UPDATE: IndyCar drivers out of Vegas hospital after crash.
LAS VEGAS -- IndyCar drivers Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand spent the day at UMC hospital, recovering from injuries after the 15-car crash that killed driver Dan Wheldon on Sunday. Both are expected to be released Monday.
Driver Will Power, whose car flew through the air during the crash, was also treated for injuries at the hospital. He was released Sunday.
Wheldon was airlifted to the hospital after the crash, and died about two hours later.
The crash took place on the track's second turn, only 12 minutes into the race. Within seconds, several cars burst into flames and debris covered the track nearly halfway up the straightaway.
The crash – which many drivers describe as the worst they’ve ever seen – created points of impact so devastating that workers had to patch holes in the asphalt.
Before the race, drivers expressed concern over the speeds their cars could reach during the races – many drivers were going faster than 200 miles per hour at the time of the crash.
Wheldon’s car flipped as it went airborne, sailing into the catch fence – an enclosure that sits above the track’s concrete barrier and is designed to give slightly when cars make contact.
Wheldon in survived by his two sons, who are seven months and two years old, and his wife. An autopsy is planned for Wheldon on Monday.
IndyCar has not had a fatality since Paul Dana was killed at Homestead during a morning warm-up in 2006.
