Death of Justin Wilson Prompts Calls for IndyCar Safety Review
Former and current drivers have called on IndyCar officials to review safety equipment in place after racer Justin Wilson died Monday from injuries suffered Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Reuters is reporting.
Wilson was struck in the head by debris from a car that crashed ahead of him, driven by Sage Karam. The incident was similar to accidents in other race series with open cockpits; Felipe Massa was hit by debris in Hungary in 2009 and required surgery, James Hinchcliffe was struck in the head in 2014, which caused a concussion. Wilson’s death was the first for IndyCar since Dan Wheldon was killed in 2011.
“Safety is not one of those things that because you have a clear record for a certain amount of time that you stop doing development,” former race driver Eddie Cheever told ESPN.
Many in the sport have called for further face protection, including a canopy or guard in front of the driver’s face to deflect debris. IndyCar officials said removing the driver from a cockpit was a key concern in adding anything that might cover the driver’s head.
“It is being considered; it’s been on my radar ever since I came to IndyCar,” Derrick Walker, who is president of the series, told Racer in 2014.
“I’ve had discussions with Dallara about trying to design a partial canopy – not a fully enclosed, but a partial one that would serve as a deflector for debris that comes at the driver.”
Walker later said that a deflector would be a fit for the series.
“Getting out of the car as quickly as possible is the first priority, so a front deflector section seems to be a logical step,” Walker said.
Racing veterans have suggested other alternatives, including latching components to the car in event of a crash.
“The next thing, I think perhaps, they should have a tether on something that’s so detachable as a nose,” Mario Andretti told ESPN. “There is a quick disconnect on the nose so they can change it quickly. Maybe they should have a tether on there.”
Safety advocates may also direct their concerns toward the type of track that Wheldon and Wilson raced on. Banked ovals like the one Wilson was racing on are particularly dangerous because of the speeds involved. Wheldon was killed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is also a banked oval.
“We’re always looking at ways to make this sport safer,” Wilson’s teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay said immediately after the race, according to Reuters.
“First we had the innovation with the safer barrier. Oval tracks in general, we need to start looking into the next 20 years, maybe making the walls a little bit higher. Maybe coming up with something a little bit better than just mesh fencing and poles.”
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In recent years F1 has moved the areas surrounding the driver up to avoid leaving them exposed. We saw the advantages of this twice recently with Kimi where a car jumped up and over his car, but his head and arms/shoulders stayed protected. So moving forward something must be done to limit air born debris from striking the driver in the head because a helmet is not enough. Two ways to help in this regard are tethered parts and either an enclosed cockpit (F16 aircraft style) or something like windscreen type surround. Watching lots of racing I've noticed safety has come a LONG way. These open cockpit cars often flip (see Indy this year), spin into walls and or smash into the catch fence... yet most of the time the driver can walk away. Still accidents like this are going to happen, freak things like when Massa got hit with the spring and what we saw in Justin's incident. While speed clearly plays a factor, car design and track construction all must work together. Dan was killed by a pole so now organizers are looking to have the poles installed outside the fence. However this takes time and money. Unfortunately horrible accidents like Justin's remind everyone to take a step back and attempt to find a solution. Someone mentioned Justin's height (he is above average, especially for a driver) so that might have contributed, as he was likely hit head-on instead of a glancing blow at the top. Now I'm not a doctor so maybe the outcome would have been the same for even a shorter driver like Helio. I know Justin was used by both Dallara and Honda during the car's development as example of the extreme end of the height scale. I can only assume this was to ensure not only the roll hoop height but pedal box placement to get the driver's feet moved away from the nose as in many crashes foot/leg injuries are commonplace.
The last five years have seen a huge shift to enclosed cockpits from open cockpits in LeMans Prototypes in both LMP classes. Other than being the fastest, most sophisticated racing vehicles in competition next to Formula One (in many ways more sophisticated), the basic layout of many LMPs aren't that far from being bodywork over the wheels and a canopy over the cockpit of an open wheel/open cockpit car. I understand the tradition and the romance of open cockpit racing, but going to a closed cockpit doesn't fundamentally change the nature of the sport.