Probe launched for ‘injured’ fans
LOS ANGELES, Feb 27, (Agencies): A lawyer hired by three fans hurt when a NASCAR Nationwide Series race crash hurled debris into the grandstand at Daytona International Speedway will focus his probe on the catch-fencing.
“Our firm has the utmost respect for NASCAR and their fans,” Matt Morgan of the Orlando, Florida, law firm Morgan and Morgan, said via Twitter on Tuesday. “Our investigation will look into the manufacture of the fence.
“Our goal, is to ensure this type of tragedy does not occur again in the future. Fans deserve to be protected and safe at sporting events,” Morgan wrote.
Morgan had announced on Twitter on Monday night that his firm had been retained by three people hurt in the frightening crash at the Daytona Beach circuit, which occurred on Saturday in the waning moments of the race that served as a curtain-raiser to Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Morgan told ESPN.com on Tuesday that no lawsuits have been filed, but he is gathering information for those he represents to “pursue their claim for damages against the entities responsible for the injuries”.
Kyle Larson, a rising JapaneseAmerican driver who was making his first start in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide series, was caught in a pile-up of a dozen cars and launched into the fencing separating the track from the stands.
The front end of his car tore a gaping hole in the fence, the smoldering engine staying trapped there as a tire and other debris hurtled into the midst of terrified fans.
Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood said 28 people were hurt — 14 taken to local hospitals and 14 more treated at the track’s medical center.
Chitwood never confirmed reports that one person had surgery for serious head trauma or that at least one other person suffered injuries considered serious, if not life-threatening.
Repairs to the track, fencing and grandstand were completed in time for the Daytona 500 — the season-opening showpiece of NASCAR’s elite Sprint Cup series — to start on schedule on Sunday.
Veteran Jimmie Johnson won his second career Daytona 500 title, while Danica Patrick, who made history at Daytona as the first woman to win a Sprint Cup pole position, was eighth.
Lotus are expecting a new-look Romain Grosjean this season after assuring the crash-prone French Formula One driver that he has a longterm future with them.
Grosjean earned a one race ban last season after a Belgian Grand Prix collision that put Ferrari’s title contender Fernando Alonso out of the race, with the Spaniard lucky to escape serious injury.
Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber dubbed the Frenchman a “first lap nutcase” for the number of starting crashes he was involved in but Grosjean has been addressing the problem since September with the help of a sports psychologist.
“He’s a different guy,” Lotus chairman Gerard Lopez told Reuters. “He knows what he has to do, he doesn’t have that pressure, stress.
“We essentially have told him he’s got a long-term future with us so now he can literally take it race by race, practice by practice. He’s got the speed to win races so we think we’ve got a very good pair of drivers and a good car.” Lotus confirmed only in December that Grosjean, a former GP2 champion who is backed by team sponsor Total, would stay for a second season alongside Finland’s 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen, who made his F1 comeback in 2012 after two years in rallying, won last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and has set his sights on winning more than just a solitary race in 2013.
NASCAR driver Michael Annett has a fracture and dislocation of his sternum that will require surgery. Aric Almirola will replace him in the Nationwide Series this weekend at Phoenix.
Annett was injured in a wreck during the Nationwide Series race Saturday at Daytona. He spent one night in the hospital, but was seen Tuesday by two different doctors in North Carolina who diagnosed the injury.
Annett will not be able to compete for an indefinite amount of time. Almirola will drive the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford, and Richard Petty Motorsports will evaluate its options moving forward.
Annett was injured in an accident that stopped the race for nearly 20 minutes. It was before the last-lap accident in which debris from a car injured more than two dozen fans.