Savoring the view
Stefan Wilson, brother of late IndyCar driver Justin, enjoys first Indy 500 practice,
For every Verizon IndyCar Series driver, Monday’s first day of Indianapolis 500 practice was a reunification with all that’s fast about Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
For Stefan Wilson, it was more than that — uniquely personal, a chance to experience the famed oval as his older brother, Justin, knew it.
Justin was an eight-time 500 starter who died in August a day after car debris struck him at Pocono Raceway, and he had more than a brotherly bond with Stefan, who was 11 years his junior. They used to ride to the track together, even on long road trips, talking race strategy along the way.
They just couldn’t share the experience of driving an Indy car around most tracks, including this famed oval.
Here, Stefan would watch Justin from the team’s pit box or, as was the case the past two years, monitor the action from high above Turn 1. See, Stefan, a onetime Indy Lights driver with one IndyCar start (Baltimore street race in 2013), was one of the people Justin trusted to guide him through the 500, so Stefan donned a headset and helped talk his hero through the paces.
“I always joked that it was probably easier for him in the car than it was for me standing up there in Turn 1 for three hours,” Wilson said.
Wilson got his first chance to drive an Indy car here Monday. There were the expected emotions flowing through the 26year-old rookie.
The drive to the facility was difficult, and there were all the expected reminders of a venue his brother loved.
But Wilson went out and did the job, passing IndyCar’s threephase rookie orientation program, then stretching his legs in the full practice.
He ran 38 laps with a top speed of 222.007 mph. That ranked 28th of 33, but it was a start. (Marco Andretti led the session.)
“We achieved everything we needed to do on Day 1,” Wilson said
Wilson didn’t mention it, but there had to be a bit of hollowness. Justin should have been here to see what Wilson saw of him all those years.
Wilson is honoring his brother’s legacy in many ways in this event. The car number is 25, which Justin used last year with Andretti Autosport (he qualified sixth and finished 21st).
Before the May 29 race, that number will be shaded in yellow, green and blue, as Justin would have preferred it.
Wilson has a new helmet com- ing, too, and the design features Justin’s style on one side, .his own on the other.
Wilson described the helmet while wearing the Justin-inspired British-colored socks being sold online to benefit those plagued with dyslexia.
Wilson’s car highlights the efforts of the Indiana Donor Network in its Driven2SaveLives campaign, which promotes organ, tissue and eye donation and transplantation.
This was a day to remember, for past and present reasons.
“The speed was pretty impressive,” Wilson said. “Having driven here before, you know how long to expect to get down to the (corner) apex, but the first couple laps I was so amazed how quickly you cover that ground between the turn-in and the apex. It seems like it was in fast-forward.
“I was pretty nervous, really, and excited at the same time. I just wanted to get out there and feel what it’s like to drive an Indy car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
Now he knows what Justin knew.