A number of cars managed to avoid the out of control Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet as it came back down the track, but as Wilson moved high to avoid Karam he was struck by a large part of what appeared to be the front wing assembly. The debris bounced straight up in the air. He was quickly swarmed by the safety crew and taken away by helicopter. Karam was slow to get from his vehicle but did so after a few minutes and walked gingerly to a nearby ambulance. It’d just be nice to not have to worry about a driver like Wilson fighting for his life while Hunter-Reay should be celebrating.
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Wilson is undergoing further evaluation at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa.
Hunter-Reay took the lead for good on lap 196, holding on for the last four laps and claiming the victory.
His Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, who went on to win the 500-mile race, said he had not heard of the Briton’s condition in hospital though he had been unconscious at the track. There are two more races before the playoffs begin.
After such a peculiar race – great action in between far too many yellow flag periods – it seems less freakish that despite his win, Hunter-Reay is no longer in the running for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series title. Will Power was fourth and Carlos Munoz finished fifth.
Maybe a clear canopy covering these drivers would have helped, but it also could have created a different mess.
The race featured 12 cautions, impacting 74 laps. Wilson’s auto careened to the inside retaining wall and hit almost head-on.
“We were taking it very slow”. “We had some issues on the stops”.
“It was a very racy race”, Newgarden said. (Justin) Wilson and I were coming through Turn 2. It’s nobody’s fault, just a one-in-a-million shot that Wilson got hit where he did with the piece of debris that ultimately put him in a coma. It just hurts us. “I don’t know the status right now but I wish him a super-speedy recovery”. “Why would you do something like that?” It was a macabre display of what the speeds race cars, especially IndyCars, reach can do to the human being piloting them. “We’ve had an awesome year. We’re going to go to Sonoma in attack mode”.
“It’s a tough one right now”. “I didn’t know it was bad until after I crossed the finish line”.
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“It is all the time arduous to see your rivals and your folks get harm, so my prayers together with everybody else’s prayers listed here are with Justin Wilson and his household”, stated Colombian racer Gabby Chaves.
