Dan Wheldon, who moved to the United States from his native England with hopes of winning the Indianapolis 500 and went on to twice prevail in the famed race, died Sunday after a massive, fiery wreck that involved 15 cars at the Las Vegas Indy 300.

Wheldon was moving his way through the 34-car field after starting from the back of the pack, which was part of his $5 million challenge to win the race. His was one of the last cars to get involved in the crash, and was sent flying from the bottom of the racetrack into the wall on the outside.

Wheldon's Sam Schmidt Motorsports car suffered severe damage to the topside, including its rollhoop structure, and once he was extracted and other drivers were treated at the scene, his car was quickly covered with tarpaulin.

"I'll tell you, I've never seen anything like it," driver Ryan Briscoe said. "The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from 'Terminator' or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere.

"So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there's just stuff everywhere."

Wheldon was airlifted from the circuit's infield care center to University Medical Centre in Las Vegas, but all medical efforts were to no avail.

Series chief Randy Bernard confirmed the news at 3pm, local time, and said: "IndyCar is very sad to announce Dan Wheldon passed away from unsurvivable injuries.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Dan and his family. IndyCar, its drivers and teams have decided to end the race."

The race was red-flagged on lap 12 and was abandoned some two hours later. The drivers instead returned to their cars and performed a five-lap salute in Wheldon's honor.

Wheldon began driving go-carts as a 4-year-old, and racing was a constant in his life as he attended school in England as a child, winning eight British national titles along the way. He moved to the United States in 1999, trying to find sponsor money to fund his dream, and by 2002 - after stints in some lower-profile open-wheel series - he was on the IndyCar grid for the first time.