Heading into the weekend we were excited to see a battle for the IndyCar series championship that will go down to the final race of the year next weekend at Sonoma. But now we’re not talking about the championship standings or driver performance or exhibitions of great driving skill.
During the race at Pocono on Sunday, driver Justin Wilson sustained severe head injuries. He died Monday in a Pennsylvania hospital at the age of 37.
This second extremely serious incident will also once again point the focus on safety in motorsports and specifically IndyCar.
There were some immediately suggesting the possibility of partial canopies or wind screens to at least help protect the driver in the cockpit and leave them less exposed to flying debris. It is something that’s been discussed before but never implemented.
Regardless of what additional safety measures are added you must accept the fact that when you are racing cars well in excess of 200 miles per hour, it is a very dangerous proposition. It will never be 100 per cent safe from the possibility of injury.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at opportunities to make the sport safer and IndyCar has done that whenever an incident occurs. Like they do with all other crashes, video and data from the car will be checked to look for ways to improve safety.
Wilson being struck with flying debris was simply bad luck and a fluke. It’s impossible to predict or protect from this type of incident.
This weekend, driver Charlie Kimball slammed the wall during qualifying, his car riding along the top of the wall and ripping a hole in the catch fencing. It was frightening to watch in person. Kimball, however, escaped with just a cut on his chin.
It also can’t be stressed enough how important it is and how vital a function the members of the IndyCar safety team perform. There were safety crews on the way to Kimball before his car had stopped moving and they responded with equal efficiency to Wilson and all others involved in crashes this weekend. As they do every week.
This has been a difficult season for the IndyCar series on a number of fronts.
We’re all thinking of Justin Wilson and his family. He is a loved member of the IndyCar and racing family. There isn’t a person associated with the series that doesn’t have a moment or moments they think of when Justin Wilson was a part of it.
My first thought is when he won the Toronto Indy in 2005, “to break the duck” as he put it to score his first win. The smile on his face showed the emotion he was feeling. And then at the start of this year we spoke in St. Petersburg and he’d just secured a ride for the Indy 500 and was once again excited to be getting back in the car.
Now we’re all mourning the loss of a member of the IndyCar family.