Wheldon death shows continued dangers of motorsport

 (Reuters) - British IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon, who died at the age of 33 in a fiery high-speed crash at Las Vegas on Sunday, was the latest in a long and tragic list of race drivers to die behind the wheel of their car.

Hundreds of drivers, from various forms of motor racing, have been killed in crashes during races and practice, along with spectators and track officials.

Motor racing bodies have gradually introduced a range of safety measures and rule changes that have helped reduce the number of racing fatalities but have not been able to completely prevent them.

Motor racing's blackest day was at Le Mans in 1955 when Pierre Levegh crashed and his car was catapulted into the crowd, killing himself and more than 80 spectators.

Formula One, the sport's premier class, was littered by deaths during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and the victims including some of the sport's most successful and popular drivers.

Scotsman Jim Clark won the world championship twice, in 1963 and 1965, but died in a Formula Two crash in Germany in 1968.

In 1982, Canadian Jacques Villenueve was killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix when he drove into the back of a slower car and was launched into a safety fence.

The last driver to be killed in Formula One was Brazilian three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, who died after crashing during the San Marino Grand Prix, a day after Roland Ratzenberger was killed at the same track during qualifying.

The last driver to die in IndyCar before Wheldon was Paul Dana, who was killed during the warmup for the 2006 season-opener in Miami. NASCAR lost one of its favourite sons when Dale Earnhardt crashed into a wall on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001 and was killed.