James Hinchcliffe, of Canada, hits the wall in the third turn during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
IndyCar had a crisis looming well before James Hinchcliffe was injured in another spectacular accident during preparations for the Indianapolis 500.
Three cars have gone airborne, and Hinchcliffe was in the intensive care unit yesterday (Macau time) after surgery on his left thigh, injured when he crashed following a suspension part breaking. IndyCar said he was in a stable condition.
Ed Carpenter hits the wall in the second turn during practice before qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 auto race
Hinchcliffe’s car did not go airborne — though it tried to, even after slamming into a wall — but that might have been because half the car was destroyed. He also wasn’t in a Chevrolet, the automaker under scrutiny since three of its cars took flight during wrecks last week.
Although his crash was unrelated to last week’s wrecks, Hinchcliffe’s was still ugly, and followed Helio Castroneves, the three-time Indy 500 winner, flipping his car last Wednesday. Josef Newgarden went airborne the next day, and finally on Sunday, Ed Carpenter, an Indianapolis standout and an heir to the family that controls all things IndyCar, became the third Chevrolet driver in five days to go airborne.
But this crisis had been in the works since the season-opening race two months ago, when a woman’s skull was fractured when hit by a piece of one of the new aerokits on the cars that flew into the St. Petersburg, Florida, grandstands.
From that first race, it was clear there were many unknowns about the bodywork kits, and IndyCar has been reacting nearly every week to situations that no one predicted.
The car driven by Josef Newgarden slides down the track after hitting the wall in the first turn and going airborne during practice
Why? Because they didn’t do enough testing, and when any bit of contact was creating debris fields all over the race track, someone should have had the sense to say ‘Maybe we should get the speedway kits out and make sure they don’t also have any unforeseen problems.’
Alas, the speedway cars didn’t hit the track until the beginning of May, and until cars started sailing, no one had any idea that could happen.
Cars aren’t meant to leave the racing surface, and when they do, it’s a very big deal. Such a big deal that the three flips have overshadowed Pippa Mann’s tremendous crash last Wednesday into an inside wall and then into the attenuator in pit lane.
A day before that, Simona de Silvestro watched her car erupt into flames in a standard incident that made for tremendous photographs but was mundane in the world of auto racing.
The car driven by Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, is airborne after hitting a wall in the first turn during practice
All of these incidents create the images that are drawing worldwide attention to the Indy 500 a week before the race.
Maybe that’s not such a bad thing for IndyCar, the besieged series that just can’t seem to get anything right, but stays in business year after year in part because it calls the Indianapolis 500 its own. Some buzz around this crown jewel event can only help.
Not like this, though.
It shouldn’t be accidents followed by the appearance of an amateur hour in crisis management from series leadership creating the narrative leading into Sunday’s race.
The car driven by Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, lands on the track after flipping after hitting the wall in the first turn during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race
This is a mess — a hold-your-breath-and-hope-for-the-best situation — at a time when IndyCar was so excited to show off the new bodywork on the Chevrolets and the Hondas, and the increased speeds around the famed Brickyard.
Instead, it’s possible that Chevrolet’s design contributed to its three cars going airborne. And even though Honda had yet to have a serious problem — unless, of course, you count the total domination Chevrolet has had of the speed charts — IndyCar ordered both manufacturers to make changes before last Sunday’s qualifying session.
But as a weary Mark Miles and Derrick Walker met the media on Sunday, it was clear series management was overwhelmed with the problem at hand.
Fortunately, within hours of Hinchcliffe’s accident on Monday, the drivers were back for a flawless final practice session filled with inter-brand drafting, slingshot passes, and the tight racing which fans have come to expect.
Maybe Sunday will be void of any major incidents, and maybe, just maybe, the 99th running will be the greatest Indy 500 in history.
But it’s just a guess at this point, and IndyCar officials better be crossing their fingers that they’ve gotten this right. Jenna Fryer, Auto Racing Writer, AP
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