Wilson, Legge crash heavily in Indianapolis 500 practice session

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Stefan Wilson and Katherine Legge crashed heavily with just under an hour left in practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Monday in the first wreck in the two-week build-up to the 107th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Wilson was immobilized on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace but gave a thumbs-up as he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Legge was able to climb from the cockpit of her crumpled machine on her own.

The two were going through Turns 1 and 2 when Wilson appeared to check up. Legge closed at a high rate of speed and hit the rear of his car, sending the two skidding into the wall. Legge ricocheted away with a glancing blow while Wilson, whose brother Justin Wilson was killed in a 2015 crash at Pocono, was facing head-on when he hit the SAFER barrier.

The safety team spent about 10 minutes carefully removing the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver from the car.

Legge is the only female driver in this year’s field, and she was the only driver from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing that made the 33-car field on the first day of qualifying. Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey joined her in the field on Sunday when Harvey bumped out teammate Graham Rahal in the final seconds of qualifying.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports