INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar proprietor Roger Penske says he’s sure sequence officers will examine what led to a wheel coming free throughout a crash within the Indianapolis 500 and crusing over the catch fence and grandstands earlier than hitting a parked vehicle.

“We have not had a wheel come off in a very long time,” Penske stated. “We have been very lucky we did not have a nasty accident.”

The vehicles are imagined to have a tether that retains the wheel connected even within the occasion of a wreck. However when Felix Rosenqvist hit the wall between Turns 1 and a couple of within the closing laps Sunday and Kyle Kirkwood launched off the rear of his automobile into the wall, the wheel went hovering over the fence and the nook of the grandstand earlier than touchdown within the car parking zone.

The wheel traveled about 350 yards earlier than crushing the entrance of a fan’s parked Chevrolet. With a crowd of greater than 300,000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a full grandstand in Turns 1 and a couple of, it was lucky no person was severely injured.

“I noticed what occurred, noticed it bounced on high of a constructing and went and hit a automobile over there, which clearly may be very regarding,” stated Penske, whose driver Josef Newgarden gained the race, giving Workforce Penske its nineteenth Indy 500 victory.

Penske closed on the acquisition of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway about three years in the past.

“We now have tethers on the wheels, and it was a rear wheel that got here off,” Penske stated after Sunday’s victory celebration, “and I am certain the fellows at IndyCar will have a look at it, will decide what actually occurred.”

Throughout the 1987 Indianapolis 500, one fan was killed when a tire flew into the highest row of the grandstands. It had come off Tony Bettenhausen’s automobile and bounced off the entrance of Roberto Guerrero’s automobile earlier than touchdown among the many followers.

Throughout a 1998 race at Michigan Worldwide Speedway involving CART, which later grew to become a part of IndyCar, Adrian Fernandez crashed and a tire and different elements flew into the stands. Three followers have been killed and 6 others have been damage that day.

The following yr, three followers have been killed and eight injured at Charlotte Motor Speedway when a tire and different particles flew into the stands throughout an Indy Racing League occasion. The race was canceled, and IndyCar has not returned to the speedway.

These incidents resulted within the growth of the tethers which can be supposed to maintain the wheels connected.

The proprietor of the Chevrolet that took the brunt of the harm Sunday was Robin Matthews, a race fan from Indianapolis. Her automobile, which she calls “Snowball,” needed to be towed away due to the harm. She was handled with an opportunity to kiss the yard of bricks, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president J. Douglas Boles gave her a raise dwelling.

IndyCar stated one individual was struck by different particles from the crash however was checked and launched from the infield care middle.

“I used to be on this flip,” tweeted John Inexperienced, an creator from Indianapolis. “Vastly relieved everybody seems to be OK. Watching a wheel fly over my buddies at 150 miles per hour shouldn’t be an expertise I am anxious to repeat.”

Rosenqvist and Kirkwood additionally have been unhurt within the wreck, although the latter went on fairly a journey. Kirkwood went airborne after contact and landed the other way up in opposition to the wall, skidding a number of hundred yards as sparks flew from his automobile.

“That is the scary half,” Kirkwood stated. “You are upside-down and also you’re type of caught at that time.”