the hood of the damaged #31 Chevy of Robby Gordon flew over the catchfence and into the crowd, there were some injuries, no reports of the extend of the injuires yet.(NBC Post-race coverage)(7-5-2003) UPDATE: The hood from Robby Gordon’s #31 Chevrolet came off on Lap 156 in Saturday night’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway and went into the grandstands on the frontstretch, injuring at least one race fan. The fan, an unidentified woman, was taken to Halifax Medical Center for observation, track officials said. Her condition was unknown. Gordon’s car was heavily damaged in an accident on Lap 74, but he returned to the track later in the race in order to help curb the damage in the series points race. While Gordon was exiting Turn 4 and driving down the frontstretch, the hood came off, flew high into the air and over the catch fence. It dropped down into the stands, where it was soon swarmed by fans.( ThatsRacin.com ) AND The hood from the damaged car of Robby Gordon came off his car and flew into the frontstretch grandstands at Daytona International Speedway late in the Pepsi 400, injuring one fan, according to spectators [which we saw on the NBC broadcast]. Track and NASCAR officials said immediately after the race they were aware of the hood going into the stands but did not have any other information. Gordon’s car sat in the garage area after the race under a car cover. Its hood, obviously, was not there. NASCAR officials stood next to the car. The hood came off along the tri-oval and went 30 to 40 feet in the air, according to spectators near the area where it came down [could be seen on an NBC replay also]. “It fluttered up in the air for a while,” said Ty Crosthwaite of Melbourne, Fla., who estimated the hood landed 50 feet to his left. “It landed about three or four rows up.” Crosthwaite said a female spectator was carried away on a stretcher but appeared to not have any serious injuries, other than a gash on her forehead. The fan was transported to Halifax Medical Center, where she remains under evaluation. Her name was not released. “She was waving to the crowd when they took her under the stands,” Crosthwaite said. The hood was later taken back to the garage area.( NASCAR.com )(7-6-2003) UPDATE 2: NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway confirmed only that a person had been injured when the hood flew off Robby Gordon’s car and sailed into the frontstretch grandstands late in Saturday night’s Pepsi 400 . . . and that the person was taken by speedway-provided ambulance to nearby Halifax Medical Center for evaluation. Medical privacy law prevented release of the name, they said. She was released from the hospital Sunday, according to a Daytona International Speedway spokesman.( Orlando Sentinel )(7-7-2003) UPDATE 3: NASCAR spokesman Herb Branham said Monday that no determination has been made as to what caused the hood from to come off of Robby Gordon’s car and fly into the grandstands and injuring a spectator in during Saturday night’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. “The process is underway to investigate and we will find out what happened,” Branham said. “We take things like this very seriously.”(full story at ThatsRacin.com ) AND Following is a statement from Kevin Hamlin, crew chief of the #31 Cingular Wireless Chevy driven by Robby Gordon, concerning the incident Saturday evening at Daytona International Speedway in which the hood of the #31 Chevrolet flew off the car. Following the accident, we took our time and made all the proper repairs to the Cingular car and prepared to return Robby to the race.. We correctly secured the hood and the hood tethers per NASCARs specifications.. NASCAR is investigating how and why the hood flew off in an effort to ensure this does not happen again.(RCR PR)(7-8-2003) UPDATE 4 the reason the hood flew off: NASCAR officials have determined a bolt connecting the hood with a safety tether failed in Winston Cup driver Robby Gordon’s #31 Cingular Wireless Chevy, causing the hood to fly off the car and into the grandstands during last Saturday’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo said Tuesday officials continue to investigate the incident, including finding a cause for the bolt’s failure. “There remains a lot of work to be done on this,” he said. NASCAR officials are working on ways to prevent the bolt failure, including the possible use of different size bolts, Zizzo said. No penalties are likely to be assessed to the #31 team. Zizzo said it appeared the team had followed all NASCAR guidelines while preparing the car for a return to the race track. Winston Cup cars are required to have two tethers made from a fiber called Vectran attached from bars in the engine bay to the hood at points approximately 12 inches from the rear of the hood. The hoods are also anchored by steel hinges in the rear, attached with bolts, and pinned in front with four steel fasteners. It was one of these bolts that failed in Gordon’s car, Zizzo said.( ThatsRacin.com )(7-9-2003)
