Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography

VRD Racing’s USF Juniors star Sebastian Wheldon is among the 25 finalists in contention for the 2025 Hoosier Hero award, whose voting is still open today and tomorrow for the public.

The award, given out by Hoosier Tire, had over 2,000 nominations in August which were limited down to 25 ahead of the voting, which opened on Sept. 3. The top 12 will be named 2025 Hoosier Heroes, an honor which will be unveiled at the Performance Racing Institute show in Indianapolis in December.

According to the Hoosier Hero website: “Hoosier Racing Tire is committed to fueling passion, pride and success in the racing industry. The Hoosier Hero program recognizes accomplished competitors from around the world that also fuel passion, pride and success in the racing industry both on and off the track.”

In his second season racing cars and his first competing in the USF Pro Championships, the 15-year-old Wheldon finished third in the championship, only 21 points off of championship winner and VRD teammate Max Taylor.

Wheldon’s bio on the Hoosier Hero website: “Sebastian is the son of the late Dan Wheldon and with the guidance of his mom Susie, and some friendly competition from his brother Oliver, Sebastian is making a name of his own in the junior open wheel ranks. After winning the 2023 Skip Barber championship, Sebastian entered the USF Juniors category in 2024 and finished third in the championship.”

You can vote for Wheldon here: https://www.hoosiertire.com/HoosierHeroes/vote.cfm

Additionally, Wheldon spoke to USOpenWheelNation ahead of the Mid-Ohio race weekend in July. You can check out that interview here: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFRjd5gK/