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IndyCar driver Justin Wilson succumbs to head injuries.


KenJennings
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Sad to report that IndyCar driver Justin Wilson has not survived head injuries sustained after being struck by a piece of debris in the IndyCar race at Pocono.

 

IndyCar is one of the most dangerous professional racing series in the world right now, and while Wilson's accident was certainly a somewhat freak situation, it does bring into question the wisdom of racing with a completely open cockpit.

 

I'm sure there will be a lot of handwringing over the issue in the coming days, but right now, the motorsports should focus on mourning another lost brother.

 

Godspeed Justin Wilson.

Edited by KenJennings
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Sad to report that IndyCar driver Justin Wilson has not survived head injuries sustained after being struck by a piece of debris in the IndyCar race at Pocono.

 

Godspeed Justin Wilson.

 

As a big IndyCar fan, this one hurts a lot. They all hurt a lot, of course.

 

Justin Wilson's nickname for ages has been "Bad Ass", and I don't really know why, but he did drive like one. He would drive the wheels off the car, and yet keep it clean. I think he might have been the best driver in the world at conserving fuel, I don't know how many races in his Champ Car/IndyCar career he finished well in just because he could make fuel and still keep his speed up somehow.

 

He was also a giant, towering over the jockey-like IndyCar drivers at 6'2". He'd sustained several injuries in the past from this, because they'd have to make exceptions to the cockpit for him, such as removing padding that lead to a back injury in Mid Ohio in... I want to say 2010.

 

From every story you'll ever hear, he was an exceptional ambassador for the sport. There was a story I read today from someone on Reddit about how in an autograph line, he heard the same joke (I think it was about his height) every three minutes or so... just as soon as the line moved enough for the joke to be fresh to those in line. But every time he'd laugh like he'd heard the joke for the first time.

 

He always, always had a smile and a joke ready for anyone. Not that he was a prankster really, just a fun human being to be around. Again, from what I've read. I, unfortunately, never had the chance to meet him.

 

He has a younger brother coming up through the IndyCar ladder system, though I'm thinking Stefan's career maybe has stalled out at this point. He also has a wife and two young daughters.

 

His start into racing was kind of unique. He knew he had the talent over in the UK, but had to put himself out as a stock to raise the money to come to the US and begin in Champ Car. From there, he was obviously quick, but never landed the best ride. He started off with one of the slower teams, Conquest. Then he moved to the new RuSPORT organization the next year. And while his rookie year was filled with ups and downs, the ups proved he was going to be a quality driver. He stuck with RuSPORT as it turned into RSPORT. The ride wasn't super competitive, being a cut behind the top two teams of Newman-Haas and Forsythe... but he could put the car in victory lane on a good day, and that's hard to do without the right equipment.

 

When Sebastian Bourdais left after winning his 4th title, Newman-Haas tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a chance to drive for the top team in Champ Car. However, before this could come to fruition, Champ Car unified with the IRL IndyCar series. The Champ Car DP-01 chassis that Bourdais and Newman-Haas had won the previous championship with was scrapped, and the team purchased the IR-07 Dallara chassis that the IRL IndyCar series had been running for virtually 5 years. Justin Wilson and Newman-Haas found themselves playing catch-up that entire year, the year JW's ride was supposed to be top-of-it's-class. He did manage one victory that season though, in Detroit. At the end of 2008, I imagine partly due to Paul Newman's failing health, the team downsized staff, and Justin was caught out in a contract year.

 

He bounced around between Dale Coyne Racing, and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing. Two teams with owners with a real passion for the sport... but perhaps not the best engineering. He still managed to have very good drivers in this bottom-end equipment.

 

Over the years he also ran sports cars, most notably winning the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2012.

 

In 2015, he was again caught out in a contract year. He sat out most of 2015, but towards the end, Andretti Autosport... one of the top teams in IndyCar, desperately needing all the help it could get in honing in it's chassis... brought him in for the remainder of the year to try and help sort out the new aero-kits. And he seemed to have an immediate effect for the team. Two races in, his team mate Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was having just about the worst season a former Champion could have in his prime, found success at the oval race in Iowa. I have to think this was largely helped by JW giving the team some info on the car, because it was such an outlier to that point for the entire team.

 

It seemed like JW was about to finally get a break going into 2016, with the top-flight Andretti team wanting to keep him on next year.

 

This was just such a fluke thing to happen... yes, I know it's happened before, but unlike a Wheldon or Earnhardt "pack racing" kind of crash... you just can't foresee this one happening in any sort of predictable way. And that makes it especially hard to stomach.

 

The IndyCar paddock, and the motorsports community in general, now has one less talented driver, and one less fantastic person. And obviously, one less bad ass.

Edited by New World Kid
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IndyCar is one of the most dangerous professional racing series in the world right now, and while Wilson's accident was certainly a somewhat freak situation, it does bring into question the wisdom of racing with a completely open cockpit.

 

I'm sure there will be a lot of handwringing over the issue in the coming days, but right now, the motorsports should focus on mourning another lost brother.

 

The sanctioning body for both IndyCar and Formula One, the FIA, has been testing out different equipment to go over the cockpit of the cars. Results have been.... mixed. Even jet fighters have holes punctured into the cockpit from birdstrikes, so coming up with a fool-proof canopy has been difficult. Making it economic impossible so far.

 

Another problem with a canopy is a fear that an open-wheel driver could be caught upside down on fire, unable to climb out of the sealed cockpit.

 

I imagine this will get a harder look now though, as it should be. But the open-wheel community hasn't exactly been negligent, they've been looking. A good solution just hasn't been perfected yet.

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While this is a tragic event, and the governing bodies should always strive for safer cars and equipment, fatalities involving race cars are relatively rare, especially considering the total number of miles driven. No need for knee jerk reactions like the NHRA did when they shortened the race distance for drag racing.
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While this is a tragic event, and the governing bodies should always strive for safer cars and equipment, fatalities involving race cars are relatively rare, especially considering the total number of miles driven. No need for knee jerk reactions like the NHRA did when they shortened the race distance for drag racing.

 

In the last 10 years, to my recollection, Felipe Massa, Henry Surtees, Dan Wheldon, Maria de Villota, James Hinchcliffe, Jules Bianchi and now Justin Wilson have all been struck by things hitting their head while entering the open cockpit area. Half of those incidents proved to be fatal.

 

While I agree that the implementation needs to be well thought out, and we need to make sure that any solution doesn't create additional problems... but at this point, it's not a knee-jerk reaction.

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This was very sad to hear, never saw the crash or accident that caused this incident. He's left behind a wife and two young daughters very sad indeed. A top advocate for car safety.....hopefully down the road they will implement a canopy for these open wheel vehicles.

 

RIP

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