High speeds, high risk creates Indianapolis 500 drama

Three drivers walked away from separate crashes that saw them flip through the air, while a fourth slammed so violently into a wall he lays in a hospital recovering from a steel suspension part going through one leg into the other.

Within the span of a week, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has seen a pall cast over its hallowed grounds, transforming Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 from “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” into something graver and certainly not deserving of a catchy slogan.

“I’m sorry about what happened to Hinch,” said Tony Kanaan, the 2013 race-winner. “The accident was a mechanical failure and completely unrelated to anything else that’s happened here this last week.”

Although Hinchcliffe is out for the May 24 race and likely the season, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will still field three entries Sunday as planned. The team has to name Hinchcliffe’s replacement.

Also competing in the 99th Indianapolis 500 are the other 32 drivers who qualified, none of whom have withdrawn or indicated a reluctance to race. That includes Helio Castroneves, Josef Newgarden and Ed Carpenter, who all went airborne in separate accidents over a five-day span, although that shouldn’t be surprising. Drivers are known for compartmentalizing, well versed in the practice of being able to move past a crash and focus their attention on the task at hand.

Rightly or wrongly, the race more often than not goes on. Just as it will Sunday.

“Incidents are going to happen here in IndyCar,” Newgarden said. “With any high-speed motorsport, it’s going to happen. They’re very safe cars, though.

“You’re going to have those crashes and things that come up, but your job is to get back in the car and make the most of it.”

The same day he somersaulted through the air, Castroneves returned to the track in a backup car. He later qualified second to pole-sitter Scott Dixon and on Sunday will attempt to join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500.

But while the mindset of Castroneves and others is noble, there’s no denying an air of foreboding now hangs over Sunday’s race. Adding to the apprehension is no one has pinpointed why three drivers wheeling identically designed cars took flight in similar looking wrecks, though Newgarden is believed to have suffered a punctured tire.

Was it an aerodynamic flaw with a brand-new body kit that hadn’t been tested properly on a super speedway like Indianapolis, where speeds eclipsed 233 mph in practice? Or was it mere happenstance? The theories are numerous and thus far, all inconclusive.

Whatever the reason, there are no guarantees another frightening accident won’t occur before the checkered flag waves Sunday. Even after series officials enacted last-minute measures to reduce horsepower and improve aerodynamics following Carpenter’s accident Sunday morning, Hinchcliffe’s wreck the very next day proves bad things will always happen when man is pushing a machine up to -- and sometimes beyond -- its breaking point.

“Safety is always important and this series does a great job at it,” Kanaan said. “We have to understand that this is motor racing, and that there are accepted risks we take. I’m willing to take those risks. That’s what separates us from normal people. That’s why there’s only 33 of us here that do this.

“I’m a racer, and I want to race Sunday. This is for the Indianapolis 500. This is for the tough guys.”