Next race can be the toughest for drivers

Alex Tagliani feels Ryan Hunter-Reay’s pain.

Hunter-Reay was involved in a scary crash with Canadian Robert Wickens on Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Wickens’ car sailed into the fence when he and Hunter-Reay made slight contact.

Wickens, of Guelph, had titanium rods and screws placed in his spine to stabilize a fracture associated with a spinal cord injury suffered in the crash. He remains in stable condition but is expec- ted to require more surgeries to treat fractures in his lower extremities and right forearm.

Hunter-Reay, uninjured, tweeted he’s having trouble letting go of the accident.

“Praying for @robertwickens,” he said. “Since the moment my car came to a stop after that horrific crash all I can think about is Robbie’s well being.

“Thinking about Karli and their whole family. He’s as tough as they come, I know he’ll be focused on getting back on track.”

Hunter-Reay ended the tweet with an emoji of praying hands.

Tagliani was involved in a horrific crash with Alex Zanardi in 2001. Zanardi lost both legs in the accident and Tagliani, of Lachenaie, Que., admitted he struggled mightily getting over the incident.

“That was a point in my career where I almost gave up,” Tagliani said. “It caused me to rethink my desire to stay in racing.

“The next race was in England and it’s the one race in my career that I don’t even remember what happened.”

“I don’t remember where I finished, I don’t remember what my pit strategy was … My mind was so full of a lot of things that I couldn’t have a clear mind to race the way my mind was before the accident.”

Tagliani said he probably shouldn’t have resumed racing so quickly. But he credits Zanardi’s wife, Daniella — who told Tagliani the accident wasn’t his fault — and Zanardi with giving the Canadian much-needed closure.

“Alex’s wife came to see me at the hospital and we communicated via Twitter,” Tagliani said. “She’s a hell of a lady, the strength she has for family is incredible but what she did for me, for my mind, was incredible.

“When Alex came to Toronto, we gave each other a big hug and started talking Italian. He made me laugh by saying the advantage he had now was he was an inch taller with his prosthetic limbs. His attitude and demeanour lifted so much weight off my shoulders.”

Wickens, 29, is in his first IndyCar season after winning a championship in touring cars in Europe. He left that series this year to try IndyCar alongside childhood friend James Hinchcliffe.

Hinchcliffe and Wickens drive for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, and Wickens had been surprisingly compet- itive since his debut. He was sixth in the driver’s standings before the crash.

Hinchcliffe, who also was involved in the crash at Pocono, will race Saturday at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in Madison, Ill., the team announced. But Wickens’ No. 6 car won’t have another driver Saturday.

Toronto’s Paul Tracy took to Instagram on Monday calling for change. Tagliani agreed.

“The next step should be a huge focus on the fencing because the fencing has created many similar incidents to what happened to Robert,” Tagliani said. “There’s something that has to be thought out with either increasing the size of the wall, putting something like a bulletproof material in front of these existing fences in the corner to be able to keep the cars inside the track.”

In 2011, two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon died when his car flew into a catch fence after hitting another car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“If you can’t keep the car on the track you’re better off focusing on making the track safer because cars are just going to keep climbing up on top of each other,” Tagliani said. “At the end of the day a fence is just like a saw. It will saw a car like there’s no tomorrow and when you get a car in a fence, the damage it will do to the car and driver is huge.”

With files from The Associated Press