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Danica Patrick hits crew member on pit lane...........
Danica Patrick was involved in an incident on pit lane during Friday’s practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when her car hit a crew member from another team in pit lane.
Patrick, who gained fame as the first female driver ever to win in a major close-course racing series when the IndyCar driver drove to victory at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan on April 19, came into the pits and hit Charles (Chuck) Buckman, the chief mechanic for Brazilian driver Mario Moraes at Dale Coyne Racing.
According to Dr. Mike Ollinger, the director of Medical Affairs for the Indy Racing League, Buckman suffered a concussion along with scalp and facial lacerations. He was transported to Methodist Hospital for treatment where he is being held overnight.
“I really don’t remember how it happened,” Buckman said. “All I remember is I was talking with someone on Marco Andretti’s team and then everything is blank from that point.
The Article in full: Patrick hits crew member on pit lane - IRL - Yahoo! Sports
Jesus what is she, she hits a guy puts him in the hospital and then makes one statement with out explaining anything and then says No More Questions regarding this incident..........
“It’s really, really unfortunate what happened today,” Patrick said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. Hopefully he can get back to the track soon and do what he loves.”
Patrick would not accept any questions after making her statement and Andretti Green Racing team members said they would not take any further questions on the incident “in the days to come.”
I guess you have never been in the pits either during a race or over the wall during time trials, there is a lot of activity. If he was over the wall he should not have been, being very observant instead of chatting.
Last edited by Peter Guenther : 05-10-2008 at 04:34 PM.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Guenther
I guess you have never been in the pits either during a race or over the wall during time trials, there is a lot of activity. If he was over the wall he should not have been, being very observant instead of chatting.
Peter, If you saw the replay of the hit and run it was not nice and she made no effort to avoid it. I do understand what you are saying but my point was that to hit the guy and then refuse to even take questions? As most of us have seen on several F1 races idiots have run out on the track to make this statement or that and all drivers coming near these idiots either slowed down or swerved to miss the idiot but if you watch the film, No swerve, no stopping short, no nothing just hit the idiot watch bounce down the side of her car and refuse to answer any questions. Nice attitude considering she put someone in the hospital intentionally or not..............
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Dunno... one account says he stepped into her path at the last moment.
“He was actually walking down pit lane (running an errand) down by the Andretti Green pits,” said Dale Coyne Racing chief mechanic Mitch Davis. “The Green guys said he was walking along, looked back at Marco Andretti, stepped to the right and when he did he stepped right in front of her. He was going back to the garage to get something.
IMS spokesman Ron Green said Buckman had facial and scalp lacerations and a concussion.
Danica Patrick walks out of the pit area after her car struck a crewman from Dale Coyne Racing during practice.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A member of Dale Coyne's pit crew is recovering at Methodist Hospital after being struck by Danica Patrick's race car on pit road Friday afternoon. It happened about 1:30 p.m. while the drivers were practicing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Although it was an accident, Patrick still feels bad about what happened.
"It's really, really unfortunate what happened today. Thoughts and prayers are with him and his family," said Patrick. "Hopefully he can get back to the track soon and be able to do what he loves."
IMS spokesman Ron Green said he had facial and scalp lacerations and a concussion. He was first taken to the Clarian Medical Center at the Track before being transferred to Methodist Hospital.
"Danica came in, he was walking back to the garage area, and just missed seeing it...got hit and thrown to the ground. It looks bad, he's got some face cuts. So there was blood," said team owner Dale Coyne. "He got knocked out for a minute or so, but they checked him out here at the infield and he was alert and awake, knew where he was at, so they took him down to Methodist to do a scan, make sure the concussion isn't bad, and the doctors here think he'll be fine, just have a pretty mean headache tomorrow."
A witness said Charles Buckman was looking for another IndyCar driver when Patrick ran into him. Buckman was unconscious at the scene and rushed to the track hospital.
After the incident drivers continued to practice until rain ended the practice. IMS officials shut down the track around 4 p.m. and said the track will remain closed for the rest of the day. There will be another two-hour practice session Saturday morning before the noon start of pole qualifying for the May 25 race.
WISH-TV Racing Analyst Derek Daly said Patrick's crew quickly got her out of the car and escorted her from the scene. Daly said Patrick did nothing wrong.
Daly also described the incident in the WISHTV.com Sports Blog:
"The big story was Danica hitting another team's mechanic. It was a friend of mine, Chuck Buckman. Chuck has been at the speedway for more than 20 years. He was my mechanic when I drove for Tony Bettenhausen's Provimi Veal Team.
I saw the incident just seconds after the impact. The AGR team whisked Danica away immediately as the IMS safety crew and doctors tended to Chuck. I could see that he had facial lacerations and had lost some blood. There was about seven rescue officials who lifted him on to the stretcher with him connected to an IV and to oxygen. Some AGR crew members were visibly upset. I have witnessed a crew member being killed in a pit lane at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982. It does not take great speed to cause serious injury.
The pit lane was pretty hectic at the time with lots of action as teams tried to cram in laps as it looked like it was going to rain."
This was the third incident at the track on Friday. Rookie driver Alex Lloyd was also hospitalized with neck pains after hitting the wall hard during practice. Another rookie, Mario Dominguez spun off and hit the wall while coming off of pit road.
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