Katherine Legge and Stefan Wilson involved in a two-car accident at Indianapolis. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – A driver, team and fans’ biggest worry is a major crash days before the Indianapolis 500. Such worry was realized during Monday’s two-hour practice session when Stefan Wilson and Katherine Legge made contact, resulting in a massive shunt into the Turn 1 wall.
In what has been a calm and confident month, Wilson was taken into a backboard. Before being taken into the ambulance, he gave the thumbs up to the crowd.
Wilson was then transported to a local hospital for advanced imaging and further evaluation. However, Dr. Julia Vaizer told the press that the younger brother of Justin Wilson, who died at Pocono in 2015, is in good spirits.
“Stefan is doing well. “No significant issues,” said Dr. Vaizer.
Back at Gasoline Alley, the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Motorsports crew are well underway to prepare for Carb Day. No further updates have been announced if Wilson will be medically cleared to run in his fifth Indianapolis 500.
While Wilson is transported to the hospital, work is being done in the No. 24 garage. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
On the other side of the accident, Legge’s involvement in the accident added more salt to the wound on what has been a harrowing week for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. From Graham Rahal missing the show a day ago after his teammate Jack Harvey bumped him out of the 33-car field, to Legge, the only RLL driver who locked herself into the 107th Indy 500 on Saturday, being involved in a crash.
As more cars hit traffic, drivers are looking to test out their cars in race trim. With several blending in-and-out of line, checkups were apparent as was the case with Wilson, who was trailing Devlin DeFrancesco and Takuma Sato.
Due to the accordion effect of Wilson checking up, Legge tried woe her Honda down but ran out of real estate, resulting in the tangle just past 49 minutes remaining in the session.
Legge’s RLL crew will not go to a backup car as they will work extensively on repairing the No. 44 Hendrickson Honda, hoping to return on the 2.5-mile superspeedway for Carb Day.
“I’m fine. What happened, happened. Whether it’s my angle or anybody’s else angle. The car in front of me just checked up,” said Legge. “I lifted and did two downshifts, and hit the brakes. Still too much speed going into one and didn’t see the cars in front of Stefan checked up. We both ended up hitting the wall.”
Legge’s car after colliding with Wilson in turn one. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
After exiting the medical center, Legge was blunt about the ordeal. No matter the angle, nothing can be done. The damage is done and it is a just a matter of moving forward and hope for a turnaround leading up to her first INDYCAR start in a decade.
“It’s super unfortunate for the whole team. We’ve had a hell of a week after yesterday,” said Legge. “The guys don’t deserve the misfortune and work that we have to do. I’m absolutely gutted.”
Marco Andretti had a perspective of the accident behind his mirrors, citing his surprise of how slow some of the cars were driving.
“Literally a lap before that happened, we were in this string of cars, and I’m like, ‘I can’t believe how slow the pack is going,’ said Andretti. “Like it caught me out in 3. I was way on the brakes, and I couldn’t believe how slow they were going. I think from the looks of it, I only saw it from sitting in the race car, it looked like she just got caught out by how slow they were going.”
Wilson is scheduled to start 23rd this Sunday. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Reigning INDYCAR champion Will Power was not around the area of the accident, but explained how it is always a concern for drivers when dealing with those checking-up at speeds of over 220 mph. In dealing with such scenario, being alert is vital.
“You’ve got to be really on top of that because the brake pedal is super long,” said Power. “When a big pack checks up, it can surprise you. If I see a bunch of cars up front, I always leave a gap and are aware that you can come in and have nowhere to go.
“That’s just these days because people — it’s not like the race where you can never lift. There’s people lifting out of line, trying to get back in, people on different tire life and such. Yeah, it can all pack up for you really quickly if you’re not ready.”
Once cleanup and repairs were made in turn one, practice resumed without any more incidents as Power’s speed of 229.222 mph led the pack. Wilson and Legge were 23rd and 24th quickest in the session.
