Kart club rallies to support Robert Wickens
Young people involved in racing helps to build character and prepare for the road ahead in life. Sometimes, part of this ritual is to help a fellow racer.
And that’s what all the members of the Waterloo Regional Kart Club did during their regular racing session at Flamboro Speedway last weekend.
Guelph native and Verizon IndyCar rookie driver Robert Wickens suffered serious injuries during a racing incident at Pocono Raceway on Aug. 19. He has been hospitalized since with multiple hand and arm fractures, spinal cord injury, and a thoracic spinal fracture.
The 29-year old Wickens spent time racing with the WRKC early in his career, and now the club is helping. All club drivers signed a banner for him and put decals reading “better, stronger, faster” on their karts in support of their former member.
“Robert raced karts at Waterloo along with his brother and was a Novice champion in that time,” said WRKC official, Stu Robertson. “I got to know Robert a little bit when we raced at Cameron (Mount Hope) and his brother Trevor as well, but what always stood out was he made time for the younger kids, my son included, to show them what they need to focus on or on how to better set up their kart.”
And to show the club’s support for Wickens and his family, the signed banner will be heading to Wicken’s Indiana hospital room.
“This coming weekend, I will be taking the club’s signed banner to his brother so that he can take it back to Robert in Indianapolis for added support during his recovery,” said Robertson.
In a release issued this week by the Wickens family through his team, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Wickens is expected to be transferred to a rehabilitation centre in the next few days to begin his recovery process. According to physicians, it could be months before the full effects of his injuries are known.
The WRKC banner will surely help and encourage Wicken’s recovery.