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Arie Luyendyk's Big Weekend
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| Alex Zanardi
suffered two accidents during practice on Friday. The first was when
Patrick Carpentier crashed ahead of him and a chunk of gearbox sliced
through his suspension, sending him careering into the wall and
destroying his primary car. Later in the day, Alex's backup car twitched
momentarily, initiating another pirouette into the concrete. This time
he hit with a force that registered as 88 g, giving him a mild
concussion that was sufficient to ground him for the rest of the
weekend.
Wanting to protect Jimmy Vasser's third-place standing
in the championship, team owner Chip Ganassi turned to old friend and
former 1993 team driver Arie Luyendyk to step in as a replacement for
Zanardi. |
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Saturday Afternoon
Arie caught in the Target team garage being fitted for Jimmy
Vasser's backup car. Alex's cars were both write-offs for the weekend.
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With all the other cars already qualified in Saturday's first
qualifying session, Arie had the second session all to himself to set
up the car. There was much excitement at his arrival in the pit lane -
here we see him being interviewed by Dutch TV.
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Arie is no stranger to the speeds at the California Speedway -
while he currently races in the Indy Racing League, he's a two-time
Indy 500 winner, including in 1997, and previous holder of the fastest
lap record.
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Helmet on and settling into the cockpit, he prepares to set off on
his first lap.
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The car roars out of the pit...
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... and onto the track.
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His fastest lap was at an average of 225 mph, although his speed
was irrelevant to his starting position. With the other cars
previously qualified, he would be starting last whatever.
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A local motorcycle cop checks out his speed with a radar gun!
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The session over, Chip seems satisfied.
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Sunday
Last out of the pits, Arie makes his way onto the track for the
start.
On the way to the flag, Juan Fangio's Toyota caught fire, delaying
the real racing start to lap 11.
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With nothing to lose at the back of the field, Arie dropped into
the pits to top up with fuel, but there was a scary moment when a
methanol spill burned the refueling man.
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Arie's day ended as early as lap 40 when Arnd Meier spun ahead of
him. Too close to avoid a collision, Arie speared him almost head on
and then got clouted again as he rebounded from the wall. He was
knocked out by the impact and, although it took several minutes to
free him from the wreckage, he was otherwise unhurt.
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