Corner Two - Mayhem at Mid-Ohio

She was disappointed, of course. Angie was with her again that evening in her motorhome, but only for a relatively short time. When she returned, my partner explained that it was a 'consolation visit', intended only to cheer up her friend after that poor qualifying result. Val was going to sleep early to be better prepared for the race itself.

****

Qualifying set the stage for Sunday's IndyCar race. Val and Angie talked a bit in the morning, but I could see that the driver was all business today. She needed to focus completely to have any chance of doing well against this stellar field of well matched cars.

Everybody knew that for the most part this race would be testament to driver skill, not superior engineering and design. Sure, testing, experience, and team strategy would all play a part, but in IndyCar so much comes down to the person behind the wheel.

There were the usual driver interviews and pre-race introductions that can seem to go on forever. We had good seats in the grandstand at Corner Two and made our way over there while the cars fired up to move onto the track. There were 27 of them, putting Valeria's black and green machine back in the twelfth row. It was very unlikely that she'd find her way to the front.

Soon the field was warming the tires, zig-zagging wildly in single file behind the pace car. It would make for a better start and cornering in the first laps. After two laps, the flagger showed crossed flags, meaning to pair up in anticipation of the start. The whining machines seemed in order as they came along the long straightaway after Corner Two- the place used for IndyCar starts to avoid machines bunching up into that sharp curve.

Then the pace car pulled off, the green flag dropped, and the scream of two dozen engines split the air.

Less than two minutes later, we could hear them snarling as they rounded the last corner and headed down the pit straight. The leaders had stretched out the field but behind them the drivers were elbowing for every bit of space. It seemed that Val's green car had moved forward. Around the first turn they came, the pack of cars compressed by the head-on angle at which they approached our grandstand.

Suddenly, as the mid-field group stormed into Corner Two, a red car tapped the yellow one ahead and sent it into a spin- right in front of the rows after them. There was absolute pandemonium as drivers reacted. Valeria's car was hammered from behind as she checked up. Then the momentum of the open wheels turning on two adjacent cars launched her flying into the air!

Time seemed to stand still when her car catapulted upward, then glanced off the retaining wall as it came back down. It bounced out onto the track and slid into Corner Two upside down on its aerocab before coming to rest. The few cars behind Val were able to veer sharply to the other side, as the fire-suppression system did its job shutting off the engine.

White-suited corner workers rushed onto the track right in front of us, with fire extinguishers ready should flames appear. Leaking fuel could still contact the hot engine and ignite. Within a half minute the emergency truck sped from pit lane and the crew set about delicately freeing Valeria, trapped in the overturned car. There was an eerie quiet as the crowd held its collective breath.

Angie had come to her feet immediately and rushed to the fence, not twenty feet from the accident on the other side of the barricade. Terror framed her face as she desperately screamed Val's name. Soon the workers were carefully easing the struggling driver through the open top of the aerocab.

The driver was in obvious pain. Her right leg dangled at a strange angle- clearly smashed. Her arms were limp, one of them bent. Then she was on a backboard and gurney being wheeled to a waiting ambulance. Angela was beside herself with worry!

"Val! Val! Omigod VAL! ARE YOU OK? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Angie shouted and her lover strained to look.

"ANGEL!" she cried loudly before her head slumped back, her eyes closed, and everything went black.

We rushed to the pits where the ambulance crew was watching a helicopter descending toward the track. Angie pushed past a security guard and grabbed the arm of one of the emergency crew members.

"IS SHE OK? WILL SHE LIVE?" Ang pressed urgently.

"We thought she was a goner. I heard her calling for the angels. Must have figured her time was up...."

"WILL SHE MAKE IT?" Angela was desperate to know.

"Probably. Broken bones, a concussion. Would have been worse without protection...."

That was all my Angela needed to hear. She clutched me close.

Burying her lovely silken head into my chest.

Then she burst into tears, sobbing hard.

Was it in relief or in sorrow?

I just couldn't be sure.

Valeria was alive,

But so broken,

Like a doll.

Readers: Maybe I'll see you next summer on Corner Two at Mosport or Toronto Indy? Perhaps at Waterford Hills, or Mid-Ohio? I'll be the guy jotting story ideas into a notepad.