By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer’
For the first time since his horrific incident in Turn 2 at Pocono Raceway last season, Robert Wickens returned to the NTT INDYCAR Series paddock Friday during opening practice on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Last season, Wickens sustained thoracic spinal fracture, spinal cord injury, next fracture, tibia and fibula fractures in both legs, fractures in both hands, fractured right forearm, fractured elbow, four fractured ribs and a pulmonary contusion.
Since the incident, Wickens and fiancé Karli Woods have shared with the world the road to recovery. Wickens return to St. Petersburg has been a welcome with arms wide open.
“I was expecting a lot of support, but it’s already kind of gone way out of what I expected it would be,” Wickens stated. “I mean, heading to the pit lane for the first session, I thought the fans would kind of be more focused on the racecars, like I would have been when I was a fan attending a race. All they seemed to care about was kind of me. Everyone was cheering my name.
“It’s really cool to see team personnel from other teams just saying it’s great to see me. People, never even seen them before. Competitor team uniforms, all being really supportive. It goes to show how great the INDYCAR community is, how close it is, but then the fans are just fantastic, as well. Everyone is just giving me such an outpour of support. It’s been fantastic.”
Although being at the track is a nice feeling, Wickens recovery still has a way to go, especially with the spinal cord injury. Although Wickens has the determination to fully recover, doctors have been telling him to rest.
“The doctors know I’m working too hard, they’re telling me to rest,” he said. “On the same token, they’re kind of telling me to keep doing what I’m doing because it’s working. It’s kind of that fine balance of I am doing four to six hours a day six days a week.
“It’s tough. I enjoy my day off on Sunday. Besides that, I mean, there’s no real reason I’m getting the results I’m getting, or if I did more or less it would change the results. No one really knows.”
At the end of the day, Wickens has two goals in mind: 1. A return to the NTT INDYCAR Series and 2. Be able to dance at his wedding later this year.