Power claims Pocono title

LONG POND, Pa. — The black clouds that enveloped Pocono and officially brought the IndyCar race to a premature end didn’t appear until the halfway point. But they’ve really been hanging over the track since the series returned to the mountains in 2013.

A fatal crash. A promising career wrecked by paralysis. And again Sunday, a first-lap demolition derby that sent - another driver to the hospital and stirred an angry mob howling for IndyCar to get the heck out of town once and for all.

It may be a moot point, IndyCar and Pocono don’t have a deal for a 2020 race.

But for Robert Wickens, the Canadian confined to a - wheelchair after last year’s accident, IndyCar has no place on the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway.

“How many times do we have to go through the same situation before we can all accept that an IndyCar should not race at Pocono,” he tweeted.

The counter argument was posed from the Australian snapping victory lane photos inside a cramped Pocono media center as rain pounded the track outside. Will Power was in the right position Sunday to claim the win when lightning struck in the area to not only win the race, he ended the potential for his first winless season since 2006 and he took the checkered flag at Pocono for the third time in four years.

“I really hope we come back, I do,” Power said. “It’s hard for us to find good ovals that suit our cars.”

IndyCar at Pocono has turned into perhaps the scariest race day in auto racing, 500 miles of danger for drivers on the 2 1/2-mile track and white knuckles and clasped hands for anyone watching the event.

Justin Wilson died in 2015 from a head injury after being struck by debris from another car. Wickens was paralyzed in an early-lap accident last year. His car shot into a fence, leaving the promising IndyCar driver paralyzed from the waist down.

The green flag had barely been dropped when 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato used an aggressive — arguably foolish — move to trigger a wreck that sent Rosenqvist to the hospital.