Sting Ray Robb is already preparing for this weekend’s IndyCar Series round on the Streets of Toronto just 48 hours after his massive airborne crash in the second leg of the double-header at Iowa Speedway.
Coming out of Turn 2 on the final lap, the 22-year-old Idaho native clipped the left-rear of Alexander Rossi’s fuel-starved No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
The contact sent Robb’s No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet airborne with an extended hangtime before twisting into two-and-a-half barrel rolls as he returned to earth, skating down the backstretch on the right side and part of the aeroscreen, coming to a halt in Turn 3. The incident triggered a multi-car crash that also included Kyle Kirkwood and Ed Carpenter, who both spun out trying to avoid his flying car.
After the AMR Safety Team flipped Robb’s car upright and assisted him out, he was airlifted to a nearby hospital but reported as being ‘awake, alert and in good spirits’ and released just a few hours later.
During a media call on Tuesday, Robb provided his perspective of the event.
“During our first pitstop, we only got about a half a tank in the car,” Robb explained. “We were running light on fuel. I was on a massive fuel save going into that last stint.
“The deal was that I was holding up a big group behind me because we were scrambling to try and save as many drops of fuel as we could. I was fighting with Ed. We had a good battle going.
“Pushing the last few laps, I could see that Rossi was slowing. I didn't know to what extent. I looked up going into Turn 1 just to see where he was located. I think it was about three-quarters of the way through the turn, I could see the closing rate. It was very, very big. It was so massive.
“It's kind of like the worst-case scenario, when you're exiting a turn at that speed, with that closing rate, not knowing what other drivers are thinking or experiencing. I wish I could have hit a reset button like on a simulator, start over again. I'm sure he would be thinking the same thing.
“There were four cars that were pretty much totalled in that accident. The fact that we're all safe and sound and ready to go for Toronto is pretty impressive.”
The impact Robb’s hit was 109G, but staggeringly he has already shown enough medical progress that he has been cleared to get back behind the wheel for this weekend’s round at the 1.786-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in Canada.
A hit of that magnitude doesn’t come without significant soreness and bruises, though. He did a “quick self-check” once the car slowed.
“I had the wind knocked out of me,” Robb said. “The belts did their job. Everything worked as it was supposed to. I didn't have any cuts or anything abnormal.
“I had some bruises on my hips from the lap belts working, as they should have. When they brought me out of the car and pulled me out, I got light-headed, kind of sit out the bed too quickly in the morning (feeling) sometimes, you get light-headed, see stars a little bit. It was like that, but just super severe.”
And then, at that point, Robb lost consciousness.
“I passed out for I don't know how long it was,” he said. “It was pretty quick. When I came to, I was like, ‘I'm not doing too well.’
“They immediately laid me down on the stretcher. It was a precautionary that we wanted to make sure it was not just dehydration, turning 248 laps left, and getting dizzy from that.
“Once I was down on the stretcher, I felt great. I was seeing clearly. They hooked me up to an IV. Immediately I could feel the energy come back and I was ready to go.
“The Life Flight (helicopter airlift) out was to get a CT scan and make sure everything was good and it wasn't just the adrenaline of the moment, that I wasn't having pain from.”
Through all of the wreckage, the worst thing Robb appeared to sustain was a blister on his finger.
“I touched the halo getting out of the car,” Robb said. “It turns out when you take titanium and scrape it across the ground for a few hundred feet, it gets hot. Don't recommend. Lesson learned. You'll get a blister from touching hot titanium there.”
Now, Robb is doing his part to put the incident behind him and focus on Toronto.
“I think gratitude is something that is overlooked a lot of times in these instances of looking at things that went right leading up into that event and during that event,” Robb said.
“Also just being thankful. I feel like God protected me in that instance. Having the ability to get back in the car this next weekend, I'm not doing it from a place of fear, I'm doing it from a place of gratitude and thankfulness and joy that I get to go driving a car again.
“It is a scary incident. You don't know what is going to happen. While you're in that moment, it's terrifying, like you don't know what your future holds. When I turn my future over to someone, which is where my faith comes in, it allows me to move on much quicker than I think I would otherwise.”
