A “mantra” is a word or phrase repeated again and again to hammer home a message.
The current
president of the
You heard
it over and over and over and it meant that anything was possible (if you voted
him in.)
Ever since
the Simona De Silvestro fire incident, the folks at the Indy Racing League have
included a phrase in all their releases that could be considered a mantra: “The
Safety Team consists of approximately 24 highly-trained personnel . . .”
That phrase was included again yesterday when the League issued
its report on the fire at Texas Motor Speedway in which the driver was lucky to
escape with only a slight burn.
All I have to say is that if those people really were/are “highly
trained,” they wouldn’t have made the mess they did when they arrived at the
scene with a racing car on fire and the driver struggling to get out.
They appeared confused and ill-prepared. They appeared to be
anything but “highly trained.”
Here is the text of the IRL’s report on its investigation
into the fire and the Safety Team’s response:
“Upon review of the on-track fire during the June 5 race at
Texas Motor Speedway, the Indy Racing League discovered a procedural error in
the packing of a fire hose on one of its trucks that caused it to malfunction
as well as a breakdown in Safety Team protocol in its response to the incident.
"First and foremost, the Safety Team puts the highest
priority on driver safety," said Mike Yates, track safety manager for the
Indy Racing League. "Prior to every race, the Safety Team tests all hoses
to ensure they're working. At
"Additionally, upon arriving at the scene of the
incident, our protocol calls for Safety Team members to take pressurized
canisters with water and Cold Fire to the car to extinguish the fire as a first
response. In situations like this, decisions are made in a split second based
on the severity of the incident. After critiquing the situation, we have
determined that the canisters are a more efficient and effective way to quickly
suppress on-track fires. This will be reviewed with all Safety Team members."
Look, I understand that those people have a very tough job.
It is a really dangerous job. At least one member of that team put his own life
at risk when he went to De Silvestro’s aid.
But it was obvious they weren’t prepared for what happened
there. If there was a malfunction of equipment, as has been determined, then Plan
B should have kicked in and there didn’t appear to be a Plan B.
I’ve talked ad nauseum about the Oswego Speedway Safety Crew
but the fact of the matter is that they practice. They create situations and
plan how to react. And I have relatives who are firefighters who tell me that
if there aren’t fires to fight, they review how to fight them so they’re
prepared.
Let’s hope the IRL and its Safety Team have learned a huge
lesson and that if they have to spring into action at
And that the folks putting out the media releases will wait
a bit before using the words “highly trained” again.
Last Monday, in the commenting section following my report on
the Grand Prix of Canada, the NASCAR race at
“Who won the FF race in
Good point.
Xavier Coupal (just one of many young up-and-coming
On Sunday, Coupal spun out and failed to finish. Olivier
Bonnet won the race, edging his father Michel and
I’m old friends with Steve Pickering’s father, Hector, who
was Canada’s best NHRA Top Fuel drag racer back in the late-1980s, early 1990s.
It was Hector’s Formula Ford team that a young Toronto Beaches high
school student named Gavin Ward volunteered with at Mosport and Ward has since gone on to
the Red Bull Formula One team where he is a race engineer.
By the way, that Sunday race was so close that if you
blinked, you missed seeing the finish. The Bonnets and Pickering flashed across
the line and three-tenths of a second separated first and third.
I also missed out reporting on three other
In the Italian Formula 3 series, Gianmarco Raimondo of
Now, I know Raimondo is probably disappointed with his
results but he shouldn’t be. He’s a raw rookie who was only running his third
and fourth races in that series. And anybody you ask will tell you that the
differences between North American racing (where he was a champion) and European racing are like night and
day. Those racers over there are ruthless and the fact that Raimondo is hanging
in there, and finishing in the top 50 per cent of the fields, is commendable.
Meantime, in the same series and races, Nelson Mason of
And, finally, Alex Ellis of
The Jim Russell championship has been downgraded from 18 races
to six because only six drivers entered the series. And instead of a fully
sponsored season in the FIA Formula 2 championship, the winner this season will
receive an Indy Lights test and entry into the Lights race at Infineon Raceway
in August.
Definitions of wag :
1) a witty amusing person who makes jokes
2) move from side to side; "The happy dog wagged his tail"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu...I'll go with #2
Posted by: dj | 06/18/2010 at 03:58 PM