Indy 500: Stefan Wilson on crash that nearly killed him, losing his brother and why he CAN'T quit

The short, stark warning came from Stefan Wilson's spotters, those extra eyes and ears tasked with helping IndyCar drivers track their surroundings at 230mph.

'They're calling out things that you're not able to see in your mirrors,' the British driver explains. 'We rely on them quite a lot.' 

Particularly at turns one and three of Indianapolis Motor Speedway where, in May, Wilson was in practice for the Indy 500. 

It is the 33-year-old's one race of the year, the culmination of 12 months' graft and gear changes. And yet this year, in the space of 1.1 seconds, everything went up in smoke. 

Wilson sensed little danger when the cars ahead of him began to jostle for position. He eased off, he had seen this a thousand times. But elsewhere, an alarm sounded. 

Stefan Wilson has opened up on the crash that nearly killed him ahead of the Indianapolis 500 

The Dreyer & Reinbold driver (right) slammed into the wall at 186mph after being clipped

Wilson recalled the moment of his crash in chilling detail: 'I dropped 150mph in a second'

'I hear (the spotter) scramble to get the radio and try and call out something. He ended up just saying "s***!"' Wilson recalls.

'At that point I was like: "This is not good"… I had a moment to process that and think "what do I do?"' 

There wasn't much he could do before fellow Brit Katherine Legge clipped him from behind. 

'It immediately spun me round… I was just a passenger,' the Dreyer & Reinbold driver recalls. 'I hit the wall at 186mph… we dropped 150mph in like 1.1secs.' 

Wilson's car crashed into the barrier head on. 'The worst possible way to go in, because there's less crumple zone,' he explains. 

The impact on his car was 57.8gs; the force measured on his headphones was 55gs. For context, the highest g-force on a rollercoaster is said to be around 6.3g. It all makes for a pretty grim watch. 

'I was awake for the whole thing,' Wilson says. 

Miraculously, Legge walked away from the crash. Wilson, meanwhile, was placed on a stretcher. He had felt a sharp pain. He had broken his back and yet, moments before being lifted into an ambulance, he held his thumb into the air. 

'It immediately spun me round… I was just a passenger,' Wilson recalls of the accident

Before he was taken to hospital Wilson gave a thumbs up to tell his wife Katie he was awake

'I knew that my wife was probably watching and I wanted to make sure that she knew that I was at least awake and alert,' he says. 

Wilson hoped she wouldn't worry too much. But how could his family not fear the worst?

After all, back in 2015, Wilson's older brother Justin, once of F1 and IndyCar, sufffered fatal injuries in a race. He was just 37 and a father of two; Stefan watched on TV as his brother was hit by flying debris from another car at Pocono, Pennsylvania. Justin died the following day and his ashes are scattered across the track where Stefan tempted death, too. 

Speaking to DailyMail.com in a back brace, a few weeks after surgery, Wilson knows minds will have wandered back through all that pain and all that tragedy. 

'I don't want them to have to go through something similar or bring back those memories,' he says. But preparation for 2024 is already underway. 

'I definitely feel like I'm being very selfish,' Wilson admits. 'It's not lost on me that it's putting my family through the ringer a little bit, having to watch me go out there and risk my life. 

'I'm fine with it. I'm fine risking my life doing it because this is what I love doing. This is what we do and the danger is unfortunately ever present. 

'I accept that but that doesn't mean it makes it easier for my family to watch on. 

'So that weighs on me a lot but I know that they also want me to be happy. And it's just what I do.' 

The driver's older brother Justin - once of F1 and IndyCar - was killed in an accident in 2015

Stefan admits his mother would like him to stop racing after Justin (pictured) lost his life

Only last weekend, 18-year-old Dilano van 't Hoff died following an accident in the Formula Regional European Championship. 

Wilson's family haven't discussed how his crash made them feel, or asked him to pack it all in. 

'They respect me (enough) to make my own decisions,' the 33-year-old says. 'My mum would love it if I stopped but she knows that it's my life and this is what I do.' 

Stefan was around when Justin broke his back in a crash, too. 'A very similar injury, very similar placement in his spine,' he explains. 

Those reminders of his brother, all they have sacrificed and all they have lost, help explain Wilson's peace with danger and his obsession with the Indy500. 

'It's the biggest race in the world - there's nothing bigger,' he says. 'It's life defining to win… it's wanting your life to have a meaning, a purpose. 

'It's like people who climb Mount Everest and risk their lives doing that. Because going to the top gives them something to chase, a meaning in life.' 

The other motivation? 'While I chase it for myself and my own personal glory, it's also outweighed by the fact that Justin raced in this race as well,' Stefan explains. 

'He had the same desires that I have and he didn't get to achieve it. So I feel this sense of wanting to achieve it for him as much as I want to achieve it for myself. 

Wilson, pictured here in his hospital bed, has lost none of his desire to climb back into the car 

Wilson had two two titanium rods and eight screws inserted into his back after the crash

'(That) is something that I think about a lot… honestly, if it wasn't for that, I probably would have given up by now.' 

Why? 'Because it is such a challenge just even to get in that race,' says Wilson, who would have been starting his fifth Indianapolis 500. 

'That's ultimately probably the biggest driving factor: being able to achieve it for him because I think he would have (won) if he'd had a few more years and those opportunities got cut short.' 

The two titanium rods, screwed on to Wilson's back, will remain forever.  A giant cut now runs down his skin, too. Beyond that, though, most scars from his scare have already begun to fade. 

The crash has not dented Wilson's desire to climb back into the car. Instead, it only fueled his desire to etch his name into history. 

For the first few weeks after surgery, progress was gradual. 'The pain has never been that bad,' he explains. '(But) those first couple of days, pretty much all my mobility was gone. It was hard just to walk… you need your wife to help you put socks on.'

Before too long, he could climb stairs and sleep through the night. 'I'm still a few more weeks away from doing yoga, though!' Wilson jokes. 

The biggest challenge in those early days? Sneezing.

'You don't realize how many muscles tense up in that moment and how violent a sneeze can be,' he explains. '(It) just jars all your back, everything… that moment when you feel the sneeze coming on, it's just pure dread… every now and again one gets through and you feel like your whole body is going to fall apart.' 

Wilson made it to the track to watch this year's race, which was won by Josef Newgarden 

Wilson will remain in the brace for around three months and then preparation for 2024 can begin in earnest. It's a full-time job. 'It really is an entire year,' Wilson says. 

Three months alone are spent finding partners to help fund this one-race regime. Wilson is among around a half dozen 'Indy500 one-offs' and in 2019 and 2020, he failed to raise enough support to race. 

After passing that test, drivers must find a team. Then they must build up their physical fitness ahead of two test days in April. Drivers are given just four days' practice before qualifying and then race day. 

Hence why his diagnosis felt like 'sticking the knife in'. 'All the blood, sweat and tears wasn't for nothing,' he says. 'But the big day, we didn't get to do. It was heartbreaking.' 

In the early days of his recovery, Wilson said that sneezing was the most painful part 

Wilson made it to the track to watch this year's race, which was won by Josef Newgarden. Back in 2018, the British driver led with four laps remaining, only to finish 15th. This crash cost him another shot at immortality. But if – or when? – he wins the Indy500, the setback would make victory even sweeter. 

'I was already the biggest underdog story in the entire field,' Wilson explains. 'I don't see anyone else who's overcome a lot of the adversity that I have had to overcome, and truly knows what it feels like to be sitting on the couch when the Indy500 is happening saying: 'F***, I should be there.' 

His career has stalled at times; in 2020, he had begun to accept that 'the journey was probably over'. For a few hours after doctors confirmed the fracture in his vertebrae, Wilson was again unsure if he would ever race again. Even now, doubts linger. 

'I still have to go through this process to get back to 100 percent, to get back in a car and have it not affect me,' he says. Then comes the small task of trying to win the race. For his own legacy. And for Justin.