over the last few laps with the female driver Danica Patrick, and that year he also became the series champion.
This past May he won the race for a second time, in more extraordinary circumstances. On the final corner of the last of the race's 200 laps the leader, the young American driver JR Hildebrand, lost control while lapping another car and handed victory to an astonished Wheldon, who became the first man to win the historic race having led only a single lap.
He married his personal assistant, Susie Behm, in 2008. They had two young children and lived in St Petersburg, Florida.
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