It’s been nearly a full calendar year since a horrific crash at Pocono left Robert Wickens with a thoracic spinal fracture, a neck fracture, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, fractures in both hands, a fractured right forearm, a fractured elbow, four fractured ribs, a pulmonary contusion, and an indeterminate spinal injury.
A devastating series of injuries that left the Canadian IndyCar driver paralyzed.
A lot of people would’ve been crushed mentally and emotionally under these circumstances, but Wickens has managed to stay positive throughout his rehabilitation and has learned a valuable lesson that anyone – not just race car drivers – could come to realize.
“I think something that I’ve learned through this injury is that there’s more to life than work,” said Wickens on Prime Time Sports Tuesday. “It took me nearly losing my life to realize that because I would’ve done anything for racing and now I’ve got a new perspective on things.”
With this revelation has come a new, just-as-relatable goal for the Wickens.
“There’s definitely those days when you’re down and you don’t feel like doing anything and I just think about what I want to do at my wedding coming up at the end of September,” said Wickens. “The plan is I want to try and walk my then-wife off the altar together and, hopefully, have a first dance together. That’s what’s driving me the most.”
The 30-year-old has been very public showcasing how his rehabilitation has been going, regularly posting updates on social media.
One in February showed Wickens’s goal to dance with his fiancée, Karli Woods, at their wedding wasn’t just a fantasy.
Before that, however, Wickens will get the opportunity to get back in a car on a racetrack again, being given the opportunity to drive in the parade lap at this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto.
“Racing is all I know how to do and driving is all I want to do,” said Wickens.
You can listen to Wickens’s entire appearance on Prime Time Sports in the radio player above where he also speaks about his perfectionist approach to racing, and now, his rehabilitation, and more.
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