Nursing a broken hand Jimmie Johnson crashed out of the IndyCar Long Beach GP.
IndyCar
In a sense, it was not a complete surprise Jimmie Johnson – after finishing a IndyCar career-best sixth three weeks ago at Texas – had another difficult outing at Long Beach, which he considers his home track, having grown up about 100 miles away in suburban San Diego.
Johnson had a good excuse for his 20th-place finish, though. He had a very heavy head-on crash into the Turn 5 tire wall during Friday’s practice. After several tests and x-rays, it was announced that Johnson had suffered a broken bone in his right hand, which he inadvertently did not take off the steering wheel at point of impact.
After being fitted with a splint on his right hand that extended almost all the way to his elbow following Friday’s incident, Johnson’s hand was placed in a soft cast-like covering that allowed both protection to his injury, but also allowed more movement than a splint or full cast would allow.
During Sunday’s race, Johnson stayed near the back of the pack almost the whole time until yet another misfortunate incident occurred 10 laps from the finish.
Johnson spun entering Turn 8. He locked up his brakes and slid into the tire wall. Rookie David Malukas couldn’t avoid Johnson’s car and was collected, with nowhere to go.
Johnson finished 20th, while Malukas was right behind in 21st.
“I lost it so early, I’m not sure if there was contact from behind or not,” Johnson said, not having seen video of the incident beforehand. “I was under the impression that I kind of lost it in that rubber that’s stacking up in corner entry. My crew maybe thought otherwise.
“Either way, the rubber was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. There were inches of rubber stacked up around the racetrack, especially before that last caution. I think I was just interesting where to place the car and drive on that rubber. I think I was just wide on corner entry, had my left rear in the rubber and it just spun on the way in.
“I certainly feel bad I put the team in this position … This deal isn’t easy. You still have to live on the razor’s edge on these street courses and there’s no margin for error. Trying to be faster and more competitive, I made some mistakes this weekend and I’ll learn from them and come back even stronger.
But the good news is Johnson’s hand did not appear to be any worse for the wear and he expects to recover from the fractured bone quickly. Hopefully, that’s the case, as he has three races coming up in the next six weeks: Barber (May 1), the Indianapolis Grand Prix (May 15) and the Indy 500 (May 29).
“I feel what I went through this weekend, I can carry on like this for the next couple weeks until I’m healed up,” Johnson optimistically told NBC. “I’m going to see a hand specialist in North Carolina tomorrow (Monday) and determine if we need to put a screw in it or not. I’m not sure what is the best pathway forward for the shortest recovery time, so I’ll know more tomorrow afternoon.”
Keyword: Jimmie Johnson’s Bad IndyCar Weekend Ends Early at Long Beach