Driver at Indy 500 meets safety crew member he nearly killed 25 years ago

Clifton Brown | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption IndyCar driver Buddy Lazier nearly hit him at 200 mph Steve Wissen was almost hit by IndyCar driver Buddy Lazier 25-years ago during the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1992. They talk about the incident that could have changed both of their lives that day at IMS.

INDIANAPOLIS — Steve Wissen was nearly killed by Buddy Lazier’s race car 25 years ago. The two men had never met until Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In 1992, Lazier’s race car streaked toward Wissen while he was doing his job on the track as chief of the IMS safety crew, cleaning up debris from Tom Sneva’s wreck in turn 4. Lazier left the pits and re-entered the track after the accident, accelerating to catch the field that was under the yellow flag.

Lazier didn’t realize Wissen’s crew was still on the track in Turn 4. By the time Lazier saw Wissen, it was almost too late. The race car moved toward Wissen at more than 200 mph like a guided missile. He raised his hands to his head. He closed his eyes. He prepared for the worst.

“I was standing in the high-speed groove,” recalled Wissen, now 65 years old, a lifelong resident of Avon, Indiana. “It was like I watched it in slow motion.”

Lazier missed Wissen by inches, deftly guiding the car between Wissen and the wall. Wissen was so close to being hit that he was spun around and knocked to the ground by the backdraft from Lazier’s car.

“I’m hauling,” said Lazier, recalling that day. “My first thought was, ‘I’m going to stuff it into the safety truck so nobody gets hurt. The safety guys are there to take care of us. We’re there to take care of them. That was a terrible situation. I can tell you, I would’ve done whatever it took. I was fortunate in that I saw a hole.

“It was that fraction of a second – hole, no hole. I saw the hole.”

Disaster was avoided, but for Wissen, scars remained. He never worked at IMS again. He quit after 16 years at IMS, including 13 years on the safety crew, and he was traumatized by the near-death experience. He began having nightmares, haunted by the vision of Lazier’s race car getting closer and closer.

Wissen admitted that he was upset with Lazier in the hours after the near collision, not completely understanding how the near-fatal situation had unfolded. He went to Lazier’s garage after the race, hoping they could have a conversation, but Wissen said someone denied him access to the garage area. Lazier, who will start in the 10th row of Sunday’s race, said he talked to most of the other workers on Wissen’s safety crew over the years, but he never talked to Wissen.

But don’t think Lazier ever forgot.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about that when I’m here at the Speedway,” said Lazier, now 49 years old.

Finally, the conversation that Wissen and Lazier both wanted took place Thursday. They shook hands, 25 years after their paths nearly crossed in the worst possible way.

Lazier asked for a private moment with Wissen. They talked about what happened. Thankfully, they could also talk about what didn’t happen. They posed for pictures together. Wissen brought the orange fire suit he wore that day in 1992, and Lazier said he was honored to autograph it.

For Wissen, the last remaining wound from the traumatic incident was healed.

“I feel really, really good,” said Wissen.

“God, I’m just so happy to catch up with you,” said Lazier. “You guys are the unsung heroes.”

Wissen has returned to IMS multiple times over the years as a spectator for the 500, including last year for the 100th running. But as much as Wissen loved IMS, he could never bring himself to rejoin the safety crew. Wissen had a full-time job at Eli Lilly, where he continued to work until recently retiring. He was also a single father in 1992, with an 11- year-old son named Aaron.

Wissen knew he was fortunate to be alive, and that weighed on his mind for months after his close call with Lazier. Then the annual letter from IMS arrived in his mailbox, asking Wissen if he intended to return in 1993. Wissen hesitated. He just couldn’t say yes. Several other members of Wissen’s crew were also on the track when Lazier’s car sped by them. Although they didn’t come as close to getting hit as Wissen, he decided it would be best for the team to find a different crew chief.

“I had thought about it a lot before I even got the letter,” Wissen said. “I was having trouble letting go. I was the point man and I was responsible for my crew. But I couldn’t do anything to protect them with this car coming at me.

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“When the race was over, I kind of let things go for a while. But when I got the letter to return, I talked to a couple of guys who were on the truck. I said, `If something had happened to one of you guys, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to deal with it.’’’

To this day, you can tell being at IMS is emotional for Wissen. The event and the race track remain in his blood. He walked around the grounds Thursday, sharing stories about his connection to IMS that reached back to his childhood.

“I was born on April 18th and mom and dad had me out there for opening day that May,” Wissen said. “My dad worked at IMS as a safety yellow shirt at first, and then he wound up being one of the lead photographers at the track. My first job at the track was as a film runner. If a wreck happened, I would jump on a minibike and race over to the wreck, where photographers would shoot as many pictures as they could. They’d give me the film, I’d race it back to the UPI office under the grandstands, and they’d get it developed and out on the wire.”

Despite his ties to IMS, Wissen knew returning to the safety crew would mean dealing with more emotional events. Before his incident with Lazier, Wissen had seen accidents that were impossible to forget.

“I was the first one to get to Gordon Smiley when he died (in 1982),” Wissen said. “I was with the first crew to reach Danny Ongais (1981) when he had his horrifying wreck. Good grief, who can forget Jim Crawford (1990)? We had already started to pull out, and the next thing we know, he’s 10 feet above our heads, car and all.”

But almost in the same breath, Wissen began talking about the good times, the friends he made, listening to A.J. Foyt tell stories during rain delays. It was clear IMS provided far more joy than pain for Wissen.

The same is true for Lazier, the 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion who will make his 20th start in the event Sunday. Lazier says there are far more precautions in place now to avoid a situation like the one he had with Wissen.

“The key is to never put a driver, or a crew, in that situation,” said Lazier. “Since then, they’ve made it very clear which way they wave the drivers.”

The last 25 years have been good to Wissen. He has six grandchildren, and he has been married to his wife Debbie for 19 years. He spends retirement fishing, playing golf, flying model airplanes and, of course, doting on his grandkids.

Wissen will not attend Sunday’s race because his family is traveling to Las Vegas for a wedding. But Wissen and Lazier vowed to reunite at next year’s race, glad to have finally met after their harrowing experience.

“I used to think the best driver out here was A.J. Foyt, or Rick Mears, or one of those guys,” said Wissen. “Now I think the best driver ever to go around this track is Buddy Lazier.”

Fortunately, Lazier found a way to go around Wissen.

Follow IndyStar reporter Clifton Brown on Twitter: @CliftonGBrown.