Motorsport photographer Andrew Wheeler has passed away at 60, in Texas, USA. The news was posted by his close friend Rocky Wingwalker on Friday.
Wheeler was a well-known figure in the MotoGP paddock. For many years, the American traveled as a regular photographer with the MotoGP world championship and was known for his beautiful photos, which were featured in many magazines.
Wheeler, who lost his wife Emily to cancer in 2014, moved from Santa Cruz to Texas a few years ago where he built a so-called ‘tiny house’ near Austin (Circuit of the Americas) to his many trips to Grand Prix weekends by staying.
He had been struggling with health problems for several years after a spider bite at home in Texas.
In 2021 and early 2022 he only photographed during the American Grand Prix near his hometown of Austin because he was unable or hardly able to travel due to the corona restrictions.
In the second part of the 2022 MotoGP season, the situation seemed to be improving and he still traveled to a number of overseas Grand Prix weekends where he reported to his fellow media representatives about his loneliness, his often excruciating pain, his insurmountable balance problems and his financial worries because the US health institutions burden him with large bills.
Wheeler started a crowdfunding campaign and recently enthusiastically reported on the active financial support of friends and colleagues from the MotoGP paddock. Not so long ago, Wheeler also suffered a mild stroke.
He seemed to be recovering well from this in recent weeks, was even determined to travel to the first Official MotoGP Test of 2023 in Sepang at the beginning of February.
But on Friday morning, January 6, one of his best friends Rocky Wingwalker, the American photographer, passed away at his home in Texas.
