Michael Schumacher remains in sole possession of most grand prix victories for another fortnight. Lewis Hamilton is collecting all the odd penalties this season. Andrea Dovizioso was on the wrong end of a lap one accident. Suzuki might be the best bike in MotoGP and has still not won a race. There was a lengthy red flag for rain in the 24 Hours Nürburgring. Team Penske, Corvette and Lexus keeps up their strong forms in IMSA. DJR Team Penske collected some more silverware. Super Formula had a mess of a start at Okayama. Chip Ganassi should be a happy man. Musical chairs have started early in IndyCar for the final races, though it is not fun and games for some and that is where we will start this week. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Risks and Best Interests
Last week, I listened to the latest episode of "Off Track with Hinch and Rossi," the podcast which James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi hosts. One conversation topic was what each driver hoped to do when their driving careers ended.
Hinchcliffe said he hoped to help get a formal IndyCar drivers' association established when his career is over. He wants to be a voice for IndyCar drivers to protect driver interests and stated, "Because right now, we are fairly disposable and we are the one's out there risking our lives, and it seems like the balance of power is a little skewed."
Within hours of listening to those words from the six-time IndyCar race winner, the news came out that Oliver Askew would miss the Harvest Grand Prix weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course due to concussion-like symptoms he was experiencing. Askew stated these symptoms stemmed back from his accident in the Indianapolis 500 on August 23. After running four races between the rounds at Gateway and Mid-Ohio, Askew sought a diagnosis on his own after receiving encouragement from friends and family.
The main reason for Askew's decision to stay in the car was fear of losing his ride and wanting to improve after a string of difficult results. The only problem was he did not feel like he could improve on-track in the condition he was in.
Askew has established a recovery plan with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's sports medicine concussion program, the same one Dale Earnhardt, Jr. used when concussions plagued the later years of his career. Askew hopes to return to the #7 Arrow Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP at St. Petersburg.
Askew's withdrawal from the Harvest Grand Prix caught the attention of many, especially because concussions are a serious injury in sports and the timing of his withdrawal in relation to the accident that has sidelined him. Nearly five weeks passed between that accident at Indianapolis and his decision to step out of the car. In-between, there were four IndyCar races, all of which Askew started.
In the last ten years, concussion have received more attention in light of untimely deaths to former football and hockey players and the biggest case in motorsports was Earnhardt, Jr., who stepped away from the car multiple times due to concussions and complications stemming from a string of incidents.
IndyCar has had its own concussion-related retirement. Dario Franchitti's career ended after a concussion sustained in his accident at Houston in 2013. Doctors advised him to stop racing because of the Houston accident and concussions suffered earlier in his career.
Across the board, sports organizations have been improving their concussion protocols over the last decade to be most cautious to the athletes even when it means removing an athlete from competition. That is what made Askew's news so shocking. After the last ten years, especially the last five, hearing that a driver had competed in four races while not feeling 100% and then having that driver decide to step out of the car on his own after seeing a doctor on his accord does not mesh when a sanctioning body would publicly state it holds the highest standards when it comes concussions and the health and safety of its competitors.
To be fair to IndyCar, it has a good track record of sidelining drivers who show concussion symptoms. In 2014, after debris hit Hinchcliffe in the head in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, he missed the first few days of Indianapolis 500 practice before being cleared to participate for later practice days and qualifying. E.J. Viso practiced the car on those days. Simona de Silvestro was sidelined after suffering a concussion before Iowa in 2011.
IndyCar even improved its concussion testing after Will Power's accident at St. Petersburg in 2016. While Power did not have a concussion and was unable to compete due to an ear infection, IndyCar adopted the I-Portal Portable Assessment System in 2018 to help with concussion diagnosis.
IndyCar cleared Askew to race after his accident at Indianapolis and knowing how cautious IndyCar is with driver safety and with how stringent the IndyCar medical team is, Askew would not have been allowed to race if he failed a concussion test. I would like to believe IndyCar did everything right and Askew's accident shows that concussions are much more complicated.
Concussions are tricky, and we are still learning. He could have passed his assessments, but still felt off. Since he was cleared to race, he figured he would give it a go because the doctors said he was fine, even though he was not fully there.
Part of Askew's choice was in fear of losing his ride and stepping out for concussion concerns puts him halfway to unemployment.
It is the nature of motorsports. Drivers have to be part vulture. If a seat opens up, a driver has to swoop in, regardless if that ride was vacated because a driver ran out of funding or was severely injured and sometimes killed. A driver has to take a shot at every opportunity. If Askew stepped out, another driver would step in and there is no guarantee the ride will be there for Askew.
You can say that is the name of the game, and it is true in every sport, but it forced Askew to go out there and put himself in further risk.
There is no safety net for the drivers. There is no collective bargaining agreement. There is no injury list. There is no safety from release of contract because of injury. A driver has to lookout for himself, including putting his long-term health at risk for the short-term gain.
We do not know if Askew let the team know he was going to seek additional help or asked IndyCar for additional tests. You would have thought the IndyCar medical team would have been the first place Askew would have gone, especially knowing how much drivers trust and are familiar with those doctors.
This news was jarring because we have been more cautious and understanding when it comes to concussions. It felt like Askew slipped through the cracks when he should have felt comfortable to say he was not feeling well to compete after the Indianapolis 500. It felt like a major oversight, and one that does not look good for either IndyCar or Arrow McLaren SP.
This was a reminder that even if we are more mindful of concussions, the lingering symptoms and the extended time it can take to fully heal, motorsports will retain its cutthroat here today, gone tomorrow mentality. A driver sacrificing his seat today could be out of a job permanently and for a 23-year-old Askew thought the best thing to do was compete when not 100%. He is not going to be the last driver to face these circumstances.
IndyCar has done a lot for driver safety over the last ten years, however while protecting driver's noggins with aeroscreens, re-enforcing cockpit protection from suspension intrusion and decreasing the risk of other physical harm, the series could make significant strides when it comes to protecting a driver's job security if an injury forces a driver out of a car.
Askew is an Indy Lights champion. He also won the U.S. F2000 championship, as he spent one season in each Road to Indy series on his way to IndyCar in four years and did it without much funding. Askew got to the top through results and not a banking account. He is a success story IndyCar should want around for a longtime. He shows what is possible through the Road to Indy system and a lengthy IndyCar career for him elevates the Road to Indy system even higher. If IndyCar hopes to use him as a model for ladder system success, then it should be behind him when he is injured and make sure he can be there for years to come.
I am not sure what the correct steps are to protect a ride and make sure one is available when an injured driver is fully cleared to compete. These aren't like teams in other sports. There isn't an injury list that drivers can be put on and wait until they are healed. A team cannot necessarily keep a seat open until a driver recovers nor expand to an extra car when a driver is ready to return. There are outside factors, like sponsorship and engine leases, that determine how many cars are on the grid.
There are many things that could be done. There could be more ironclad contracts that the series oversees and makes sure fairly compensate drivers and are fulfilled even in the event of an injury. Leader Circle funding could be tied to the drivers and not the entrants. We might even have to consider changing the championship format to allow a driver to miss two or three rounds without penalty. Instead of having every race count toward the championship, perhaps only the top 75% of a driver's results count toward to a driver's championship points total, allowing an injured driver to miss multiple races if needed and allow that absence to not necessarily affect where that driver finishes in the championship.
The solution might be radical, but many revolutionary changes are, and it is necessary for drivers taking on the risks to feel the series is looking out for their best interests.
Winner From Last Weekend
Elfyn Evans won Rally Turkey last weekend, his second victory of the 2020 World Rally Championship. I had Rally Turkey down for this weekend by mistake. There have been a monumental number of schedule revisions this season and this one slipped through. That's my bad!
Evans leads the World Rally Championship with 97 points with Sébastien Ogier on 79 points and defending champion Ott Tänak tied with Kalle Rovanperä on 70 points with two rounds to go.
Champion From the Weekend
Scott McLaughlin clinched his third consecutive Supercars championship with two victories and a second-place finish from Tailem Bend. Cameron Waters won the final race of the weekend.
Winners From this Weekend
You know about Elfyn Evans, Scott McLaughlin and Cameron Waters but did you know...
Valtteri Bottas won the Russian Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.
Mick Schumacher and Guanyu Zhou split the Formula Two races from Sochi.
Fabio Quartararo won MotoGP's Catalan Grand Prix, his third victory of the season. Luca Marini won the Moto2 race, his third victory of the season. Darryn Binder won the Moto3 race, his first career grand prix victory.
The #99 Rowe Racing BMW of Nicky Catsburg, Alexander Sims and Nick Yelloly won the 24 Hours Nürburgring.
Esteban Guerrieri and Yann Ehrlacher split the WTCC races on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Kurt Busch won the NASCAR Cup race from Las Vegas, his first victory of the season. Chase Briscoe won the Grand National Series race, his eighth victory of the season. Austin Hill won the Truck race, his second victory of the season.
The #7 Acura Team Penske Acura of Ricky Taylor and Hélio Castroneves won the IMSA race from Mid-Ohio, its third consecutive victory. The #3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor and Antonio García won in the GTLM class, its fourth victory of the season. The #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz won in the GTD class, its third victory of the season.
Sho Tsuboi won the Super Formula race from Okayama, his first career Super Formula victory.
The #31 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi of Kelvin van der Linde and Ryuichiro Tomita and the #163 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini of Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoè split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Zandvoort.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar's Harvest Grand Prix on Friday and Saturday from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The inaugural Indianapolis 8 Hours on Sunday, the second Intercontinental GT Challenge round.
NASCAR will be at Talladega with all three series.
World Superbike has its penultimate round of 2020 at Magny-Cours.
Super GT begins the second half of its season with its third round at Fuji.
