REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Monday April 7, 1997

THE 1997 Indy Carnival Australia at Surfers Paradise lost its party mood when driver Christian Fittipaldi was hurt in a frightening 275km/h shunt that hospitalised the popular Brazilian and halted racing for nearly an hour.

Fittipaldi, 26, suffered four fractures to his right leg when his Swift Ford appeared to be rammed from behind by fellow countryman Gil de Ferran’s Reynard Honda on the main straight, just one lap after the start.

Fittipaldi’s car slammed heavily into the concrete barrier, with the suspension and wheels torn away by the savage impact.

Pieces of the battered car flew high into the air, and careered along the track.

Several following drivers were lucky to avoid the debris.

It was the biggest crash in the incident-marred seven-year history of the Surfers IndyCar race to that time.

Fittipaldi had qualified ninth on the grid in his third season in IndyCars, after three years driving in Formula 1 for Minardi and Footwork Arrows.

When racing finally resumed, circumspection was still in short supply.

The race was interrupted five times by the yellow caution flag after track incidents, before American Scott Pruett emerged from the bedlam to be in the right place at the right time.

The high number of caution periods threatened to take the race way over time and officials elected to limit it to two hours. It finished eight laps short of the scheduled 65 laps.

The canny Pruett, 37, was always in the picture in his Reynard Ford, hovering within striking distance of the leaders and staying out of trouble.