Will Power was the epitome of “‘tis just a flesh wound” after a first-lap crash with Charlie Kimball sent him into the wall at Sunday’s IndyCar race in Long Beach. Instead of letting recovery workers pull him out for a tow, he asked them to take his damaged front wing completely off so he could keep going.
I’m not dead yet! I’m getting better! I feel...happy!
Here’s why Power was running around with the entire front of his car missing:
Charlie Kimball went beside Power going into the fountain section where there’s really only room for one car abreast. In true Long Beach fashion, it ended predictably, with both cars in the wall before the fifth turn of the first lap. Kimball had to retire, but Power wasn’t having any of that. Power frantically gestured to the recovery crews to pull him out of the wall and let him drive back in.
Power is still a lap behind leading driver Scott Dixon even after pitting for a new nose, but do you just give up when the front of your car is completely smashed to bits? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No! Nothing is over until Power decides it is! You get that mostly intact car back out of the wall and keep going.
Give that man credit for trying.