Indy 500 ends under caution after spectacular crash involving Spencer Pigot

Tom Gatto

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Indy 500 ends under caution after spectacular crash involving Spencer Pigot image

The 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 ended under a yellow flag Sunday following a violent wreck involving Spencer Pigot.

Pigot's car spun with five laps remaining in the 200-lap race and struck the outer barrier. The car then skidded to the inside and crashed at high speed into a barrier at the entrance to pit road at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Pigot exited the cockpit of his car under his own power but was later placed on a stretcher. The Associated Press reported he was transported to an area hospital for further evaluation.

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Stewards chose not to red-flag the race after the wreck, leaving Takuma Sato the winner under caution. This is Sato's second Indy 500 victory.

Much of the reaction to Pigot's crash centered on safety measures on the track and the car, including the SAFER barrier on the outside wall, the stacks of tires guarding the pit road entrance and, perhaps most importantly, the Aeroscreen shield in the front of the cockpit, which may have kept the wreck from being fatal. The shield was in place to keep debris from striking Pigot in the head.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.