Robert Wickens Wants To Race The Indy 500

Injured IndyCar driver Robert Wickens is seen in the pit area during qualifications for the Indy 500 ... [+] at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 19, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Sometimes August 19, 2018, seems like a lifetime ago for Robert Wickens. That afternoon at Pocono Raceway, Wickens suffered a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down.

The Canadian race car driver started his pro career as a Red Bull Junior Team member before racing touring cars and open-wheel racers. Wickens was in his rookie season as an IndyCar driver when the crash occurred.

"From my recovery, I focused on rehab. Obviously, I wanted to regain the best quality of life possible."

Yet, retiring from racing wasn't at all part of Wickens’ thinking.

"After (my initial) rehab, and once I knew I was nearing a plateau, I knew I needed to work on my driver fitness. Because I knew I wanted to get back to racing."

Since 2018, Wickens has worked as a driver coach for the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team while also spending time as an ambassador for Wings For Life, Red Bull's charity of choice, whose sole purpose is curing spinal cord injury through research.

And while the details are still in the works, Wickens says he is planning to take the track again, possibly in 2024, in the Indianapolis 500 race.

"Next year is going to be the 108th running of the Indy 500. So far, there's never been a disabled driver in the race." Wickens, who now resides in Indianapolis also wants to race in front of his hometown crowd. "I think for spinal cord injury awareness and for my own journey, it would be a great story."

Last year Wickens took to the track with Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai, returning to racing in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Since then, the 34-year-old Canadian has won two races—including the IMSA season opener at Daytona—doing so with Hyundai Elantra N-TCR fitted with hand controls for Wickens, who can not maneuver car pedals his feet.

Wickens said that he knows that racing is all about trying and failing, and at least for him at the moment, moving further forward.

"I thought that I would re-enter racing, try again and fail, have my closure, and move on to the next chapter of my life," he said. "Thankfully, so far, it's been successful," Wickens said of his IMSA racing. "Now we’re just plugging away to see how far we can take this thing."

Wickens looks at this trophy after his podium finish in a preliminary race before the Rolex 24 ... [+] during the IMSA WeatherTech Series race at Daytona International Speedway on January 28, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Cleary/Getty Images)

Competition in the veins

"The goal was always Formula One for me," Wickens said. "It's the pinnacle of motorsports"

He added, "as a kid, I always went to IndyCar races in Toronto when they were there." Wickens said that he also watched NASCAR as someone who loved racing of all kinds. "But as someone who raced go-karts, basically doing road course (racing), running in an oval didn't appeal as much to me."

Wickens joined Red Bull in 2006, two years after founding as a standalone racing outfit. Before 2004, Red Bull had been a sponsor partner of Swiss-based Sauber Motorsport AG. When asked about Red Bull's go-getter culture, Wickens said that the organization has always aimed high.

"When I joined the Red Bull Junior Team in 2006, I was one of the twenty-some drivers there. It was survival of the fittest—and so much competition. You had to be the best of the best."

Wickens added that in the junior competitions, Red Bull drivers were "winning all the time" and that it seemed like just a matter of time before the outfit would be on top of Formula One.

Red Bull's Formula One outfit, Oracle Red Bull Racing, currently boasts the No. 1 and 2 ranked drivers, Max Verstappen and Sergio "Checo" Pérez. they have six race wins and nine podiums between them.

Verstappen, a 25-year-old Dutch-Belgian driver, is the two-time reigning Formula One champion and won both the Miami Grand Prix and this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.

Wickens thinks that overall Red Bull has a special knack for identifying talent but notes that the demands are equal to the team's ambitions. Wickens said he felt it even as a junior team member.

"If you weren't winning, you were basically done. So, for me, joining Red Bull (in 2006) was my opportunity," Wickens said during our interview before the Miami Grand Prix. "I came from a family of average means, and Red Bull was really my savior early on."

Red Bull's two-time Formula One champion Max Verstappen has unseated Lewis Hamilton as the world's ... [+] top driver. Both drivers appear here ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari on April 17, 2021 in Imola, Italy. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Wickens explained that after his first full year of racing, he expected to "go back to racing go-karts" but was scouted by Red Bull and, at age 17, was offered a contract to join the Red Bull Junior Team.

At the time that Wickens was first associated with Red Bull and one its racing rosters, the newish team was still in search of a Formula One championship and drivers that could win season-long.

Before driving under the Red Bull banner, Wickens participated in Formula BMW USA for Team Apex Racing USA, naming five podiums and two wins, which brought him third place and the best rookie's title. Wickens also took sixth place in the Formula BMW World Final.