IndyCar defends safety standard
Wickens’ car held up as expected
The head of competition for IndyCar said Friday that Robert Wickens’ car performed exactly as designed when it tore into pieces during a frightening wreck at Pocono Raceway, leaving the Canadian driver hospitalized with serious injuries to his spinal cord and extremities.
IndyCar said Wickens, who hails from Guelph, Ont., underwent surgery this week on his right arm and lower extremities and tests found no additional injuries from his crash last weekend in Long Pond, Pa. Wickens has had titanium rods and screws placed in his spine to stabilize a fracture associated with a spinal cord injury. IndyCar said the severity of the injury is still unknown and Wickens will require additional corrective surgery and rehabilitation. He remains hospitalized in Pennsylvania.
Jay Frye also acknowledged a host of improvements could be made — to the car itself, to the fencing that shredded the car and even to the injuryreporting process that some criticized as being much too slow after Sunday’s accident.
“Any time you have something like this happen, you look at it,” Frye said at Gateway Motorsports Park, where the series will resume Saturday. “What was good about it? What was bad about it? Did it do its job? What could be better? How long did it take to fix?
“We were very encouraged by how the car held up, certainly not satisfied though, because the driver was injured. We’ll never be satisfied until that doesn’t happen.”
The accident occurred early in the race, when Wickens made slight contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay and catapulted into the fencing above the barrier. Hunter-Reay barely managed to slip under Wickens’ car and other drivers began trying to dodge debris.
Takuma Sato, Pietro Fittipaldi and James Hinchcliffe also were involved in the crash. Hinchcliffe, a fellow Canadian and one of Wickens’ best friends, had minor injuries to his hands. The fence sustained about 80 feet of damage, delaying the race for about two hours.
Wickens’ team owner Sam Schmidt said this week he would like to see the barriers at speedways extend higher in places where they wouldn’t obstruct the view of fans. Traditional catch-fencing used for decades is designed to keep cars from catapulting over the wall, but in the case of an IndyCar, it also tends to grab hold of the chassis and break it into hundreds of pieces.
“We’re very aware of what goes on globally,” Frye said, when asked whether there are innovations elsewhere in wall design that IndyCar might implement. “There are certain minimum requirements we want and most of our promoter partners greatly exceed our minimum standards. But yes, like with the car, we’re encouraged but not satisfied.”
Frye also said Pocono officials, working hand in hand with IndyCar, did a remarkable job to get the fencing repaired even though some drivers expressed concern with the fix.