After a terrifying Indianapolis 500 crash where a dislodged wheel almost went into a grandstand, IndyCar and Dallara have released a new wheel nut which has increased strength by “60%”.
Felix Rosenqvist crashed at Turn 3 during the Indy 500 and after he rebounded off the outside of the wall back into the middle of the track, his car made contact with Kyle Kirkwood’s right-rear wheel.
The contact immediately detached Kirkwood’s wheel and it flew high into the air, between two grandstands and then landed on a spectator’s car in the parking area.
Since then, chassis designer Dallara and IndyCar have been working to make wheels less likely to fly off and the new wheel bearing retaining nut is their answer. It will be used from this weekend’s Iowa Speedway double-header, which is the first oval round since Indy at the end of May.
“Dallara continues to be a tremendous partner of the NTT IndyCar Series,” said series president Jay Frye.
“Their thorough review process of the incident between the #6 [Rosenqvist] and the #27 [Kirkwood] at Indianapolis Motor Speedway began immediately and included an extensive recreation at their headquarters in Italy.
“IndyCar takes safety very seriously. This update is an important step in making sure an incident like this does not happen again.”
Dallara CEO Stefano dePonti added: “After completing a detailed analysis of the accident during this year’s Indy 500, together with IndyCar we have reached the conclusion that the outcome was the consequence of an unusual and never experienced set of circumstances.
Kyle Kirkwood was cleared and released after this SCARY crash in the Indy 500! #INDY500
📺 NBC and @peacockpic.twitter.com/CnDlmxQEzS
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 28, 2023
“Nevertheless, we have developed and produced new components that will increase the strength of the corner in case the unlikely sequence of events repeats itself.”
No drivers or spectators were hurt in the original crash. The car the wheel hit was nicknamed Snowball by its owner, local resident Robin Matthews, and the Speedway gave her a visit to the yard of bricks after the race before later giving her a new replacement car.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway followed through on their promise. They have gifted a 2023 Chevy Equinox to Robin Matthews, whose car was destroyed when a wheel off Kyle Kirkwood's car hit it during the Indy 500.
>> https://t.co/57f7fRiAsO pic.twitter.com/WqK6egONC5
— WRTV Indianapolis (@wrtv) June 22, 2023
Keyword: What IndyCar’s changing after wheel-over-fence Indy 500 crash