ESPN Article - Robert Wickens Confirms He Is Paralyzed From The Waist Down

https://www.instagra.../p/BpYJKb-HmBj/

Sitting at my work desk with a tear in my eye. Poor guy. 

He got injured doing what he loved to do.

Wish him the best.

Edited by goldenboy, 26 October 2018 - 05:08.

People here complain about how "ugly" the painted runoffs look at F1 circuits.

Because runoffs aren't just ugly, they affect the sport.

But I don't see why you have to bring this up in this topic about a guy who got paralyzed racing on an oval.

There are no words.

People here complain about how "ugly" the painted runoffs look at F1 circuits. Meanwhile, we have this driver ending his career is a damn chainlink fence. I'll take longevity over beauty any day. I wish Robert the best in his future endeavors. Hopefully he can find a second wind like Alex Zanardi.

Oh my god..

Terrible news.

Edit: I'm a little confused after reading his Instagram post. Is there a possibility he can recover?

Guess it's possible?

"and I am giving it all I’ve got to spark those nerves in my legs. "

There's always hope, but even if he recovers, will it be enough ?

We have examples of drivers losing their legs who are still racing. We'll see what Robert can do, but it looks like he is giving everything to fight for it.

Sad. Very promising racing driver he is (was?), and a real addition to the IndyCar series.

The walls are too low there, 

To who's standard? Yours? They are the same as any of speedway and meet all current regulations. 

To who's standard? Yours? They are the same as any of speedway and meet all current regulations.

It sounds like there's still hope he might recover - small movements, quite a hopeful tone in that post. Can't dress that up as anything other than devastating news though. 

At least he's still here.

He came into Indycar with a bang and should have won his first race.

And the driver that cheated him out of it was allowed to keep his third. 
 

To be fair, its any wonder he survived and still has normal cognitive function! At least for that we should be thankful

"an injury to his spinal cord as well as a thoracic spinal fracture, neck fracture, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, four broken ribs, a broken right forearm, a broken elbow, fractures in both hands and a pulmonary contusion."

https://www.instagra.../p/BpYJKb-HmBj/
 
Sitting at my work desk with a tear in my eye. Poor guy.

**** this. I hate this sport sometimes.

Tough to swallow, hope he can recover as well as he can and we did not see last of him on track.

I really don't know what to say, that is dreadful news and I wish him all the best. 

I'm not a medical professional by any description. Can someone who knows the field say what it means for Wickens to be currently a paraplegic?
 
Is it permanent, what is the possibility of recovery, what extent of recovery is possible, do we really know anything?

Edited by Henri Greuter, 26 October 2018 - 09:35.

Even if Wickens makes a full recovery, it would take a very long time and he would have been out of single-seaters for so long and lost so much ground that full-time comeback at the top level at the peak of your powers would be very hard to accomplish. Perhaps you could look at Kubica as an example - now 7.5 years after his accident he is still trying to come back to F1, and looks like by and large he should by now be fit enough to race. But how competitively? Who knows.

Sad news of course. Wickens could have been one of the main players in IndyCar for a decade given his age. But even if that doesn't materialize, perhaps he could return to racing in some other form after a while and accomplish himself that way. Look at Zanardi.

People here complain about how "ugly" the painted runoffs look at F1 circuits. Meanwhile, we have this driver ending his career is a damn chainlink fence. I'll take longevity over beauty any day. I wish Robert the best in his future endeavors. Hopefully he can find a second wind like Alex Zanardi.

Surly he will be able to drive the car with hand controls? Other drivers have recovered from what seem like career ending injuries in the past.

Surly he will be able to drive the car with hand controls? Other drivers have recovered from what seem like career ending injuries in the past.

That would at least require full (or very close to full) movement/control of his arms/hands. Impossible to say for now.

Gutted for Robert, the sport and the fans that we have been robbed of all the success and spectacle that his talent would have provided. I hope that he can come back and race again, wherever that may be.

The Instagram post makes it sound like he's trying his best to get his legs working. I don't want to say he's paralyzed because I'm sure he's not going to stop and accept it.

It's a powerful message he's sending out, that no matter what has happened you must always keep trying and never give up. We can look to others who have similar injuries and have continued to inspire us all, Martyn Ashton for example, Alex Zanardi and many more.

I hope his continued recovery is exceptional 

Surprised this isn't on the home page of Autosport. 

What a damn shame. I hope he's still able to have the best quality of life as possible.

As much as IndyCar undoubtedly has great racing, having to deal with deaths or devastating injuries like this every few years sure takes the appeal away from it, imo...

Horrible, however reading the injury list, its a miracle he survived.

Wishing him all the best in his recovery.

Sad news

It's a powerful message he's sending out, that no matter what has happened you must always keep trying and never give up. We can look to others who have similar injuries and have continued to inspire us all, Martyn Ashton for example, Alex Zanardi and many more.

 

I hope his continued recovery is exceptional 

Exactly. Nothing to stop him continuing to race, and at a high level. People like Alex Zanardi and Billy Monger have shown how much you can achieve. Even Clay Regazzoni, going back a bit further. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him disability or not. 

****. I'd assumed something like this would come out, but it doesn't make it any easier when it does.

https://www.instagra.../p/BpYJKb-HmBj/

 

Sitting at my work desk with a tear in my eye. Poor guy. 

Same here, can't find proper words to describe my feelings while I was watching it. He had such a promising career ahead of him.

I guess most of us suspected this after the update that said "extent of spinal injuries unknown". Never a good sign.

Such a damn shame, such a nice fellow and so young. In some ways lucky to be here but in the dark, lonely hours in the middle of the night he'd be struggling, it's a long, long road for the young man.

I saw Nick Fairall crash at Bischofshofen practice in 2015. He also had a spinal cord injury. Such a terrible situation 

Just a flat out bummer, I can't that any of the newer guys really made me really pull for them, except for Wickens and a little bit for Rossi.

So sorry to hear this, although it's not unexpected after seeing the list of injuries he suffered in that brutal wreck.

Fight on, Wickens.