IndyCar drivers had safety concerns

The night before the horrific crash that killed British IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon, his fellow drivers expressed concern that the Las Vegas track was too fast and too crowded, reports Sky News.

A journalist covering the IndyCar race in Las Vegas on Sunday said that "Everybody kind of expected that there was going to be at least one or two really big crashes," reports CBS news. This was the first IndyCar fatality since 2006, when Paul Dana was killed during a crash in Miami.

Minutes after the race began, Wheldon, went airborne, and crashed into a fence. Wheldon was killed in the 15-car wreck.

Before the race, three-time IndyCar series champion, Dario Franchetti, said that "the cars are going to be inches apart, both to the sides and behind and in front of you at speeds of over 220mph."

The race featured 34 cars- the highest number to take place at an IndyCar event outside of the Indianapolis 500, where the track is twice as long.

"It was like a movie scene which they try to make as gnarly as possible," said IndyCar driver Danica Patrick.  

"It was debris everywhere across the whole track, you could smell the smoke, you could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car. There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered."

According to Fox News, Wheldon's three brothers, sister, wife, and two sons were at the track at the time of the crash.

More from GlobalPost: Dan Wheldon dies in fiery IndyCar crash.