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Happy Birthday! Wheldon Wins In Iowa

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The Associated Press

Published: June 23, 2008

NEWTON, Iowa - Dan Wheldon of St. Petersburg celebrated his 30th birthday by winning the Iowa Corn Indy 250 on Sunday, his second victory of the season.

Wheldon took the lead out of a caution flag with 60 laps to go after making the risky decision not to pit. The move paid off, as Wheldon held off Andretti Green drivers Hideki Mutoh, who finished second, and Marco Andretti, who took third, down the stretch.

Wheldon's win gave Chip Ganassi five victories in nine IRL races this season. Wheldon plans to donate his winnings to the victims of Iowa's recent floods and tornados.

Mutoh, the current leader in the Bombadier Rookie of the Year standings, picked up his first top-five finish. Andretti had his best finish since also placing third in the Indy 500.

Polesitter Scott Dixon fell back early in the race but rallied to finish fourth. A.J. Foyt IV was fifth and Danica Patrick took sixth.

NHRA: A day after Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta was killed in a qualifying accident, five-time world champion Tony Schumacher raced to his first Top Fuel win in 12 tries at the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J.

The event was overshadowed by the death of Kalitta. The Palmetto resident died from multiple injuries after his car went out of control in the fourth round of qualifying.

Kalitta's teammates - cousin Doug Kalitta, Dave Grubnic and Hillary Will of Kalitta Racing - missed their races in the Top Fuel category Sunday.

FORMULA ONE: Felipe Massa of Ferrari won the French Grand Prix in Magny Cours and moved to the top of the overall standings after his third victory of the season.

Massa overtook teammate and polesitter Kimi Raikkonen with 32 laps to go and held on to win by 17.9 seconds. It's the second consecutive Ferrari sweep at the Circuit de Nevers.

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