Family values were Wheldon’s driving force

I first noticed the time. It was exactly 30 minutes past the hour, exactly at the scheduled second. I remember thinking before picking up the telephone that if Dan Wheldon was anything, he was a professional athlete with respect for punctuality.

Twenty-five minutes later, I thought much more of him.

The interview was primarily about Wheldon accepting a challenge to start from the back of the IndyCar Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to see if a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner could go from last to first and split a $5 million prize with a fan.

It turned into more a chat about his love of family and life and how the last year had opened his eyes to what is important.

Google the picture of him kissing the famed Brickyard this year and his toddler son sitting beside him. It will break your heart.

Wheldon is gone now, dead at 33 from a horrific crash on lap 11 of Sunday's race, the English racer having left behind a wife and two small children and multitudes of fans who, rather than recalling a lasting image of his car turning over as it went airborne and sailed into the catch fence, first should remember what drove him off the track.

Life is funny this way: Wheldon was making just his third start of the season, having been without a full-time ride all year. He missed the competition terribly but appreciated what such a break offered.

Time with his family at their home in Florida, with wife Susie and sons Sebastian (2) and Oliver (7 months). Time to devote toward raising awareness for Alzheimer's disease, which his mother recently was diagnosed with at age 55.

Time to live a normal existence.

"Honestly, and this may sound crazy because of how much I love racing, but the time off has allowed me to do a ton of stuff I might not otherwise have if being out there all year," Wheldon said. "It has been a blessing in disguise.

"I was there for the birth of my second son. I was able to spend a lot of time at home with my family. I got to do things with my (2-year-old) I wouldn't have had the opportunity. I embraced all of it. I took the opportunity to enjoy the most out of life I could.

"You don't get those moments back."

It's easy to become comfortable when watching motor sports in 2011. The cars are so much safer now, the drivers so much more skilled. It's like that line about having a better chance being killed walking across the street than in an airplane.

You just sort of expect it always to be true.

But if there is one thing about machines being directed around tracks at more than 200 mph, it's that death is always near, if not riding alongside each driver the entire race. IndyCar racing is too dangerous, of course.

But we knew that

"It sounds cliche, but racing is all I've ever done in my life," Wheldon said. "I began at 4 years old in karting. It's second nature, enough that I feel far more adrenaline than fear. I've been very blessed with great opportunities, and a chance to split ($5 million) with a fan is just the latest one.

"Besides, who doesn't like coming to Las Vegas? It's going to be a phenomenal event and day of racing everyone will never forget. I love the place. I love a city under lights. I can't wait to get there."

Ironic. Wheldon said he felt most helpless around the time he won a second Indy 500 in May, that when he should have been basking in the joy of such a historic moment, he was dealing with the news of his mother's disease and how best to help her.

It is appropriately described as a terrible, helpless thing, watching a loved one suffer from Alzheimer's, that there is no substitute for the affection others can show the person inflicted. Wheldon was intent not only on helping her, but also using his celebrity as a way to help others.

"She's not doing the greatest," Wheldon said of his mother. "It is extremely tough, one of the most emotional things I've ever been through. But I know my winning (the Indy 500) put a smile on her face while she was watching.

"The entire thing has put everything in perspective for me. It reminds me to enjoy every moment I spend with my family.

"You never know when it could be your last."

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.