MILLER: Deliverance – the amazing rescue of James Hinchcliffe

When “Code 5” came over the radio on May 18 from Safety 2 leader Roy Spielmann, Mike Carey mashed the throttle on his Safety 1 truck and sped around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to the scene of James Hinchliffe’s accident. Riding shotgun, Holmatro Safety Team leader Mike Yates (BELOW RIGHT) tried to envision what he was dealing with since that code’s protocol is urgency and calls for the rapid extrication of the driver.

In his 30-plus years of working on the IMS, Indy Racing League and IndyCar safety teams Yates had pretty much seen it all. But nothing could have prepared him for what he and his squad encountered that afternoon.

“We all know what James looks like normally and he was a lot paler than usual,” recalls Yates of his sight of the badly damaged Dallara of SPM. “Hinch let us know his back hurt but he was in quite a bit of pain so we couldn’t really distinguish his words. But we couldn’t move him because he was so pinched in the seat. So we got the Holmatro spreaders to try and get the seat away from his hips. But it was still too tight so we used the spreaders again until we heard the tub crack.

“I was finally able to slide my hand under James’ butt and that’s when I felt the blood. We didn’t know why he was bleeding but we knew we needed to hurry.”

And that’s where it got scary.

“We’ve got some strong guys but as we tried to lift him he was so heavy,”

continued Yates. “The part we were dealing with we couldn’t see: James was sitting on it. The suspension had him pinned in the car.”
            
The next move was the crucial one because Hinch was losing blood and time. Mike Perry, Doug Allen, Ryan Eagle and Yates surrounded the popular Canadian driver with Matt Stewart holding his legs.

“We had to slide him off the suspension and up out of the car. I told him it was gonna hurt like hell but we weren’t going to stop once we started – we couldn’t stop,” said Yates. “We got him on the cot and then right into the ambulance. Dr. Andrew Stephens, Matt and myself were controlling his bleeding and we made a quick stop at the infield hospital to pick up Dr. (Timothy) Pohlman.

“Dr. Pohlman mapped out a plan in the ambulance and that saved quite a bit of time because when

we got to IU Heath Methodist Hospital, James went right into the shock room to get prepped and I think he was in surgery before we got back to our vehicle!”

Pohlman performed the surgery and a “touch and go” patient pulled through. Much like Germany in 2001 when Dr. Terry Trammell, Dr. Steve Olvey, Lon Bromley and the CART safety team saved Alex Zanardi’s life with perfect execution, the rescue of Hinchcliffe was just as flawless. And Hinch was able to leave hospital just nine days later (BELOW, steered by Will Power).

“All these guys I work with are good at thinking on their feet and making split-second decisions,” said Yates, who said he was discussing modifying the spreader for extrication with Stewart on their way back to the Speedway. “It makes us all feel good that we were able to help James out and, thankfully, he’s still alive and he’s going to make a complete recovery. The good thing is that he doesn’t remember what happened and it’s probably just as well.

“It was a tough situation that thankfully worked out for the best.”