Dan Wheldon - 2005 Indy Racing League Champion

Welcome to the man who has it all. Life couldn't be much better for good looking American based English racing driver Dan Wheldon. After finishing a close second to Andretti Green teammate Tony Kanaan in the 2004 Indy Racing League (IRL) standings, 27 year old Englishman Dan Wheldon has won the 2005 IRL Driver's Championship and put the finishing touches to a magical season and a remarkable rise to the top of open wheel racing in America.

This season Dan has recorded six wins from 16 races, breaking Sam Hornish Jr.'s IRL record for most wins in a season. In May, Wheldon won the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500 in only his third attempt, becoming the first Englishman to accomplish this feat since the late Graham Hill in 1966. So far he has managed 12 Top-5 positions and 14 in the Top-10, after one practice lap at Watkins Glen; he clinched the 2005 IRL Driver's Championship for his team, Andretti Green Racing.

Wheldon has become the first Englishman and the first driver since Jacques Villeneuve in 1995 to win both the Indy 500 and a major Driver's Championship in the same season. He joins the elite club of racing legends A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser, Johnnie Rutherford, Bobby Under, Louis Meyer and Wilbur Shaw to accomplish this feat.

Dan Wheldon's 2005 campaign started as he meant to go on, as he led 158 of 200 laps and took the chequered flag at Miami-Homestead Speedway. Two races later, Wheldon made his mark in the history books by winning the IRL's first street race at the inaugural Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, leading an Andretti Green Racing sweep of the top four. At the next race, Wheldon returned to the site of his first career IRL win at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, and managed to defend his title with a late race victory. His win in Motegi marked the first time in the 10-year history of the IRL that a driver had won three of the first four races of the season.

With a firm lead in the IRL points championship and his confidence running high, Wheldon set his sights on the 89th Indianapolis 500. Starting from 16th he took the lead with 30 laps to go and took the double checkered flags to capture the Indy 500 victory and a record payout of over 1.5 million dollars. It was the first time in history a driver had ever won the race starting from 16th on the grid.

The next seven races saw Wheldon take five Top-5 finishes, then he took victory at Pikes Peak, notching his fifth win of the season. Two races later at Chicagoland Speedway, he set an IRL record for most wins in a season with a photo finish for his sixth victory.

In less than three full seasons in the IRL, Dan Wheldon has progressed from a rookie to an Indy 500 winner to an IRL champion.