This week has been a terribly sad one in our household. One week on from the unfortunate death of British racing driver Dan Wheldon, we still haven’t recovered from the sad loss.

Sad, because we had admired and followed the progress of Dan for more than ten years. Sad for his young widow and their two lovely children. And sad because it took the death of Dan for a large percentage of the British public even to become aware of the talent they had been oblivious to for all these years.

Dan Wheldon was a huge star in America. Huge. Bigger by far than are the likes of Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton in the UK. The Americans really know how to appreciate their sporting stars, even those not native to their shores. But while America was celebrating the achievements of the personable and highly talented young Englishman, the vast majority of the British public was unaware of his existence thanks largely to a parochial media obsessed with soccer and a form of motor racing more akin to the average day on the M25 than truely competitive motorsport.

While people the length and breadth of the USA were hailing Dan Wheldon as one of the all-time Indianapolis greats, here in the UK his achievements received nothing more than a few lines at the bottom of the sports pages, and only then if there was little else to report.

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the world’s greatest sporting spectacles – the biggest one day sporting event in the entire world. And prior to his first win in 2005 – the year in which he also won the IndyCar Championship – it had been 39 years since a British driver had tasted victory at the Brickyard. Surely a big enough achievement to guarantee him being crowned as Sports Personality of the Year, or so you’d think. But not a bit of it. Dan wasn’t even nominated!

This year, Dan once again stood on the top step of the Brickyard podium having been victorious at one of the most enthralling races for a very long time. His Indianapolis record now reads – one fourth, one third, two seconds and two victories. That, let me tell you, is a remarkable feat by any standards!

Thirty three drivers take to the field for the Indianapolis 500. Each race is 500 miles long, and drivers race each other, side by side, two-wide, three-wide, at speeds in excess of 225mph on the two and a half mile oval for in excess of 3 hours including caution periods and pitstops. In 100 years, only 68 drivers have ever tasted victory at Indianapolis. Only 18 have ever won the race more than once, and Englishman Dan Wheldon is one of them!

America continues to celebrate the life of Dan Wheldon. The new car for the IndyCar series, which Dan himself helped develop, will be named after him. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is holding a public memorial service in his honour this Sunday. Sporting stars across America have donated memorabilia toward a forthcoming auction in aid of the Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund, a fund established to provide financial support for Dan’s young family. And NASCAR has announced that it will honour Dan during the latest round of the Sprint Cup season this weekend at Talladega. A special ‘Lionheart’ decal will be provided to teams to run on their cars during the Good Sam Club 500 while teams will also be able to place the decal on their trucks in his honour. Drivers will also be given the option of running the decal on their helmets, with Wheldon himself having run a Lionheart Knight image on his own helmets. NASCAR will also hold moments of silence for Wheldon on both Saturday and Sunday.

Following their victories in the World Motor Racing Championships, both Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton received MBE’s from the Queen. I have spoken to Andrew Van de Burgt, editor of Autosport, and he agrees that Dan Wheldon also deserves to receive such an honour, albeit posthumously.

To that end I have written to the Prime Minister, and to Dan’s local MP for support. I hope anyone reading this will do their utmost to support this cause, and to bring about national recognition for one of our greatest sporting heroes. In his young life Dan Wheldon achieved immortality in America. Please help him do the same in his native country!

Editor, Third Age