The life of Colorado IndyCar driver Justin Wilson was celebrated and his death was mourned Tuesday at Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, which fields the No. 78 car in NASCAR’s premier series.
Art Kilgore, who is Furniture Row’s brake and suspension mechanic, was Wilson’s chief mechanic in 2007 at Loveland-based RuSport of open-wheel racing’s Champ Car World Series. Kilgore and Wilson worked together at RuSport for three years, becoming close friends.
“As a man, as a person, he was a great guy. He treated everybody great, and fair,” Kilgore said of Wilson, whose family lives in the small town of Dacono but listed his residence as nearby Longmont. “The biggest thing I enjoyed was, every time he got in that car, he was going to give us 110 percent and would get the most out of that car. As a racer, too, he was so competitive, but he always raced everybody clean. He was a gentleman racer.”
Wilson, 37, was pronounced dead Monday, after a devastating freak accident Sunday at an IndyCar Series race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. Wilson was struck in the helmet by a large piece of debris from a single-car crash in front of him. He then drove into an infield wall, probably while unconscious. He is survived by his wife, Julia, and daughters Jane, 7, and Jessica, 5.
“Can’t even begin to describe the loss I feel right now,” his younger brother, Stefan, also an IndyCar driver, tweeted Monday night. “He was my brother, my best friend, my role model and mentor. He was a champion!”
Stefan Wilson said his brother’s organs will be donated.
Justin Wilson was a seven-time winner in Champ Car from 2004-07 and IndyCar, which he began racing in 2008. He finished second in the Champ Car standings in 2006 and 2007, and his best IndyCar finish was sixth in 2013.
Two other Furniture Row crew members — Joe Kerrigan and Scott Leibert — also worked with Wilson at RuSport. But Kilgore was closest to Wilson, and familiar with accidents such as this one.
Before Kilgore became chief mechanic for Wilson in 2007, he was crew chief from 2004-06 for RuSport’s other car, driven by A.J. Allmendinger, Ryan Briscoe and Cristiano da Matta. Da Matta nearly died from head trauma in 2006 when he collided with a deer during a test session at Road America in Wisconsin. Da Matta recovered, but he never again raced in an elite-level, open-cockpit series.
“Nine years ago, when (I) went through a similar tough situation, he was always there giving me and my family all that support (I) so needed at that time,” Da Matta wrote Monday about Wilson on his Facebook page. “I want to let Justin’s family know, me and my whole family have our thoughts and prayers there with you. When you make through situations doctors can’t explain, you start to believe all that positive energy have somehow worked.”
In 1999, Kilgore worked on the Player’s Forsythe crew of driver Greg Moore, who died from major head injuries in Fontana, Calif., when his car went sideways into a pit wall in Champ Car’s season finale.
When Kilgore watched Sunday’s race and heard Monday’s news, he thought about da Matta and Moore.
“I’ve been through it more than a couple times. It breaks my heart,” Kilgore said.
Rick Armitstead of Windsor, owner of Peakview Homes, had plans to build a house for Wilson and his family in Erie. Their friendship stemmed from a mutual love of race cars.
“Our interests together were always cars first, and then building a house for him,” Armitstead said Tuesday. “The house kind of ended up being secondary.”
Armitstead lost one of his best friends.
“He had absolutely no ego,” he said of Wilson, originally from Sheffield, England. “Just wanted to provide for his family and do what he loved doing. He was awesome. I mean, as soon as you met him, either he was your friend or he felt like a brother. It was amazing.”
Armitstead takes comfort in knowing Wilson died doing what he loved.
“When it’s the passion or your life to drive a race car — it’s sad, don’t get me wrong — but it was his life’s goal,” Armitstead said. “The family, Julia and the girls, is now what you have to focus on, and how do you help them?”
Kurt Hansen, a broadcaster with Denver-based Race Central and a close friend and business colleague of Wilson’s, often had breakfast with the driver.
“He was a superior race car driver, but a superior human being as well,” Hansen said. “He was a son, a husband, a father — an amazing dude. His organs may save as many as five other people’s lives.”
Mike Chambers: mchambers @denverpost.com or
Legacies
Coloradan Justin Wilson, who died from injuries suffered Sunday in a IndyCar race in Pennsylvania, was a two-time recipient (2006, 2007) of the Greg Moore Legacy Award, given to the Champ Car driver who best exhibited Moore’s outstanding talent on track as well as displaying a dynamic personality with fans and media. Wilson and Moore both died of blunt-force trauma to the head incurred during a race.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
