IndyCar: Has the aeroscreen already saved a life in 2021?

Seconds into the first race of the 2021 IndyCar season, Ryan Hunter-Reay believes that the aeroscreen may very well have saved his life.

Ryan Hunter-Reay hasn’t had the best string of fortune in recent years when it comes to IndyCar season openers, and that was again the case this past weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, a track where he is a two-time winner.

He only qualified in 17th place in the 24-car field for Sunday afternoon’s 90-lap Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.830-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama behind the wheel of the #28 Honda.

And just a few seconds into the race, he had already notched his first DNF of the year.

However, based on how it happened, it could have been a lot worse, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it.

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Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who qualified in eighth place, got loose coming up the hill in turn four, and he lost control of his #2 Chevrolet. He spun across the track, and multiple drivers had nowhere to go, triggering a massive accident.

One driver who had nowhere to go was Hunter-Reay, whose #28 Honda slammed into the side of Newgarden’s #2 Chevrolet. Newgarden’s car had already suffered damage from its impact with the #26 Honda of Colton Herta, one of Hunter-Reay’s teammates.

All drivers involved in the accident either continued competing in the race or were able to safely evacuate their cars and then medically cleared afterward.

Hunter-Reay isn’t sure that would have been the case, for him at least, had it not been for the aeroscreen.

Many fans stood against the introduction of the aeroscreen ahead of the 2020 season, and even after there were a few close calls, most notably Herta’s wreck with Rinus VeeKay at Iowa Speedway in July, last year, many still did not hold a favorable view of it.

However, photos that Hunter-Reay shared, as well as an on-board video of the accident, will hopefully change their minds.

Because of how the #28 Honda made contact with the #2 Chevrolet, the front right tire of Newgarden’s car headed straight toward Hunter-Reay’s cockpit.

As you can see in the pictures and in the video, it would have continued on toward Hunter-Reay’s helmet had the aeroscreen not been there.

So while Hunter-Reay’s string of misfortune in season openers was the same old, same old in 2021, he knows that it could have been a lot worse had this type of accident taken place in 2019 or before.

The second race of the 2021 IndyCar season is the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 25. NBC is set to broadcast this race live from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET.