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Pro drivers who died racing

NEED TO KNOW
  • Two other IndyCar driver have died in last ten years
  • The legendary Dale Earnhardt was a NASCAR crash victim

Dan Wheldon, who was killed Sunday in a crash at the Las Vegas IndyCar 300, is one of several professional drivers to die on the race track -- and deaths over the last 10 years include the losses of two other IndyCar racers.

Rookie driver Paul Dana was 30 when he died in a crash during an IndyCar warmup in Homestead, Fla., back in 2006. He didn’t notice that another car had come to a stop and hurtled into it at approximately 175 mph, says ESPN.com. Two hours later he was declared dead at the hospital.

About three years prior to that, Tony Renna, 26, lost control of his car -- which was traveling at about 220 mph -- during a test-run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, causing the vehicle to go airborne and slam into a fence with fatal force, according to CBS Sports.

NASCAR drivers who’ve died in racing events over the last decade include Tom Baldwin (2004), John Baker (2002) and the legendary Dale Earnhardt (2001).

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