Round 14: ABC Supply 500 at Pocono, Long Pond, PA. August 18-19.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result

Obviously not the race, race fans were hoping for. The good news is Wickens was awake and alert. As to the extent of any injuries, that waits to be seen and hopefully the outcome will be good.

Apart from Rossi's domination of the race, there were a couple of good drives from Zach Veach, who has impressed during his rookie year and from Bourdais, despite raising concerns about the repair job on the catch fencing.

Dixon's third place, means his lead is now cut to 29 points, with only 3 races to go.

1 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 200. 2h36m49.1128s
2 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 200. 4.4982s
3 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 200. 41.3557s
4 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan. Dallara/Honda. 200. 42.0120s
5 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 199. 1 Lap
6 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 199. 1 Lap
7 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. Dallara/Honda. 199. 1 Lap
8 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 199. 1 Lap
9 Charlie Kimball, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 198. 2 Laps
10 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 197. 3 Laps
11 Matheus Leist, A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 197. 3 Laps
12 Ed Jones, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 197. 3 Laps
13 Max Chilton, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 196. 4 Laps
14 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Dallara/Honda. 196. 4 Laps
15 Conor Daly, Harding Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 162. Contact
16 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 17. Contact
17 Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 16. Mechanical
18 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 6. Contact
19 Robert Wickens, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 6. Contact
20 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 6. Contact
21 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Dallara/Honda. 6. Contact
22 Pietro Fittipaldi, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 6. Contact

[FormulaFox]

Orthopedic injuries reported for Wickens.

[FormulaFox]

Autoweek reporting broken arm and unspecified injuries to both legs:


https://autoweek.com/article/indycar...pedic-injuries

EDIT: Paul Tracy reporting arm and both ankles broken, possible fractured vertebrae.

[bjohnsonsmith]

From IndyCars Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/indycar/pho...type=3&theater

[Akrapovic]

I'm surprised they ran the race with the fence in the state it was. That patch job looked like it'd fold should anything substantial go near it.

[Armco Bender]

I would imagine Indycar will have a look at safety of the catch fencing as the modern Indy cars go through it with ease.
Todays crash showed the car violently wrap itself around the support poles,amazing the driver got out of that.
The horizontal cables can act like a bean slicer and it was lucky the car didn't go right through the fence into the spectator area.

[fieldodreams79]

Finished this one last night and here's my thoughts before I read others:

Fugly start at the back and Graham is the one that finds someone else’s rear end.

Holy scary accident for Robert Wickens and holy patch job on the catch fence, which I am pretty sure is older than me. Nah, that’s only 39 in Poconos years. Was there someone’s dog gate zip tied in there? And pretty sure that I saw 3 or 4 OSHA violations from the crew doing the work, one of which being a man lifted up in the bucket a front loader…

Love the track for the speed and the old school thrills but damn! Seabass didn't like the fix but TonyK saying “we gotta race!” And he’s gonna be Paul’s personal trainer for the 500! Paul looks like he ate Leigh Duffy for lunch!!

The race really calmed down after the Wickens incident. Dominant win from Rossi. Never was a question from lap one that he was the strongest.

Looked to be a decent crowd! I hope it was! Shame they had to sit through the beginning….

Wishing the best for Robert and others injured.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I'm surprised they ran the race with the fence in the state it was. That patch job looked like it'd fold should anything substantial go near it.

Shameful. Bourdais was right.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Shameful. Bourdais was right.

You just had to look at what the ''repair' crew were doing.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

You just had to look at what the ''repair' crew were doing.

The extra pole they brought in was just leaning against the cables.

[fieldodreams79]

Pocono has completed some "upgrades" of late like the new wall out to the edge of the track on the Long Pond straightaway instead having the grass in play (this was after Steve Park's accident there some years ago in a nascar race). They even had a man standing out there during at least the yellow flag laps (couldn't get a glimpse of him during green laps).

I missed getting a pic of the man in the backhoe bucket, but this was a repair for which they seemed ill equipped and ill prepared.

[bjohnsonsmith]

There was the threat of rain and it started to rain on the last couple of laps. I reckon they rushed the job in order to get race restarted and finished before the rain came.

With all that had happened, I don't think anyone would have wanted the race to be carried over to the next day.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

There was the threat of rain and it started to rain on the last couple of laps. I reckon they rushed the job in order to get race restarted and finished before the rain came.

With all that had happened, I don't think anyone would have wanted the race to be carried over to the next day.

It's never good to run a race Monday morning and you should never "rush" safety. Think that's easy to agree all around.

The manner in which it was fashioned together and what it looked like drew concerns from me as an arm chair fence specialist (many others including drivers seemed concerned). However, there's some shyte that I've fashioned together with zip ties and duct tape that worked wonders and I didn't get a close inspection of their work.

Glad no one had to test that section or any other section for that matter for the remainder of the race.

[JHamilton]

Here was the final product:



I appreciate the effort and them wanting to get the race in, but that new stanchion is clearly there for looks only. I'm sure some of you have tied fence wire before and you know that was zip tied at best. I know nothing happened and it isn't a big deal, but moving forward I don't think they should do that again.

[Last2LiftOff]

Just so you know we're thinking about you Robert, from your twitter exchange a couple of days ago, mit Mercedes-AMG:

Originally Posted by Mercedes-AMG DTM

Oh the sweet memories... 😊 #OnThisDay in 2013, @robertwickens secured his maiden @DTM victory in difficult weather conditions at @nuerburgring..

https://twitter.com/i/status/1030748311895134208

Originally Posted by Robert Wickens

One of my favourite races of my career to date! Thanks for reminding me @MercedesAMGDTM

Pocono in the news here coast to coast Robert, a whole country pulling for you! Get better man, we're counting on it.

Originally Posted by Mercedes-AMG F1

Wishing @robertwickens a speedy recovery after yesterday's horrible accident

Sending strength from all at @MercedesAMGF1 💪

Right then, maudlin enough? My apologies to the group....as we were.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Here was the final product:



I appreciate the effort and them wanting to get the race in, but that new stanchion is clearly there for looks only. I'm sure some of you have tied fence wire before and you know that was zip tied at best. I know nothing happened and it isn't a big deal, but moving forward I don't think they should do that again.

Agreed. 100%.

And pretty sure some of that came from a family farm close by....

[chavez]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Agreed. 100%.

And pretty sure some of that came from a family farm close by....

Reminds me of repairs I've seen made at some dirt track speedways.

Scary enough for Sprint Cars.....

[Armco Bender]

At our local dirt track speedway the poles are the same height as those,they plug in the ground and can be quickly replaced if damaged.
Although the fencing is only designed to stop tyres or debris flying into the crowd,they are not designed to stop a torpedo shaped car going over 200 mph from going through it.
The issue is what do you replace the netting on the fence with that is strong enough to stop a car,but doesnt restrict the crowds view?.

[Akrapovic]

I've always wondered if a system similar to ice hockey would work. Not a direct copy of it, but big 'plastic' sheets which are completely transparent. They wouldn't grab a car at all and would direct everything back into the circuit, which is what we're after. Obviously a lot of work would need done to make sure it takes an impact etc, but it's a nice thought.

[fieldodreams79]

Wickens has had rods and screws inserted into his back during surgery. How much damage to his actual spinal cord and the full extent of his remaining injuries are still TBD.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...ry/1050436002/

[fieldodreams79]

I'll preface this with the thought that catch fencing is both good and bad and now is the time to look at quick but adequate repair, while exploring other options.

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

At our local dirt track speedway the poles are the same height as those,they plug in the ground and can be quickly replaced if damaged.
Although the fencing is only designed to stop tyres or debris flying into the crowd,they are not designed to stop a torpedo shaped car going over 200 mph from going through it.
The issue is what do you replace the netting on the fence with that is strong enough to stop a car,but doesnt restrict the crowds view?.

I wonder if the posts get deformed upon impact if it's impossible to replace in a reasonable amount of time?

And the catch fencing in question at Pocono prevented Rob from ending up in downtown Long Pond.

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I've always wondered if a system similar to ice hockey would work. Not a direct copy of it, but big 'plastic' sheets which are completely transparent. They wouldn't grab a car at all and would direct everything back into the circuit, which is what we're after. Obviously a lot of work would need done to make sure it takes an impact etc, but it's a nice thought.

It's a thought and 2.5 lineal miles of plexiglas won't be cheap!

Keeping cars from getting airborne and getting into the fencing is step 1. They've done well to do so but at times, shyte happens.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Here is the latest on Wickens.

https://www.indycar.com/News/2018/08...-spine-surgery

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Here is the latest on Wickens.

https://www.indycar.com/News/2018/08...-spine-surgery

Yup

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Wickens has had rods and screws inserted into his back during surgery. How much damage to his actual spinal cord and the full extent of his remaining injuries are still TBD.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...ry/1050436002/

[Last2LiftOff]

Thanks for the many great moments in racing so far Robert, get well soon!!

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by Last2LiftOff

Thanks for the many great moments in racing so far Robert, get well soon!!

Wow, that's very nice picture!

Get well soon, the best rookie of 2018