page_title: Justin Wilson (racing driver)
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Justin Wilson (racing driver) / Death
caption_attribution_description: A flyover view of Pocono Raceway. Taken March 27, 2014 from a United Airlines flight inbound to Newark Liberty International Airport.
context_page_description: Justin Boyd Wilson was a British professional open-wheel racing driver who competed in Formula One in 2003, the Champ Car World Series from 2004 to 2007 and the IndyCar Series from 2008 to 2015. He won the first Formula Palmer Audi in 1998, the International Formula 3000 Championship with Nordic Racing in 2001, and co-won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona for Michael Shank Racing.
  Wilson began karting at the age of eight and achieved consistent results, before progressing to car racing in the Formula Vauxhall Championship. He won the FPA title and earned a fully funded seat in IF3000, becoming the first British driver to win the series championship in 2001. He moved to the 2002 World Series by Nissan for the Racing Engineering team and finished fourth. Through an investment scheme where the public could purchase shares in Wilson, he drove for the Minardi and Jaguar teams in the 2003 Formula One season.
  He drove for the Conquest Racing and RuSPORT teams in the CCWS from 2004 to 2007, winning four races and finishing runner-up in the 2006 and 2007 drivers' championships. Wilson went to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for the 2008 IndyCar Series, winning the Detroit Indy Grand Prix.
context_section_description: On the 179th lap of the 2015 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, the race leader Sage Karam lost control of his car in the first turn after passing a bump in the tarmac surface. He crashed heavily with the front of his car against a wall to the right of the circuit. The car's nose cone was removed with enough force that it ricocheted along the racing surface as other drivers manoeuvred past it. James Jakes slowed faster than Wilson, who turned right to avoid contact with his car. At the same time, the nose cone from Karam's car struck Wilson's helmet as he drove through the accident scene. Wilson was knocked unconscious and his car almost immediately veered left out of control towards the inside wall. It left the track, hitting the left-hand side wall coupled with a SAFER barrier after the first turn and continued to slide before stopping.
  Wilson was unresponsive when the track safety crew arrived at his vehicle and he had to be extricated from it. A medivac helicopter was called for and transported Wilson to Lehigh Valley Hospital in nearby Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was reported to be in a coma with a severe head injury and listed in a critical condition. Wilson was declared dead from his injuries at 17:37 local time on 24 August. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway president J. Douglas Boles and the CEO of the Hulman & Company Mark Miles made the news public at 21:00 that same day. He was the first driver to die from injuries sustained in a racing accident in IndyCar since Dan Wheldon was killed during the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championships at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. An autopsy conducted by Andrew Kehm, the Chief Deputy Coroner of the Lehigh County Coroner's Office, on 26 August determined Wilson died of a blunt force trauma to his head. On 10 September, he was given a funeral service at St James The Great Church in Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, England attended by about 500 mourners, which included members of the motor racing community. Wilson was subsequently cremated, and a wake was held for him at Silverstone Circuit.
  
  An inquest into his death was held at Northampton General Hospital on the morning of 9 March 2016. The coroner concluded his death was "accidental". A statement from Wilson's father was read, which described the crash as a "freak accident" and stated:
  "The car leading the race crashed and was driving at over 200 mph (320 km/h). The driver was unhurt but debris from his car flew high into the air and a large, heavy piece hit Justin on the head as he approached the scene of the accident. Justin was unconscious, he was extracted from the car and rushed to hospital. He underwent surgery and was kept on a life support machine until the following day. The decision was then taken to switch off the machine and Justin was pronounced deceased."
caption: Pocono Raceway, where Wilson sustained a fatal accident from being struck by airborne debris from the car of Sage Karam.
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