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IndyCar driver James Davison's front right tire exploded after it caught fire during the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 for which Davison had waited for so many months.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Indy 500 was rescheduled. Originally, it was scheduled for May 24 and came to a halt after the pandemic. The Racing returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway looked spectacular, and it was only when the front tire of Davison’s motor car caught fire, and within a small time span, it looked nothing more than a ball of fire rolling through the Speedway.
It looked like it started with the right-front brake but later it was the magnesium wheel that caused this explosion. Eventually, the fire spread even worse with the wheel center exploding. We were lucky to have Davison safely get out of the car, and how he brought the car to a stop. Quickly the safety crew came in to take charge of the situation and put out the fire.
Davison was taken immediately to the infield care center. It was the sixth Indianapolis 500, which proved to be unfortunate for the 33-year-old racer. But, in a way, he was fortunate to have escaped any major injury due to this massive explosion that took place.
Per the traditions, the event is always organized on Memorial Day weekend. But, this year because of the COVID-19 outbreak and the consequent halt to the racing event the tradition could not be followed. Originally it was scheduled for May 24, which got postponed due to the pandemic. This means that the race is organized during spring every year, which is taking place in summer this year. This could have been the reason that — because of the warmer weather the right front wheel of Davison No. 51 Honda exploded and became a ball of fire in almost no time.
Davison explained that the brakes have heated up due to which they combusted, and the tire exploded. While the car was lifted onto a flatbed truck, it was still smoky. Unquestionably the end of the 2020 Indy 500 for car 51 and Davison, which is a real disappointment for everyone & Davison himself. Unexpectedly, it came to end way too early, which had without any doubt disheartened Davison. He did not speak much after the bizarre incident — and just uttered a three-word sentence “It's still 2020”, which summed it all.
James Davison is a professional race driver from Australia. He drives the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Spire Motorsports, Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America & the No. 53 Camaro for Rick Ware Racing in the NASCAR Cup. In addition to that Davison or JD as famously called had also competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series & the NTT IndyCar Series.
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