Report: James Hinchcliffe suffered serious injuries from suspension part
James Hinchliffe's injuries from a nasty Indianapolis 500 practice crash on Monday were reportedly caused by a piece of suspension equipment that came through the tub of his car.
Hinchcliffe's car had an apparent mechanical failure in turn three and shot straight into the outside wall. According to RACER, via an associate of the 28-year-old driver, Hinchcliffe's injuries were life-threatening and that the quick response from IndyCar's safety team in the seconds following his crash "more than likely saved" his life.
As of Tuesday, Hinchcliffe is "stable and improving" according to Dr. Timothy Pohlman, the senior staff trauma surgeon at IU Health Methodist Hospital, where Hinchcliffe was taken for surgery after the accident.
Here's an excerpt from RACER with the reported description of Hinchcliffe's injuries. We're going to go ahead and warn you if you've got a sensitive stomach. It may get upset.
In the impact, which flattened the right side of the chassis, one of the suspension wishbones penetrated the Dallara safety cell, and subsequently caused the majority of the physical damage Hinchcliffe received. RACER has confirmed through multiple sources that Hinchcliffe had the steel wishbone enter and exit his right leg, then enter his upper left thigh, and continue into his pelvic region, where it came to a stop. The suspension component pinned the 28-year-old in the car, leading the safety team to cut the wishbone from the chassis to allow Hinchcliffe's extraction.
With the multiple intrusions, Hinchcliffe experienced massive blood loss at the crash site, and despite the gravity of soft tissue injuries to his lower extremities, stopping the bleeding became an immediate priority for the medical staff to address once he was pulled from the chassis.
IndyCar has its own safety team that travels with the circuit from race to race. NASCAR does not have a traveling on-track safety team. IndyCar's safety team was at Hinchcliffe's car within seconds of it coming to a stop.
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon by the series, Hinchcliffe called the safety workers and the doctors at the hospital his heroes.
"Words can't describe how thankful I am to the Holmatro Safety Team," Hinchcliffe said. "Those guys, in addition to the doctors and staff at the hospital, are my heroes. I can't say enough how much I appreciate the outpouring of support from INDYCAR fans, my family and fellow drivers. We are all one big family and it feels like that today."
Here's video of the accident again.
His team owner, Sam Schmidt, said the piece of suspension that went into Hinchcliffe's legs was reinforced before the season per IndyCar rules.
"Previously, it would have folded," Schmidt told the Indianapolis Star. Schmidt also said that Hinchcliffe didn't suffer any bone injuries.
A replacement driver for Hinchcliffe in Sunday's race hasn't been named yet. According to the associate of Hinchcliffe's quoted in the report, he's likely going to miss the rest of the season. His car was going over 200 MPH when it hit the wall, which thankfully was covered in SAFER barrier, a type of wall that has foam insulation. The hit was a reported 125 Gs.
His crash was also the fifth scary crash in the lead-up to the 99th Indianapolis 500. Helio Castroneves, Josef Newgarden and Ed Carpenter's cars all flipped over after impacts with the wall and Pippa Man slammed into the beginning of the outside pit road wall off turn four.
Hinchcliffe has four wins in 73 races in over four seasons in the IndyCar Series. He won earlier in the season at New Orleans.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
