Stefan Wilson suffers fractured vertebrae in Monday practice crash, will miss Indy 500
INDIANAPOLIS — Driver Stefan Wilson will miss Sunday's Indianapolis 500 after suffering a fracture of his 12th thoracic vertebrae following a crash with Katherine Legge during Monday's practice session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Wilson bypassed the on-site care center at IMS and went straight to Indiana University Methodist Hospital immediately after the crash.
"After being transported to IU Health Methodist Hospital for further tests, it was disclosed that Wilson suffered a fracture of the 12th thoracic vertebrae and will stay overnight for further tests and observation. Based on this type of injury, Wilson will not be allowed to compete in this Sunday's 10th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race," the team said in a statement. "The Dreyer and Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports team will have more information in due course."
How the crash happened
Legge ran straight into the back of Wilson's No. 24 Chevy with just under 49 minutes left in Monday's two-hour practice as the pair entered Turn 1 of the IMS oval. From her point of view, the lengthy line of single-file cars checked-up, and she attempted to follow-suit, downshifting twice and hitting the brakes, but it wasn't enough to avoid spinning Wilson.
The Dreyer and Reinbold Racing car then went around counter-clockwise, just short of a full turn before slamming head-on into the SAFER barrier on the outside of Turn 1. Legge, the lone Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver that avoided Sunday's Last Chance Qualifier, backed into the wall, made initial contact with the right rear of her No. 44 Honda before the car snapped and slammed the whole right side into the wall. The left side of her car briefly went airborne, and eventually all four wheels returned to the track. She then slammed into the Turn 2 SAFER barrier once more before coming to a complete stop.
“What happened, happened, whether it’s from my angle or anybody else’s angle,” Legge said. “The cars in front of me checked up, and I lifted two downshifts and hit the brakes, and it was still too much speed going into one.”
Safety teams assist drivers after crash
A crew extracted Wilson from his car, putting him in a neck brace and on a stretcher. He gave a thumbs up to the crowd as he was getting loaded into the ambulance on the track.
“Stefan is doing well,” Indianapolis 500 medical director Julia Vaizer said at the time. “He’s being transported for further evaluation, but he’s in good spirits. He has no significant issues at this time.”
Legge was able to get out of her No. 44 Honda under her own power and stepped into the safety team truck.
“I’m fine, and I’m glad to know that Stefan is too,” Legge said upon hearing the initial reports of Wilson's condition after she was released from the on-site care center.
Wilson’s brother, Justin, was killed in a crash during an IndyCar race at Pocono in 2015.
What about the cars?
Legge’s car suffered significantly more damage than Wilson’s No. 24 Chevrolet. Both teams have said their plan at the moment is to repair their cars rather than replace them. IndyCar said there would be no penalty if either team uses a different car, however. DRR's backup car -- which has a go-kart motor and is used for pitstop practice -- is two years old and has never been run in the 500.
Marco Andretti said he could see the crash in his mirror: "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.’ Like, it caught me out in Turn 3. I was way on the brakes, and I couldn’t believe how slow they were going."
RLL Racing having rough few days
Wilson qualified 25th for the Indy 500, while Legge qualified 30th — barely missing the last row.
Legge was the only driver out of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to automatically qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Her three teammates — Christian Lundgaard, Jack Harvey and Graham Rahal — competed in Last Chance Qualifying on Sunday. Rahal, who has raced in the Indianapolis 500 15 times, didn’t make the cut.
“Day was going relatively well before (the crash), but it’s still super unfortunate for the whole team,” Legge said. “It’s been a hell of a week, and after yesterday, the guys don’t deserve to have the misfortune and the work now in front of them.”
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Earlier Monday, Graham Rahal, RLL's lead driver who failed to make the race, said he would not try to take purchase the ride of one of his teammates. RLL's race qualifiers are Legge, Christian Lundgaard (31st) and Jack Harvey (33rd), who bumped Rahal from the field at the last second in Sunday's qualifying.
"You've got to earn it here, and we didn't earn it," the veteran of 15 Indy 500s said. "I don't believe in that."
What happens next
In the coming days, Dennis Reinbold and Don Cusick will likely hire a driver to stand-in for Wilson on the starting grid of Sunday's 500. The fact that they'll have to use a substitute driver -- and not the fact the team has had to go to a backup car due to the damage of the original No. 24 -- will mean Wilson's replacement will start on the back of the grid Sunday on the outside of Row 11 (No. 33). And each driver that qualified in the final three rows will move up one spot on the grid with the No. 24 sliding back from 25th to 33rd.
A Honda official confirmed the tub of Legge's No. 44 car was not sufficiently damaged enough from the crash to require a backup car, though IndyCar confirmed that moves to backup cars no longer require drivers to move to the back of the grid.
Two names immediately stand out as possible options to drive in Wilson's place. JR Hildebrand drove for the team three times in consecutive 500s from 2018-20, with a best finish of 11th (2018) and appeared ready to have a 12-year streak of 500 starts snapped after his search for a ride in the paste 12 months came up short. Last year, Hildebrand finished 12th for A.J. Foyt Racing after starting 17th, and the 35-year-old California native has managed to finish higher up on the grid than his starting spot in 9 of his 12 500s.
Hildebrand was also in town this weekend (and spotted Monday at the track) with plans to race a midget Friday at Indianapolis Raceway Park for Sarah Fisher in the Carb Night Classic. He was also previously in town in the days leading up to Indy 500 practice and stated he'd taken and passed his physical in case his services happened to be needed in the coming weeks. Should Hildebrand be selected for the role, he would need to complete the two-stage refresher test before Friday's Carb Day practice (15 laps between 210-15 mph and 15 laps above 215 mph) before being allowed on-track, by virtue of having not participated in IndyCar's last oval race at Texas in April.
There's recent precedence for such a last-minute switch. In 2015, James Hinchcliffe also crashed in the Monday practice the week of the 500, suffering life-threatening injuries that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. In his place, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports hired Ryan Briscoe, who had competed in a full IndyCar season in 2014 but hadn't raced at all in 2015. Like Hildebrand and needing to complete a refresher session in the series' new aero kits, IndyCar officials scheduled a special one-hour session for him to get up to speed before the final practice of the week on Carb Day.
In 2017, Sebastien Bourdais crashed in Day 1 of qualifying, and his replacement, James Davison, was not allowed to qualify the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, due to having not completed a refresher test. Instead, Davison would start at the back of the grid (by virtue of only having 33 cars on the entry list), and the Australian driver completed a refresher program Monday ahead of that day's scheduled practice.
Could Rahal be a replacement driver?
Though with its own set of complications, Graham Rahal, who was lone driver bumped from the field Sunday afternoon, could prove a viable replacement option -- even when you consider the multiple teams and manufacturers at play. Without knowing his specific contract arrangements, as long as Rahal, who has his own streak of 15 500 starts in jeopardy, isn't a contracted driver to Honda Performance Development (and could have a personal services deal that involves marketing and appearances instead of racing stipulations) it's understood the veteran IndyCar driver could serve as a stand-in.
That ultimate decision would ultimately come down to Rahal, his father Bobby (as well as RLL co-owners Mike Lanigan and David Letterman) and Reinbold and Cusick, with some level of input likely also to come from Chevy and HPD brass. The younger Rahal said Monday he wouldn't consider buying a ride from another team or driver that had qualified for the race, though this is obviously a separate decision entirely. How Chevy and Honda would feel with a veteran driver from the other camp crossing enemy lines to compete for the manufacturer they've spent the bulk of their career trying to beat is unclear.
