CART Champ Cars raced at Road America, Elkhart Lake WS today.

On lap 46/51, the #20 PKV Ford-Cosworth/Lola of Katherine Legge lost the rear wing flap (2nd element) entering turn 11 (the kink). With greatly reduced rear downforce, the rear of the car went left before the slightly humped apex at an estimated 165 mph before leaving the pavement and contacting the concrete barricade rear end first. The car left the ground and did a number of horizontal spins along the catch fence. After shedding the engine and transaxle, the center tub did a number of horizontal rolls on the ground before coming to rest inverted. It took some minutes to extricate the driver from the remains of the car. The race was red flagged.....




Worried? I was.

Katherine was completely conscious in the ambulance and walked into and OUT of the med center smiling and waving. In a TV interview she confessed to some leg bruising. She grinned and said jokingly that if the crew could fix the car, she would finish the race.

She's a racer. Race fans should admire her and Brits should be proud!

Check your racing news for video.

On the 3-lap restart, the #7 Forsyth car of A. J. Allmendinger held on for the win. Newman-Haas teammates Bruno Junquiera and Sebastien Bourdais (points leader) finished 2nd and 3rd.

SteveFX do you think Allmendinger's success run has given Champ Car any positive publicity in US?

1. I saw the video of the crash...and my head cannot stop shaking...how in the world she survived....never mind that she was smiling and giddy. 1 million pieces of champ car in the air.

2. I was glad to see de Matta better as well.

3. And I hope AJ can win the championship.

That's a good question, Jug. I don't have an answer.

I have been an F1 fan regardless of driver nationality. Having won a CART championship; I regarded CN driver "call me Jack" as one of "ours", a "North American". I felt the same about Columbian Montoya.

Years ago; I wished that Michael Andretti had been kicked out of kart racing in favor of drag racing as a youth. If that had happened; maybe he wouldn't have been a smoked turkey in most of his F1 standing starts. Retired F1 champ (already FL USA resident!) Nigel Mansell dominated for his CART championship (he DID get restart suckered out of an Indy 500 win!).

Assuming it makes national news, Allmendinger's remarks about stopping a French driver's title clinch might play a bit.

i saw the video of the crash and i couldn't believe what i saw. that was really scary and tnks God she is allright

I saw the accident live on TV, I was watching the whole race....My god I swear my heart stopped for a moment....This was one of the nastiest crash I have ever seen and I was convinced she passed away right there in front of my eyes....:eek: What a relief to see her afterwards, it brought tears to my eyes !!! What a talented and courageous lady she is and I'm convinced she'll be the first one to win a Champ Car race ! :cool:

In 1989, the late July Talladega NASCAR race was postponed by rain til Monday. In The BIG wreck, Mark Martin wound up nose-down and vertical in the Roush Folgers Ford. After the fact, Martin said he didn't have his eyes open the whole time.

When asked if she was completely aware of every moment of the crash; Katherine Legge said she had her eyes closed some of the time.

I count 2 racers ready to go.

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crossle32f, I was scared to death when I saw the crash. It seemed to take quite a while (with no close cameras) to extricate her from the tub compared to how little time she spent in the infield Med center.

i just saw it on youtube woah what a crash i didn't realise how safe champ cars are! they are good and all she has is a bruised leg! she is very lucky

Christ that was big...RA does that to ya', fast track.

It won't play on my home dino-pooter but I watched it at work today:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4333357972061546681&q=katherine+legge+crash&hl=en

If that don't fly; Google video "katherine legge crash".

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Mustangs @ Road America on Toca 2 is our least common denominator/most fun XBOX race night staple. (We have run RS2 this week!) It's a tough course. Toca Rd AM has a LOT more dips/elevation degrees than the real track. Turn 11/the kink is still negotiable ("How little can I lift and still save my butt; and be faster into Canada corner?") We don't have to do it in a Champ Car with the wing flap jettisonned just before the turn.