Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood tangled to trigger the first of three red flags late in Sunday's Indianapolis 500 that was won by Josef Newgarden.
With only 14 laps remaining, Rosenqvist got up into the outside wall between turns 1 and 2 and tapped the wall several times. With the right-side suspension broken, his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet spun down toward the infield.
Kirkwood, traveling at about 200 mph, came up on the scene and clipped Rosenqvist’s car. That ripped a tire from the Andretti Autosport Honda and tore the rear wing from his car, flipping him cockpit-first into the wall and upside down. As Kirkwood skidded down the track, the airborne tire cleared the fence and crowd and smashed into a car in the parking lot. No injuries were reported.
The tires are tethered, so that demonstrates the ferocity of the crash.
Roger Penske, owner of the property and of the winning team, said he “saw it bounced on top of a building and went and hit a car over there, which obviously is very concerning. We have tethers on the wheels, and it was a rear wheel that came off, and I'm sure the guys at IndyCar will look at it, will determine what really happened. We haven't seen a wheel come off in a long time. We have high fences here. But we were very fortunate we didn't have a bad accident.”
Andretti-team strategist Bryan Herta said moments after the incident that “there was not much that Kyle could have done” in the situation. “I think he’s more angry than hurt. We were right in the mix. We were right where we wanted to be,” Herta said.
After a brief trip to the infield care center, Kirkwood returned to his garage and said, “Everything happens so quick. You don't really know what happens. All I've heard right now is that I was up in the fence, which is never a good thing in IndyCar. You're kind of stuck at that point. The AutoNation Honda was just so good today, and we felt like we were going to win it. We were just driving through cars there. So I'm glad I'm OK, and I’m glad the car was super-fast but disappointed in that finish.”
Rosenqvist said, “I’m okay. It was a good day to that point. I couldn’t keep it off the wall. I’m bummed for my team. We had a good month."
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
