IndyCar: Remembering Justin Wilson, 4 years later

By Asher Fair | Aug 24, 2019

FONTANA, CA - AUGUST 29: Justin Wilson of England driver of the #19 Dale Coyne Racing during qualifying for the Verizon IndyCar Series MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championship Race at the Auto Club Speedway on August 29, 2014 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

Four years ago today, one day after the tragic result of IndyCar crash in which he wasn’t even involved, the late Justin Wilson passed away.

Justin Wilson was running in 13th place of the 2015 IndyCar season’s penultimate race at Pocono Raceway on the 200-lap race’s 180th lap after having just led two laps when race leader Sage Karam spun and hit the turn one wall of the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Debris from Karam’s #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet littered the race track, including the nose cone of his car.

And then, before anybody even knew what was going on, tragedy struck the IndyCar world on that Sunday, August 23.

Everybody else in the field avoided Karam’s accident, and as far as anybody at the 20-year-old’s home track knew, that was how it appeared as it pertained to accident’s aftermath as he emerged from his car.

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But Wilson was also involved, and while his involvement had nothing to do with the crash itself, it turned fatal.

Wilson was struck in the helmet with the nose cone of Karam’s car as he drove his #25 Andretti Autosport Honda through the crash site.

In that tragic instant, he was knocked unconscious, and his #25 Honda abruptly careened toward the inside retaining barrier between turns one and two because hitting that barrier and coming to a halt.

The 37-year-old from Sheffield, England never woke up.

The following day, Monday, August 24, 2015, he passed away at Lehigh Valley Health Network Cedar Crest Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

But four years following his death, let’s instead focus on the racing career that he had before he left us.

Wilson, like several modern-day IndyCar drivers, spent time competing in Formula 1. He spent the first 11 races of the 2003 season driving for European Minardi Cosworth before joining Jaguar Racing to replace the underperforming Antonio Pizzonia for the season’s final five races.

Ironically, Wilson scored his first and only Formula 1 points in the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He would ultimately end up coming in the United States in each of the 12 years to follow, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway would gain a whole new meaning and purpose for him than simply a Formula 1 Grand Prix venue.

From 2004 to 2007, Wilson drove in Champ Car, and he had success in doing so, winning four races in 54 starts and finishing on the podium in an additional 11 races.

Twice, once in the 2006 season and again in the 2007 season, he finished in second place in the championship standings behind four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais. In the 2005 season, he finished in third behind champion Bourdais and Oriol Servia.

Wilson’s IndyCar tenure officially began in the 2008 season, and driving for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing that year, he secured the first victory of his career at the Raceway on Belle Isle.

Driving for Dale Coyne Racing in the 2009 season, he added another victory at Watkins Glen International. In fact, this victory was Dale Coyne Racing’s first ever American open-wheel victory in 26 seasons of competition.

After spending the following two seasons driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, he returned to Dale Coyne Racing in the 2012 season and earned what would be his final victory at Texas Motor Speedway in dramatic fashion.

Here is a video of Wilson securing his seventh and final American open-wheel racing victory.

(NOTE: Begin watching at 2:16:00)

While he did not win a race the following season, which was his third overall and second consecutive season driving for Dale Coyne Racing, he did finish in sixth place in the championship standings, which is the highest finish for a Dale Coyne Racing driver in the team’s 36-year history to this day.

He and chief Champ Car rival Bourdais, who currently drives for Dale Coyne Racing through a partnership with the team and Vasser-Sullivan, are each responsible for two of the team’s six victories.

Aside of these two drivers, only Mike Conway, a part-time teammate to Wilson in the 2013 season, and Carlos Huertas, a full-time teammate to him in the 2014 season, have ever taken Dale Coyne Racing to victory lane.

The 2014 season ended up being Wilson’s final season as a full-time IndyCar driver. He also competed in one Formula E race in the sport’s maiden season back in June of 2015, the Moscow ePrix. He drove for Andretti Autosport, the team with which he had become a part-time driver for the 2015 IndyCar season, and finished in a solid 10th place in his #28 Spark-Renault.

Wilson died having competed in eight Indianapolis 500 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he recorded three top seven finishes in the race. In the history of the race, he will probably go down as one of the more underrated drivers.

He spent the 2013 Indy 500 well out of the mix for a decent result. I remember sitting in turn four, lap after lap, watching him go by, effectively in tandem with teammate Ana Beatriz, who ultimately finished in 15th place, which was better than where she ran for most of the race.

Yet in a race during which Honda drivers led only seven of 200 laps and only led due to pitting later than the Chevrolet-powered race leaders, Wilson managed to finish in a career-high fifth place as the race’s highest placed Honda driver. The other six drivers who finished in the top seven were all Chevrolet drivers, and they all led laps, combining to lead 127 of them.

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As they mourn the four-year anniversary of his passing, Justin Wilson’s friends, family and racing fans from IndyCar, Formula 1 and beyond remain in our thoughts and prayers.