Firestone 550K

[Jag_Warrior]

I'm pretty sure that would be Davey Hamilton.

Well, that's sad... especially coming from a racer. It's one thing to be incompetent (the safety crew), but it's even worse to be stupid (Davey Hamilton).

[GRW1983]

it will be interesting to see if and how they address the simona fire on the next broadcast....

im predicting a nice feel good segment on the safety team... how they have addressed fires and similar situations.... there reaction at Indy and Conway.....a renewed commitment etc....


*and I'll be OK with it.....not to excuse or sweep what happened last saturday nite under the rug, but sometimes a wake-up call is exactly that.... a wake up call

I'm still waiting for IndyCar to PUBLICLY apologise for that debacle on Saturday night. HVM are so right to criticise the safety team for their hopeless attempt at a rescue. Thank god that car wasn't upside down because that could have been horrific. I know the head-collar is a safety feature, but why should you have to remove it to get out of the car, your wasting time when you could be climbing out. Look at the Helio/Moraes crash, both drivers had the steering wheel off, unbuckled and climbed out. No need to remove the head-collar. Either the head-collar is re-designed in such a way that it is easier to remove or educate ALL drivers that in an emergency situation, don't bother to remove it and exit the car immediately.

F1 drivers have to exit a car in 5 seconds, they even make reference to that very same number in the film Driven, so that was obviously the standard in CART, so what the hell is the standard for IndyCar??? It seems that when some drivers crash, they can exit the car without any help or need to remove the head-collar, so if these cars are supposed to be identical, then surely EVERY driver has the capacity to exit the car without any help or need to remove the head-collar. I don't blame Simona in any way, the safety team carries the can on this one for their total lack of fire-fighting ability and their total panic when they realised she'd been on fire far too long.

I for one will be very interested to see how IndyCar reacts to this situation at the next race, and in the future. Fires in the pit are fairly common and dealt with swiftly. Fires on track are RARE, but that doesn't excuse what happened to Simona. As for Davey Hamilton defending the safety team, what an idiot. If they'd done their job, Simona wouldn't have suffered burns and we'd all be praising them for their swift response instead of criticising them for looking like the Keystone Cops. Drivers should not be, effectively, trapped in their cars when they are on fire. Steering wheel off, belts undone, climb out. How hard does that have to be???

[00steven]

Indycar will just sweep the fire incident under the rug.

[SoCalPVguy]

Indycar will just sweep the fire incident under the rug.

You are correct they did... read the official IRL statement---

First and foremost, we make the safety of our competitors a priority when on the track. The primary hose on the series' safety truck malfunctioned, so the safety team had to go to the backup of the bottles. All equipment is checked prior to going on track before every race. We are examining why the hose malfunctioned to ensure this equipment failure will not happen again.



Our Safety Team consists of approximately 24 highly-trained safety personnel with a minimum of 14 attending each event - 2 trauma physicians, 3 paramedics and 9 firefighters/EMTs. Team members have an average of 20 years of experience in their respective areas. The safety team is recognized for its high standards and high performance and this problem will be addressed.

[Easy Drifter]

Nothing about looking at the 'collars' to see if improvements can be made. Nothing about investigating better firefighting equipment, or better fire protection for their firefighters/rescue people.
All of that should have been included. Maybe they would do zip but statements to indicate the above would show more concern!

[markabilly]

Nothing about looking at the 'collars' to see if improvements can be made. Nothing about investigating better firefighting equipment, or better fire protection for their firefighters/rescue people.
All of that should have been included. Maybe they would do zip but statements to indicate the above would show more concern!

yep, one would think some heavy duty training on how to extract someone from the cockpit would also be in order.....per my other post in you got to be kidding.........

[GRW1983]

You are correct they did... read the official IRL statement---

First and foremost, we make the safety of our competitors a priority when on the track. The primary hose on the series' safety truck malfunctioned, so the safety team had to go to the backup of the bottles. All equipment is checked prior to going on track before every race. We are examining why the hose malfunctioned to ensure this equipment failure will not happen again.



Our Safety Team consists of approximately 24 highly-trained safety personnel with a minimum of 14 attending each event - 2 trauma physicians, 3 paramedics and 9 firefighters/EMTs. Team members have an average of 20 years of experience in their respective areas. The safety team is recognized for its high standards and high performance and this problem will be addressed.

Oh okay, that makes what happened on Saturday night just fine, then? Where the hell is the apology to Simona and HVM, and why no mention as to why it took so long for Simona to get out of the car??? I would respect the IRL a lot more if they said in their statement that regardless of equipment failure, their response was inadequate and immediate action would be taken to ensure that there was no repeat and that they were very sorry Simona suffered minor burns and apologised, publicly, to her and her team. I won't be holding my breath on this one, though.

[SarahFan]

dont hold your breath......

[GRW1983]

dont hold your breath......

Trust me SarahFan, I'm not!!!

[00steven]

We need to just be thankful shes ok. A fire in a racecar is serious stuff.

Wish you well Simona!