TO ALL OUR ELKHART LAKE CORNER MARSHALS:
Folks, once again, on behalf of the entire Champ Car World Series family, thank you very much for a great effort in trying conditions and circumstances. Friday and Saturday both showed us tough weather conditions, but you held up your end and soldiered on with no complaints. On Sunday, we threw two very tough and busy races at you and your response was outstanding.
I will remind you that I stated at the Sunday briefing that Road America conjures up some wild races for our series, and this year was no different. I would especially like to congratulate Lon Hake on the landline and his crew at turns 11 and 11A for holding up to the strain of Katherine's huge accident. From the several races I have worked down there as a marshal, I took away a healthy respect for anyone who spends any time down there, standing guard over that incredibly breathtaking acre of racing real estate.
The communications throughout the weekend were superb. Loose when action was slight, but tightening up when incidents arose. A number of you, including Lon, communicate volumes just by your tone, which lets us know very quickly and certainly just how things are going out there. The course checks were very sharp.
I also received some positive comments from some of you during the weekend, and I hope you can spread the word to those who have recently passed up this event, that together our bottom line remains getting the job done, but we can enjoy ourselves immensely as we do it! It's a big task to run this big track with under 60 marshals, and you should all be proud as it felt more like 100 to us up in Race Control. Thanks also to those who came from great distances, the west coast and Canada to be with us. Your presence was very welcome!
Thanks also to Pete Allen and his assistants Stew, Jim, and Larry; and also our support up in race control, Mary Durham, Don Elston Sue Robinson, as well as Melissa Harrington who rode shotgun with me for the Champ Cars. These folks really go all out to look after you out there!
We will return next year on August 12, our 25th running at Road America. Perhaps a warm and sunny weekend of "Tufte Weather" awaits.
It was great to see new faces this year as well as work again with some of my old friends, as Elkhart Lake is where I learned the trade some 25 odd years ago. Until then, please take care, and please feel free to come and see us at some of our other events! There will always be room!
See you at the track!
Jim Swintal
Clerk of the Course
Champ Car World Series
Warrior in Pink
Pffffffffew. Another race weekend, another incredibly long and trying race day. This is makin’ me old.
Any of you who have seen the play or the HBO miniseries “Angels in America” saw one of the most amazing and astounding portrayals of an encounter of a human being and an angel ever staged. Could be there was another one at Elkhart Lake’s famous “kink” with about five laps to go on race day.
I worked back there three times during my days as a Chicago Region SCCA marshal, including the 1984 CART race. Each time I walked away almost stupefied at witnessing lap after lap what a car and driver can do on the edge of adhesion, and thinking that I needed never again to have any apprehension on watching cars anywhere else on any track, as I had seen racing bravery to the nth degree.
A driver I met there in the fall of 1981 after his hub broke in the middle of the kink thought that I had saved his life at the time, as I was the first person he saw after climbing from the wreckage. We later became friends and through his connection I worked my first Champ Car race at Michigan the following year.
I had asked over the land line earlier in the weekend whether anyone in these cars was taking the kink flat. I remember only Mears and Mario back in ’84 were good enough to do so back then.
Katherine Legge came to Elkhart with a special sponsor for the weekend, Ford Motor Company’s “Warriors in Pink” program promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Month for October. The car was given a special pink paint scheme and was clearly recognizable like no other car we’ve had for a while! The paddock was filled with pink and print pattern scarves given away by Ford to commemorate the program, so it was very hard to miss or ignore the spirit of what “Warriors in Pink” were all about.
After Katherine did her first few installment laps on Friday morning, one of our corner comms mentioned on the land line that “She will have plenty of angels riding with her this weekend” as a result of the program. Boy did she.
I’m sure most of you saw the broadcast or replays. Another exciting and unpredictable Elkhart Lake race was winding down with just a few laps to go. In Race Control, I just happened to be watching the “program feed” monitor that was following a group of cars into the kink. Earlier in the race, we discussed in Race Control that the marshals at RA do not use the word “Alert” for major incidents like the rest of the U.S. They use “Mayday” - the local term I was brought up on. Away the car went and I came out of my chair - and just about out of my shorts as well - to point out what was happening. I recall crying out: “A Mayday at 11! A BIG one!!” as a car unwound itself against the fence. No time for the bell I usually ring.
As the comm at 11 and I pieced things together and calmed each other down a little by making sure all the debris was flagged properly, I asked him to try to give me an idea who it might be. As he scanned the debris field he came back with such a forlorn tone in his voice: “Control, there’s debris everywhere… and all the pieces are pink.”
Ouch. I wanted to sink into my chair, and then curse on the land line, but I thought the better of it.
The safety team surrounded the tub where it landed so no one could see much. At those times they methodically go about their business and we don’t get much from them. Tony Cotman decided to red flag the race to aid in the rescue and cleanup, and so we could finish under green if we could. After the ambulance had left, all we got from Safety communications was a “Code Three” on the driver, meaning Katherine was being taken to the CCWS Med center for evaluation, which I shared on the land line, some five or ten minutes after the incident.
And then after more waiting, an image popped up on our “program” monitor of a cheerful, smiling Katherine Legge standing at the steps of the Med Center up against a bright blue sky. This HAD to be some tape they were running about something she did earlier that day or weekend. It couldn’t be live, as we don’t hear the words, we just see the pictures. Then Jon Beekhuis’ talking head pops into the frame as Katherine disappears sheepishly into the Med Center. This IS live! Where the heck am I? Safety Communicator Joanne Jensen and I stared and wanted to pinch each other. Are we dreaming?
I saw Dr. Chris Pinderski in the airport going home the next day. He was in the second truck on the scene. He told me that even while sitting upside down in the tub, Katherine was totally matter-of-fact about the whole thing from as soon as the Safety Team got to her. No agitation, no histrionics, no tears, nothing. I feel fine. I know where I am. Yes you may get me out. To borrow an old Sicilian term, this young lady has “made her bones” in this series.
As I gave the awesome news to all our concerned ears on the land line, there was a brief moment, and then another of our corner comms reminded us that yes, those angels riding with her this weekend certainly did their job.
Katherine was introduced at the Atlantic Awards banquet later that evening by her car owner, Kevin Kalkhoven. She received a huge ovation as she waved to the crowd. Reverend Hunter Floyd then gave the invocation before dinner and joked that “Katherine sure must have bruised a few angels today.”
Did Katherine Legge pull down some Divine help that day? Did the spirit of the sponsor on her car have any affect? We have seen the results of cars going into fences and walls – either ”bottom first” on some occasions, or horrifically “top first” on others. What determines in a crash which way the tub is facing at the moment of impact?
One other thing here. Our former Champ Car President, Dick Eidswick, lost his wife Patti after a long battle just a few weeks ago. Her name was on Katherine’s car, right in front of the cockpit.
As my head hit the pillow that evening, after a long 20-hour raceday, I felt pretty thankful. For the strength of our cars, for being part of this series, and for angels everywhere – just like you all – who look after our drivers on every lap they run.
JHS
