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18 Sp Sports SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011 Hard for f Hinchcliffe ff to celebrate IndyCar rookie title By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR J ames Hinchcliffe clinched the IZOD IndyCar rookie points title last weekend in Nevada, but there wasn't much celebrating going on. Instead, the Oakville Trafalgar grad and his fellow drivers were mourning the loss of Dan Wheldon, who was killed in Sunday's fiery 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hinchcliffe was fortunate. The 24-year-old Newman/Haas Racing star was one car ahead of the car that initially spun and triggered the accident, and the gravity of the situation didn't hit Hinchcliffe until he had gone around the track. "We came around the next lap under yellow (flag) and saw the aftermath. It was a terrifying sight," Hinchcliffe remembers. "Even not knowing anyone had been injured, it was the ugliest crash scene I'd ever seen." The race went under red flag as organizers cleaned up the debris and medical staff tended to the drivers involved in the crash. Shortly afterwards, Hinchcliffe and the other drivers learned of Wheldon's death. The race was subsequently called, and drivers did a five-lap tribute around the track, driving in rows of three to salute Wheldon's history of success at the Indy 500. The Beaver r caught up with Hinchcliffe Monday to get his thoughts on the tragedy. Following is a transcript from the conversation (questions are in italics): You've had a day to digest things. What are your feelings 24 hours later? Unfortunately, things like this take more than a day. It's still as surreal now as it was 24 hours ago. The one underlying thing is we already miss Dan and we all have a lot of love and support out for his wife and family right now. Were you and Dan Wheldon close? Dan and I were good friends. I certainly didn't know him to the extent that Dario (Franchitti) and Tony Kanaan (Wheldon's former teammates with Andretti Autosport) did, MARC SANCHEZ / ICON SMI IN TRIBUTE: James Hinchcliffe (top left) and fellow IZOD IndyCar drivers do a five-lap parade in 3-by-3 format to honour Dan Wheldon, who was killed in Sunday's 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. but the last couple years I had a couple opportunities to spend some time with him and get to know him. He was a bright and bubbly character, always up to no good but in the best way. That's what everybody loved about Dan. He was like the big kid. He always had a smile on his face and would do anything for anybody. What's the camaraderie like among you drivers, because you all share that in common, even though you're on different teams? We really are a big family. We travel together 20 weeks a year. I've said it before, and I hate how true it resonates right now, but when we're out on the track we literally have each other's lives in our hands. I've always taken the position of getting to know the guys you're racing against. I think it makes you respect each other more on the track. It really is such a family atmosphere in the sport, we feel like siblings even more than competitors. We literally feel like we've lost a brother. With how close you were to being involved in that... it must be hard not to think about your own mortality at times like that and even when you're driving. No doubt, it makes all of us sit back and appreciate that. But it really was one of those situations where it was just a bit of hard racing that started the accident and there's really nothing that anybody could have done differently. It really could have been any one of us in that position and the outcome would have been the same. 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