you know, they need to be safe. reporter: wheldon won the indianapolis 500 two times, in 2005 and again this year. 33 years old and originally from england, wheldon leaves behind a why and two young sons. and for the people in the racing world for whom risk-taking just goes along with the sport, this scene will haunt them for the rest of their lives. some drivers had expressed misgivings about running indy cars on an oval track like this at very high speeds, saying that when the cars get bunched up, the potential for deadly accidents is very high. and that played out here tragically on sunday. veronica? george lewis, thank you so much. we re going tva lot more on the death of dan wheldon coming my doctor told me calcium
colleagues reacted to the news of his death in shock. he s a friend of all of ours. he will be missed and i just feel for his family. lost a one of my best friends, one of my greatest teammates. i don t know what to say. i think i m getting old. i ve been through too many of these already. reporter: officials decided not to continue the race. the cars did a five-lap tribute to wheldon as number of wheldon s car, 77, flashed on a pylon above the track. before the race in an interview with extra, wheldon talked about the hazards of his sport. some people look at it as one of those things that you can just do. but, you know, for me, you know, i take it very seriously. there s a lot of responsibility with that. you know, these indy cars travel at around the indianapolis motor speedway at speeds in excess of 230 miles an hour.
it s really about him and how he messages himself to the base right now. we re going to have to see what happens next. former rnc chairman michael steele, democratic strategist jamal simmons. big thank you to you both. a lot of questions raised today after the fiery crash that killed popular indy car driver dan wheldon, the reining indianapolis champion. he was killed in a horrifying 15-car pile-up during the beginning of the race sunday. now questions are being raised about the safety of the las vegas racetrack and whether too many cars were in the race in the first place. more now from nbc s george lewis who is in las vegas. reporter: veronica, veteran race drivers say they have never seen a pile-up quite as bad as this one. cars crashing and spinning. some hitting the wall in flames. dan wheldon s car flying through the air. just minutes into the race on the 12th lap of the cars hitting speeds of 230 miles an hour, the tires on two of the cars
touched, sending them out of control. oh, there we go. huge crash. go low! up in turn number two. multiple cars involved. oh, my. it looks like dan wheldon may be involved in it. reporter: wheldon had started the race at the back of the pack, part of a challenge to win $5 million if he got to the front and won. he moved up ten spots. is. reporter: he was jockeying for position when one of the out of control cars struck him sending his car flying through the air, tumbling end over end and into the wall of the raceway where it burst into flames. one of several race cars to catch fire in the 15-car pile-up. medics quickly airlifted wheldon to a trauma center but doctors there were unable to save his life. indy car is very sad to announce that dan wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injury. our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. reporter: three other drivers were injured. wheldon s friends and racing
the president focusing today on putting teachers back to work, first responders back to work. that s something that would cost about $35 billion. we don t know what will be proposed first. in fact, we re expecting harry reid later today to announce which part of the american jobs act he s going to put forth first. but president obama won north carolina and virginia back in 2008, the first time a democrat had won these two states in decades. republicans are hoping to win them back. so these are certainly the new battleground states of 2012. veronica? nbc s kristen welker. thank you. we re going to know much more on this in a moment with our panel. searching for answers in the horrifying chain reaction crash that killed two-time indy 500 winner dan wheldon. we ll share one of his final interviews before that fateful race. the month long occupy protest has spread to four continents. a global movement, but do they have a clear message?