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Portrait Of a Racer And His Widow

A widowed mother seems an unlikely hero of a sports documentary, though “hero” may not be quite the right descriptor for Susie Wheldon and “ The Lionheart” is much more than a competition story. The title refers, ostensibly, to Dan Wheldon, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner who died in a nightmarish, 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October 2011. Ms. Wheldon’s dilemma is how—and maybe why—she should direct her two young sons as they chase their own dreams of a career with IndyCar.

Dan Wheldon himself proves an almost ethereal presence in this grief-struck film by producer-director Laura Brownson (“ The Rachel Divide”). We see the British driver in his early days of karting (the junior version of big-time, open-wheeled racing), on the scene of his later successes and in various offtrack interviews. He is remembered,?not always warmly, but with admiration, by the fellow racers on the Andretti Green Racing team—Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta—with whom he won his first Indy 500 in 2005. It was a Bryan Herta Autosport car that Wheldon was driving in the fatal 2011 race, which is remembered by many in the film as an accident waiting to happen, a “pack racing” situation involving a 34car field. Wheldon was pursuing a $5 million bonus offered by IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard if Wheldon could win the race after starting in?last place. Mr. Bernard, we are told in an end title, declined to be interviewed for the film.

But it is Susie Wheldon who is the soul of “ The Lionheart” and whose courage, mixed with confusion, marks it as a story that certainly transcends the track.

What does a mother do when her sons— Sebastian and Oliver, age 12 and 10 at the time of filming—want to continue their missing father’s legacy, show some talent, and join the Andretti organization as junior drivers? Does she follow them to Las Vegas—the?site of her husband’s?death—for one of their

own sport’s biggest events? She is never less than supportive of her sons and their ambitions. They are not experienced enough to recognize the situation they have put her in; getting behind the wheel is clearly a way of coping with being fatherless, and with the shadow of their famous dad. Though it is only vaguely acknowledged, they are far too young to have anything but the faintest memories of the man himself. But they certainly know who he was.

Rather than wallow in the family’s bereavement, Ms. Brownson operates in two lanes—one the Dan Wheldon story, the other that of his survivors. The interviews with the Andretti drivers, with owner Michael?Andretti, with racing great Scott Dixon and with Dan’s father, Clive, are all terrific; the footage of Ms.

Wheldon is nothing short of intrusive at times. But, as is made very clear, she’ll do anything for her boys.

The Lionheart

Tuesday, 9 p.m., HBO?Mr. Anderson is the Journal’s TV critic.

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Dan Wheldon's two young children want to continue their father’s legacy.