Is IndyCar as dangerous as it looks?
IndyCar has a record that makes Formula One look like a playpen. After the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna in 1994 at Imola, F1 underwent a safety revolution. The result is that there were no fatalities until Jules Bianchi’s freak accident in Suzuka last year. Sadly, Bianchi succumbed to his severe head injuries last month.
But in the same period, there have been nine fatalities in IndyCar – and the last two have been Britons: Dan Wheldon in 2011 and now Justin Wilson. That does not take into account career-ending injuries suffered by drivers like Alex Zanardi, Dario Franchitti and Kenny Brack, who miraculously survived the highest deceleration in the history of the American open-wheel series, involving a g-force of 214, but never raced seriously again in IndyCars.
Why is there such a difference?
Partly money, partly technology. F1 has traditionally operated at a much higher technical level, which has allowed extraordinary developments in crash structures in cars. Tracks, too, have been given radical makeovers with longer run-off areas and more absorbent barriers.
By contrast, IndyCars and circuit design lagged behind until Wheldon’s death, which sparked wholesale changes. However, the IndyCar series has one clear – and dangerous – difference in that races are often held on high-speed ovals. On Sunday, Wilson was among the drivers expected to drive 200 laps at up to 200mph (the race lasted more than three hours) on a banked oval surrounded by unforgiving walls. Any crash at those speeds and in a densely-packed field has consequences.
Was Wilson’s death a freak accident or a fundamental problem?
Both. Video playback shows Sage Karam’s car breaking up on impact with the wall, with debris being flung across the Pocono track. Wilson is following just as what appears to be Karam’s nosecone is bouncing across the track. Wilson is hit full-on with an impact so great that the nosecone flies high into the air. It seems Wilson was unconscious before his car slewed into the barriers.
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A complete freak incident, then?
Perhaps not. James Hinchcliffe almost suffered a similar fate only last May when he was hit by debris during an IndyCar race. Fortunately, he survived. Bianchi died from a blow to the head and Felipe Massa, of course, survived being hit by a loose spring bouncing along the track at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Maybe it is a factor neglected so far.
What can be done to keep the drivers safe?
F1 has been working on aircraft-style canopies and the issue has inevitably been raised in IndyCar circles since the incidents involving Hinchcliffe and Wilson. However, the drivers don’t like them, fearing canopies might obstruct their already limited vision, while some worry that they may not be able to get out of a car that has flipped over.
Formula One has not been without its near-misses: in Austria this season, Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren collided, with the McLaren mounting the Ferrari dangerously close to Raikkonen’s head. That reignited the debate on canopies, although only briefly. IndyCar officials are now thinking of devising some sort of deflector. Whatever it is, though, there will always be risk as long as heads are open to the elements.
This is what Tony Schumacher, a dragster racing champion who installed a canopy on his car, said when asked by USA Today about Wilson’s accident. “That’s the exact reason I use it. I don’t know what’s coming off the car next to me, what’s coming out of the stands. I don’t know if I’m going to hit a bird - I have hit three birds. I am surprised everyone doesn’t use it. I wouldn’t drive a car without it.”