Dominguez hits wall again, Papis crashes too
Rubicon Race Team/Sam Schmidt Motorsports is working feverishly to repair the No. 44 car driven by Max Papis that was damaged earlier in the day. The team has secured replacement parts from several sources in the garage area, including Dallara and Vision Racing.
JIM FREUDENBERG (Co-owner, Rubicon Race Team): (Will you be back on track today?) “(The car) will be back together today, but that wouldn't be the safest thing for Max (Papis) or anybody. We'll work until it is done tonight, and we'll be back on the track tomorrow." (About getting parts to rebuild the car): "Sam Schmidt Motorsports had a lot of spare parts. Chris (Griffis), the team manager, was scrambling through the garage to get parts. Dallara and the League have helped us out, so we're just trying to get it back together." (About getting help from other teams): "This is the good thing that comes from the bad part of racing. Even people you are trying to beat are trying to give you a fair shot. To me, that doesn't happen in many places. It is the positive thing about this sport." (About the racing community): "Most of us have known each other for many years, so when you don't burn bridges and you make friends, you'll be able to count on each other. We'd do the same for other teams if they were in this position."
Mario Dominguez talked about Pacific Coast Motorsports’ plans for Bump Day qualifying after his crash this morning in practice.
MARIO DOMINGUEZ: “It’s looking good. The car is ready to go. We have a practice tomorrow. It will be great to set up the car and have it working properly and make it go a bit faster than it’s been so far. With a little help from the gods, we should be able to make it in the field. The team is amazing. The team has been doing some serious work ever since they got this car. If you can believe it, they put it together just 2 ½ weeks ago. It’s just incredible what they’ve done. What they’ve done today, again, shows how professional this team is. The fact that most of us are new to Indy doesn’t mean we can’t get the job done. Obviously, Indy is a tough place. We knew it was going to be difficult coming in, and we were ready for things like that, so that helps us out." (How confident are you about making the field tomorrow?): “I'm confident, but I’m certainly not sitting down and relaxing. I’m not relaxed, and neither is the team, by any means. We knew coming in it was not going to be easy to make the field, but we all believe we can do it, and we’re going to do out tomorrow and do it." (Strategy for tomorrow): “We’ll go out as soon as the track opens. It’s great that we have a practice so we can set up the car a little bit better and get some speed from it. As soon as the track opens, we’ll go out and qualify." (Are you prepared mentally for maybe making more than one qualifying attempt?): “Yeah, we might have to go out again and again and again because other people can be bumping each other out. We’re ready for that, too."
05/17/08 Mario Dominguez made contact with the turn one wall this morning while preparing for qualifying at the Indianapolis Motors Speedway. Dominguez was not injured in the incident. The incident occurred just before 11:00 am in the final practice before qualifying begins at Noon ET. Fortunately, the damage is not severe and as long as the necessary parts are available, Dominguez will return to the track this afternoon to qualify. Dominguez is prepared for the task both mentally and physically, he is an experienced driver and ready for the task at hand.
Mario Dominguez on the accident: “I just lost the rear-end going into turn one. We’ve been fighting understeer there all week and working hard to stabilize the car. This is a huge set-back for us. Fortunately, I wasn’t going that fast at that point and I lost it early so I scrubbed a lot of speed. The boys think they may be able to get it fixed in time to qualify today, if they can get the parts. I am keeping my fingers crossed."
Max Papis made contact in Turn 3 during the morning practice session in preparation for today’s qualifying session. Max was seen in the IMS Medical Center and upon his release was cleared to drive. The team owners along with Sam Schmidt Motorsports are assessing their options regarding the #44 entry and once a decision has been made on how they will proceed, the team will issue a statement.
Max Papis on the accident: “It was definitely a very unfortunate moment for the Rubicon LifeLock team. We are trying to understand and analyze what happened but the bottom line is we don’t have a car to qualify right now. I drove into Turn 3 and right when I was turning in, the car just came around. It was a very, very unusual feeling as I had never had this problem before. It was very, very unexpected. I have a lot of confidence with my guys, they are coming up with a solution and we’ll see what happens."
05/17/08 The carnage continues at Indy. The odds of Mario Dominguez making this year's Indy 500 were in jeopardy Saturday morning. Dominguez, struggling to get up to speed in his PCM machine, has hit the turn one wall with heavy right side damage to his car. Everyone is crashing in Turn 1 and causing millions of dollars of car damage.
Max Papis also hit the wall hard late in the session with heavy damage to the rear and left side of his car.