Injured Bourdais happy to not be part of “bullshit” Texas race

Bourdais called Texas 'pack' race "bullshit"

Sebastien Bourdais, currently recuperating from a broken pelvis after his 118G shunt in qualifying for the Indy 500, says he is frustrated by not enough people admitting that the racing at Texas Motor Speedway was too risky.

Several accidents and incidents decimated the field in last Saturday night’s RainGuard Water Sealer 600, largely as a result of there being very little separation between the cars on track, to where just six healthy cars finished the race on the lead lap.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he was sorry not to be in his #18 Dale Coyne Racing-Honda when substitute Tristan Vautier proved the entry was a genuine threat for victory at Texas Motor Speedway, Bourdais replied: “No. It was wrong, it was bullshit, and I think we should know better than that.

“Back in the days, particularly when Dan [Wheldon] died, we told ourselves that we would never do that style of racing again. And actually, as far as I’m concerned, Texas last weekend is not even the first time we’ve done it since then. We’ve done it at Fontana in 2015 and in a couple of other places.

“I keep hearing and reading comments that I feel in disbelief about; people saying, ‘This was awesome! This was such a great show!’ and I’m like, ‘Man, oh man, people are suffering short-memory syndrome, big time.’

“If we haven’t proved to ourselves that we can’t do stock car-style racing with open-wheel cars without putting drivers’ lives at risk to a massive amount, then clearly we haven’t learned anything and we’re just delusional. I’d just like people to tell it straight – ‘This was a big mistake, we’re just really glad that we made it through, and let’s never make this mistake again.’ But that’s not what I’m reading. I’m reading, ‘How great was that?!’

“It’s not all about the show. It’s about making sure that we can race, and race hard but don’t put the drivers and teams and series in a spot where we shouldn’t be. It’s all fun and games until somebody dies. And then what?

“As soon as that green flag dropped, I was holding my phone and shaking, praying that nobody would get hurt. That is not how these races should be." More at Motorsport.com