As racing will never truly be Safe!
Ironically Thursday evening I listened to a story
on Reuters about how Juan Manuel Correa still dreams of becoming a Formula 1
driver. Although you’d have to say that time’s running out on the 23yr old Ecuadorian-american
FIA Formula 2 driver. Since as Correa Himself admits, racing is a results based
business.
You may recall that Correa was involved in the
death of Anthoine Hubert at the August, 2019 Spa-Francorchamps F2 race. Where
Correa Himself was severely injured and has now undergone some 25 operations to
His feet and legs!
As Correa also astutely points out that He now
knows there’s far more than just driving a racing car fast to life! Which He
feels has made Him a better racecar driver…
Then Saturday morning, I awoke to the news that
18yr old Dutch teenager Dilano van ‘t Hoss had Died while contesting the Formula
Regional European Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
As Hoss was involved in a multi-car Shunt in
the wet on a race restart before perishing at the daunting Spa-Francorchamps
circuit in the Ardennes forest.
Next, at the beginning of IndyCar Radio Network’s
live Qualifying coverage from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington,
Ohio. I was momentarily startled to hear that Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud
had suffered a wicked crash during the morning practice session after suffering
a Brake failure! For which reportedly Pagenaud rolled His No. 60 Dallara/Honda
at least nine times! And wasn’t cleared to participate in Qualifying due to the
excessive G-Force readings from His in-ear accelerometer.
As Pagenaud will need to be cleared by IndyCar
Medical Sunday morning in order to start last in the field. Although
interestingly, ousted Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) driver Conor Daly is on hand in
the IndyCar Paddock this weekend…
Whilst IndyCar Radio’s Nicky Salt’ Yeoman noted
that the AMR Safety Team had been busy on Saturday. Claiming that one of the USF2000
Championship Contendahs’, Lochie Hughes had spectacularly Cart-wheeled into the
proverbial Kitty-litter at the Keyhole during the days race!
As Hughes reportedly tangled with Simon Sikes, the Pole sitter who was forced to abandon the race from second when Race Control ordered Him to retire since His rear wing was missing! And His car was deemed to be unsafe…