Wickens injured in violent wreck at Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. – A horrifying crash that kicked off Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race and resulted in rookie phenom Robert Wickens being helicoptered to a local hospital, overshadowed Alexander Rossi’s dominant win at the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.

IndyCar officials reported that the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver was awake and alert while being transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, but the extent of his injuries is not yet known.

The five-car crash he was involved in was undoubtedly among the scariest IndyCar has seen in years and a sobering reminder of the risks these drivers take every time they strap into the cockpit.

On just the sixth lap of the race, and the first green flag lap because on an incident at the start, the 29-year-old Canadian launched into the fence and went careening through the air after he attempted to pass Ryan Hunter-Reay. The two drivers’ cars touched causing Hunter-Reay’s car to crash into the wall and Wickens’ car to launch off HunterReay into the air and slam first against the wall, then into the outer fence. After colliding with the fence, Wickens’ car twisted through the air before re-engaging the track and spitting fire into the air.

Wickens was carefully extracted from his car, placed on a stretcher with a brace around his neck and taken by ambulance to a helicopter that flew him to the Allentown, Pa., hospital.

NHRA

BRAINERD, Minn. – Billy Torrence raced to his first career Top Fuel victory Sunday at age 60, winning the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

Torrence, the father of Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence, beat three-time season champion Antron Brown on a holeshot in the final round.