IndyCar: Potential life-saving moment recorded at Texas

Another “I told you so” and potentially life-saving moment was captured during the IndyCar race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

It wasn’t too long ago that IndyCar purists couldn’t find anything positive to say about the new aeroscreen, which debuted at the start of the 2020 season after being announced during the 2019 campaign.

It wasn’t too long ago that social media debates about the Formula 1 halo-like implement to protect the heads of the drivers inside the cockpit were rampant and the occasional “I’ll never watch IndyCar again” was said with the push of the “Tweet” button.

So it was almost a blessing in disguise that the start of the 2020 season was delayed from March to June due to COVID-19-related restrictions, as critics and doubters got somewhat of an easy introduction to the new device by watching the IndyCar iRacing Challenge, a series of esports events held as a temporary replacement for the suspended 2020 campaign.

But here we are two races into the 2022 season and 32 races into the aeroscreen era. And yet again, it has proved to be a blessing — not in disguise, either.

IndyCar president Jay Frye recently shared an on-board video of the #77 Chevrolet of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott from the final practice session for the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway back on Saturday, March 19.

Ahead of Ilott, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Jack Harvey crashed into the inside retaining wall after slight contact with the outside wall coming out of turn two of the four-turn, 1.44-mile (2.317-kilometer) oval in Fort Worth, Texas.

Debris from Harvey’s wrecked #45 Honda scattered across the track.

And a rather large piece struck the aeroscreen of Ilott’s #77 Chevrolet as he attempted to navigate the wreckage.

Here’s is the flying piece of debris, right before the moment of impact.

Here is a better view of the wreck itself, in which it is actually quite hard to notice the flying piece of debris at first glance.

We don’t need another instance of what happened to the late Justin Wilson at Pocono Raceway in August 2015, and IndyCar certainly appears to have put itself in position to avoid something similar. At this point, the anti-aeroscreen narrative is just foolish.

The third race of the 2022 IndyCar season, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, is scheduled to take place this afternoon. NBC is set to broadcast the race live from the streets of Long Beach, California beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don’t miss it!