General Motors exec crashes pace car at IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix

Jim Ayello | IndyStar

DETROIT – Sunday's Verizon IndyCar Series race began with a bang. Only moments before the green flag flew on Dual 2 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday, the pace car slammed into the Turn 2 wall.

As the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, a car valued at around $123,000, entered the second turn on the streets of Belle Isle, the back end swung out and it slammed front first into the concrete wall.

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Mark Reuss, General Motors Executive Vice President of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, was behind the wheel of the car, while IndyCar official Mark Sandy was in the passenger seat where the airbag deployed. Both were taken to the infield care center where, according to IndyCar, they were each checked and cleared.

Chairman of the Detroit Grand Prix, Bud Denker, confirmed the report, saying Ruess and Sandy escaped with no major injuries, though Reuss was "obviously disappointed in what happened."

In a statement, Chevrolet said, "It is unfortunate that this incident happened. Many factors contributed, including weather and track conditions. The car’s safety systems performed as expected."

Reuss is far from an inexperienced pace car driver. In fact, he has driven the pace car on the streets of Belle Isle on multiple occasions. According to an IndyCar official, he has been trained and attained certification to drive high-performance cars such as the Corvette ZR1.

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Sunday's race runner-up and Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Will Power said the turn that fooled Reuss is particularly tricky, and that an accident like that could have happened to almost anyone.

"I felt really bad for whoever was in the pace car," Power said after finishing second to Ryan Hunter-Reay. "It's very easy to do as you go over that crest, and the traction control must have been turned off. So yeah, I felt — it wasn't really his fault. It's just such a bad corner. Like it's very easy to do."

With Sunday's slip-up, Reuss joins a bigger club than most would expect. The list of those who have crashed or spun a pace car is lengthy and features some notable members, including Arie Luyendyk and Johnny Rutherford. Luyendyk lost control of his car in the rain at at Toronto in 2014. Rutherford wrecked the pace car at Texas in 1999.

"You know, that's racing, right?" Power said. "I've seen plenty of pace car crashes. Like I've seen plenty of people coming off in the wet and crash. It's not abnormal."

While the start of the race was delayed more than 30 minutes to clear the track of debris, pace car crashes have had far worse results.

Perhaps the most infamous incident occurred ahead of the 1971 Indianapolis 500.

Eldon Palmer, owner of an Indianapolis-area Dodge dealership, nearly killed hobbyist photographer Russ Lake when the brakes on the Dodge Challenger he was driving locked up and rammed into a camera stand at nearly 60 mph.

Lake estimated he fell about eight feet and limped away with a broken leg and hip and was hospitalized for six weeks.

Suffice to say, while it was a bad weekend for Chevrolet — what with its pace car wrecked and a pair of Honda drivers crowned Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix champions on its home turf — it could have been a lot worse.

Follow IndyStar Motor Sports Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter and Facebook: @jimayello.