IndyCar Driver Wilson Injured At Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. — Ryan Hunter-Reay won Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 IndyCar race Sunday, but of greater significance was the status of veteran driver Justin Wilson.

Wilson was “unconscious and not responding” following a blow to the helmet during the race at Pocono Raceway, his race-winning teammate said.

“That’s obviously very bad details,” Andretti Autosport driver Hunter-Reay said.

IndyCar officials confirmed Wilson was struck in the head late in the race. He was trailing a pack of cars coming upon a debris field created by the crash of race leader Sage Karam.

Photographs seemed to confirm Wilson was struck by the nose cone off Karam’s car. That’s a large piece of debris, and it seemed to make it impossible for him to avoid hitting the track’s inside wall, which bore an energy-absorbing barrier.

Karam was examined for a foot injury.

IndyCar officials late Sunday confirmed that Wilson was in a coma and in critical condition.

Wilson, a 37-year-old veteran from Sheffield, England, was making his

174th IndyCar race. He has won seven races and eight poles since moving to the series from Formula One. Wilson, a married father of two young girls, is considered one of the nicest men in the sport.

The incident occurred with 21 laps remaining in the 200-lap race in the season’s final oval-track competition. The cars circled around the track for 14 laps before a final sprint.

Hunter-Reay grabbed the lead with five laps to go, passing series rookie Gabby Chaves. The race ended under caution after Chaves’ engine expired with three laps left.

Hunter-Reay finished the race believing Wilson had been put in the ambulance with Karam. He said he didn’t know it was a serious situation until after he took the checkered flag.

“Come to find out it wasn’t that straightforward,” Hunter-Reay said.

Josef Newgarden finished second with series points leader Juan Pablo Montoya third. Montoya will take a 34-point lead over Graham Rahal to the season-ending race next weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

Scott Dixon, who finished ninth, trails Montoya by 47 points. Will Power, who finished fourth, is 62 points in arrears, with fifth-place Helio Castroneves down 78 after finishing 16th.

Montoya entered the race with a nine-point advantage over Rahal, but Rahal was involved in a crash. Castroneves entered the weekend in fourth place, starting the race 57 points behind Montoya after winning the pole.

Rahal’s problems started on lap 66 when his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing crew suffered its second fueling trouble of the season. The first occurred in the Auto Club Speedway race that Rahal went on to win. This one led to Rahal dropping to 20th place.

Rahal was on his way back toward the front when he came upon Wilson in a battle for 15th place. Traffic slowed in front of them, and as Wilson lost momentum Rahal went to the inside for the pass. That’s how the cars were aligned as Turn 3 approached.

“We just ran from (Turn) 2 down to 3 together and then (Tristan) Vautier just decided he wanted to join the party there at the last minute,” Rahal said. “Unfortunately, he just punted us.”

The tire contact sent them both to the outside wall, with Rahal’s car turning around. Both cars were lifted off the ground but didn’t flip over.

“(Vautier) said I turned into him; there’s not any space,” Rahal said. “We’re already two-wide and he knows that, he sees that. But, you know, he’s not known as the sharpest tool around here. That’s fine.

“As I said to him, he’s a part-timer; you know I’m in the championship hunt for Honda and in particular driving a Honda, why would you do something like that? He has no answer.”

Vautier argued that blame should go to Wilson, who didn’t give Rahal room, although it can be argued that neither Wilson or Rahal knew Vautier was inside them.

“I tried to go to the apron and brake, but it was too late,” he said.

Rahal finished 20th.

“We’re down, we’re not out,” Rahal said. “We’ve had a good year and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re going to go to Sonoma in attack mode.”

Another third-generation driver had trouble, too, although Marco Andretti wasn’t in the championship fight.

On the restart lap No. 139, Andretti’s Honda mysteriously spun around in Turn 2, walloping the outside wall. He was slow to get out and then limped to the safety truck with a sore right knee.

They weren’t the only ones to crash; far from it.

Jack Hawksworth, who had a big crash here last year and lost a left rear tire early in this race, was inside of Charlie Kimball when Kimball’s car bobbled, lost traction and swerved into Hawksworth’s. It wasn’t a big impact, and Kimball continued on. But it was Kimball’s second crash in as many days. Saturday’s impact in qualifying was ferocious and dramatic, riding the Turn 3 wall before slapping the fence. He escaped with only a scratch on his chin.

Tony Kanaan dropped left-side wheels under the low line, causing his car to spin. The Ganassi machine went fully around twice before slapping the inside wall.

Castroneves and Sebastien Bourdais crashed in similar fashion. Their cars drifted too far into the high line, lost grip and lost control. Castroneves’ crash came on a restart when as many as eight cars got side-by-side toward the end of the front straightaway.

Montoya couldn’t explain the madness.

“Four wide, five wide, then Takuma (Sato) got inside of me,” he said. “My spotter didn’t even know what to say.”

Castroneves was on the outside of Dixon and Simon Pagenaud when he crashed.

There even was a caution for a fox crossing the track at the end of the front straightaway. He (or she) jumped over the wall gracefully and escaped.

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