Simple question about Dan Wheldon - early career

[DavidCane]

Evening all,

Just managed to get back to my parents' this weekend and look through my old photos from Thruxton in 1996 and 1997. I think I have a photo of Dan Wheldon racing the #8 car in the Formula Ford race in 1997, but the crash helmet looks different to the one in the photo I've seen on the official indy site.

Can someone with good knowledge of Dan's uk racing career look at the photo and let me know if it's him or not?

Thanks,

DC

[skwdenyer]

This picture is credited as Dan Wheldon at the 1997 Formula Ford Championship at Brands Hatch:



Don't know if that helps?

ETA: don't know if that's the picture you've already seen?

Edited by skwdenyer on Sunday 30th October 23:28

[belleair302]

It looks like his helmet with the Ford logo and side on Duckhams branding.

[DavidCane]

Yes, that's the photo that I've seen. I'm wondering if I have my years mixed up and my photos could be from either 96, 97 or 98 :s

I guess I'll check through some BTCC photos and compare those to the ones on the net. It was big enough in the 90s that I'd expect there to be plenty of photos.

The only way I can define the year is that it rained in the 2nd BTCC race, Tarquini was still racing, Audi had the A4, the Volvo 850s weren't estates any more and the Vectra support race there was a car upside down in the 1st corner of lap 1 which brought out the red flag.

Oh, and it wasn't the year that Tiff Needel guest raced the Renault Spider as I was at the chicane that year.... Hmmm.

[ccr32]

DavidCane said:

The only way I can define the year is that it rained in the 2nd BTCC race, Tarquini was still racing, Audi had the A4, the Volvo 850s weren't estates any more and the Vectra support race there was a car upside down in the 1st corner of lap 1 which brought out the red flag.

Those were the days...!

[acf8181]

This reminds me, i was at thruxton in '96 and wondering if Dan was racing then (vauxhall lotus perhaps)...anyone have an idea on if entry lists from back then are online?

[Teppic]

DavidCane said:

Evening all,

Just managed to get back to my parents' this weekend and look through my old photos from Thruxton in 1996 and 1997. I think I have a photo of Dan Wheldon racing the #8 car in the Formula Ford race in 1997, but the crash helmet looks different to the one in the photo I've seen on the official indy site.

Can someone with good knowledge of Dan's uk racing career look at the photo and let me know if it's him or not?

Thanks,

DC

There is a picture of him from 1997 in the October 20 edition of Autosport (with the name on the side as Wan Dheldon - must have been an in-joke in the team). The helmet matches the one in your picture, so yes, you have a picture of Dan.

[DavidCane]

ccr32 said:

DavidCane said:

The only way I can define the year is that it rained in the 2nd BTCC race, Tarquini was still racing, Audi had the A4, the Volvo 850s weren't estates any more and the Vectra support race there was a car upside down in the 1st corner of lap 1 which brought out the red flag.

Those were the days...!

Just typing that out made me feel old. Even worse when two guys in a meeting at work just said they'd never heard of Ajax......now I feel like a pensioner.

[skwdenyer]

DavidCane said:

Just typing that out made me feel old. Even worse when two guys in a meeting at work just said they'd never heard of Ajax......now I feel like a pensioner.

Don't they teach classical mythology in schools any longer?

[davepoth]

Or dynamic HTML concepts? If they don't know that one they're really behind the times.

[FWDRacer]

The skid lid colours are consitent with what he had on his head when Karting.

[GR68]

"Can someone with good knowledge of Dan's uk racing career"

I realise this thread is ages old but thought I could help.

I was Dan's mechanic for 1997 which was the year both these pics are from.
The blue "DATATRADE" car was run by Andy Welch Racing. We had a god run for the year and won four rounds which was a good effort for a privateer team in the time of the FF factory teams.

There was a bit of tension within the team with Dan and Aliezio Coheleo crashing into each other which didn't help!

The next year (1998) Dan drove for the VD factory team and then he went to the US.

[chevronb37]

My recollection is that Wheldon and Button were both in FFord in 1998, with Danica Patrick in FVauxhall the same season. I'll have to check my programme archive for confirmation though.

[Life Saab Itch]

chevronb37 said:

My recollection is that Wheldon and Button were both in FFord in 1998, with Danica Patrick in FVauxhall the same season. I'll have to check my programme archive for confirmation though.

Yep. Then Ant Davidson and Danica were in Fford the next year.

[chevronb37]

Life Saab Itch said:

chevronb37 said:

My recollection is that Wheldon and Button were both in FFord in 1998, with Danica Patrick in FVauxhall the same season. I'll have to check my programme archive for confirmation though.

Yep. Then Ant Davidson and Danica were in Fford the next year.

Golden era. It was really exciting going to the TOCA meetings in those days. You knew in FVauxhall and FFord that you were genuinely watching the next generation of superstars. In BTCC you had the absolute cream of international tin top stars.

[chevronb37]

Life Saab Itch said:

chevronb37 said:

My recollection is that Wheldon and Button were both in FFord in 1998, with Danica Patrick in FVauxhall the same season. I'll have to check my programme archive for confirmation though.

Yep. Then Ant Davidson and Danica were in Fford the next year.

Golden era. It was really exciting going to the TOCA meetings in those days. You knew in FVauxhall and FFord that you were genuinely watching the next generation of superstars. In BTCC you had the absolute cream of international tin top stars.

[Furyblade_Lee]

I had a passenger ride with a guy called Rob Wheldon around Brands Hatch in a Radical SR4 ( fast as f*** BTW! ) was he any relation to Dan do you know?

[DanielSan]

chevronb37 said:

Life Saab Itch said:

chevronb37 said:

My recollection is that Wheldon and Button were both in FFord in 1998, with Danica Patrick in FVauxhall the same season. I'll have to check my programme archive for confirmation though.

Yep. Then Ant Davidson and Danica were in Fford the next year.

Golden era. It was really exciting going to the TOCA meetings in those days. You knew in FVauxhall and FFord that you were genuinely watching the next generation of superstars. In BTCC you had the absolute cream of international tin top stars.

Good times indeed.

[IainW]

chevronb37 said:

Golden era. It was really exciting going to the TOCA meetings in those days. You knew in FVauxhall and FFord that you were genuinely watching the next generation of superstars. In BTCC you had the absolute cream of international tin top stars.

I was too young at the time to appreciate I was seeing the F1 stars of the future like Webber, Button, Montoya and Raikkonen at Knockhill. When I did start going more regularly to other circuits, I was able to appreciate it more. This is the 2002 Formula Renault entry for example.



You've got IndyCar drivers like Alex Lloyd, EJ Viso and Katherine Legge. Lewis Hamilton in F1 and I suppose you could say Susie Stoddart too. Will Davison in V8 Supercars, Jamie Green in DTM, then all the top sportcar drivers of the future like Rob Bell, Steven Kane, Pat Long, Matt Griffin and Danny Watts.

Nowadays there are so many junior categories, that they all tend to be off doing pan-European series for circuit experience and you never see somebody from the BTCC package graduate to anything like the series I've just mentioned from that entry list.

[chevronb37]

I'd given up on the BTCC by 2002 - saw the Champ Car supporting round but that was it unfortunately.

The page you've photographed is an articulate demonstration of the strength of FRenault at the time. I'll try and dig out a couple of other programmes - I've hundreds here - to show how linear progression was in those days. Nowadays you might get lucky and catch the next Lewis Hamilton in a junior formula but it's not definite.