Danica Hits Crew Member; Marco Crashes
The Iowa race weekend began with a report that Danica Patrick had again hit a person in the pit area. The #7 left rear tie changer was unable to participate in the race although reported to be all right. In the incident the man was trapped between the racecar and pit wall. A former, experienced crew member replaced the injured tire changer for the Iowa race.
What other driver has recently hit someone in the pits—not once but twice? The first time was attributed to the man not paying attention to pit activity.
Marco Andretti crashed his car in qualifications. The team prepped his backup car, which had been run at Texas Motor Speedway last week, as a replacement. A two-lap “installation” run was allowed to ensure the car was properly operating. That seemed unusual, especially for a car that was run last week. Wonder what the reasoning was?
Marco lucked out on the qualification attempt, however, because rain and water seepage on the track caused the grid to be set by entrant points when qualifications were cancelled. That placed him at 8th position. Would a driver that doesn’t win and continues to crash still be employed if not a member of the family team? Is his contract adjusted accordingly?
Race observers were waiting to see what would happen at Iowa following the incident between Patrick and the younger Andretti at Texas. The #26 car was faster but Patrick refused to allow a pass for her teammate to advance in the race for several laps. During the past week, team members have spoken about the event and according to Michael Andretti, team co-owner and race strategist for Patrick, on ESPN/ABC Sports, “She won’t do it again.”
Let’s hope she or another driver doesn’t hit a person in the pits again, too.
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