SONOMA, Calif. — When IndyCars disintegrate, Justin Wilson once said, “things can get messy.”
Wilson, 37, died of severe head injuries in an Allentown, Pa., hospital Monday, a day after his car, competing at Pocono Raceway in the penultimate event of a troubled IndyCar season, ran into debris from another car’s crash. IndyCar officials said a nose cone from Sage Karam’s car had bounced along the track until Wilson arrived on the scene and collided with it, headfirst. The impact was so violent that the heavy piece of carbon fiber and other materials ricocheted high in the air.