JR Hildebrand’s painful Indy 500 rookie mistake

JR Hildebrand

A quarter mile from immortality. A stinking quarter mile, one more simple left turn after having navigated the first 799 corners without incident. Rookie JR Hildebrand was all alone, nearly four seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Dan Wheldon, well on his way to winning the centennial Indianapolis 500.

It was a tap-in for the Masters title. A layup for the NBA championship. One final stride for the Olympic 100-meter gold.

Right there.

And then the 23-year-old rookie made a rookie mistake, one he will sadly regret the rest of his life. Instead of slowing down to accommodate back-marker Charlie Kimball on that final fourth turn on lap 200, he kept cruising, got high on the track, found some marbles and . . . bang.

Broken car, broken heart.

Maybe some day Hildebrand will move past this.

But probably not.

"It's a helpless feeling," he said later. More at Indy Star