IRL: Team Penske Destroyed By Fire

(from autosport)

Penske Racing's two IndyCar race chassis were destroyed when the transporter they were travelling in caught fire on the way to this weekend's race at Sears Point.

The blaze, believed to have been caused by a wheel bearing failure, could not be extinguished immediately, so the cars of Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe were incinerated as the truck burned to the ground on an interstate in Wyoming.

The transporter's drivers were uninjured but could only save the truck's cab, while the majority of the team's equipment in the truck was also destroyed.

Penske team president Tim Cindric told the Indianapolis Star newspaper: "It's a disaster, a big, melted mess. It was like a house fire where it burns at the ceiling, we probably lost 80 to 90 per cent of everything on board."

The team will use their test cars, which were already in California following a test at Sonoma, for this weekend's event.

Castroneves, who trails Scott Dixon by 78 points in the championship, added: "I hope we can turn it around pretty quickly, I know my guys are going to be extremely tired but we seem to perform well in these circumstances."

Penske's headquarters suffered major losses to flood damage in 2006, but the team responded by winning the next race, at Kansas Speedway.

 

Wow! That's a shame. A wheel bearing?

 

+1

How the devil does a wheel bearing fail - and catch fire - when the car's strapped in a truck?.... Something's not on the "up-and-up" here I feel.....

 

Wheel bearing on the trailer, not the race car. A heavily loaded trailer can generate a lot of heat quickly, then tire failure. If it is the inside trailer wheel it is tough to get at. Once the tire is on fire, it's off to the races for the fire.....or in this case not off to the races for the team....

 

Post of the year award, here!

 

Are you pretty happy with your 5 year new contract with AGR and why did you not sign with Ganassi?

 

???huh???

 

Yeah Tony, how is it working with Danica ;-)

 

glad I didn't buy tickets now.

 

wow...what a loss. Once all that rubber and fiberglass start burning, its gonna go.

Lucky they had test cars out west already.

 

Heard this last night, pretty sad news. Given the amount of miles these guys travel though kind of surprising these things don't happen more often. I wonder what kind of insurance they are required to have on these trailers?

 

Comedy at it's higest level



G

 

Just a guess but.... maybe it was a wheel bearing on the trailer that froze up and set the wheel on the trailer on fire, that spread to the entire rig. I've seen it many times on the Jersey Turnpike. The best one was an idiot that pulled over below a Overpass.

 

'nother cup of coffee . . . now I get it!

I'm a little slow!

 

some added news from the Indystar...

Helio Castroneves has another obstacle to overcome in his pursuit of the IndyCar Seies championship.

Already 78 points behind Scott Dixon with three races remaining, Castroneves' primary road racing car, along with that of Ryan Briscoe and most of Team Penske's event equipment, was lost Wednesday when a transporter burned to the ground on Interstate 80 in Wyoming.

Team president Tim Cindric said a wheel bearing failure on the transporter led to a fire that could not be extinguished in time to save the equipment scheduled for use at this weekend's race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., and next weekend's race in Detroit.

Cindric estimated the damage to be "a couple million bucks."

Specially outfitted transporters used by Indy-car teams cost about $400,000 with the cars worth at least $500,000 each. The team also lost its pit equipment, uniforms, shock dynamometer and assorted other equipment.

"It's a disaster -- a big, melted mess," Cindric said. "It was like a house fire where it burns at the ceiling. We probably lost 80 to 90 percent of everything on board."

There were no injuries to the two drivers who, after trying to extinguish the fire, detached the tractor to save it.

The team will use its backup cars, which were already in Sonoma from last week's test with Briscoe.

A replacement truck was dispatched Wednesday afternoon from the team's headquarters in Mooresville, N.C., but the cars in that truck are currently configured for oval-track racing, which means they will be used only for spare parts this weekend.

That truck will stop in Wyoming, leave four employees to sift through the contents and pick up the two original truck drivers to complete the trip to Sonoma.

Friday's first practice begins at 11 a.m. (2 p.m. Indianapolis time).

"I hope we can turn it around pretty quickly," Castroneves said. "I know my guys are going to be extremely tired."

The incident is the team's second major disaster in three years. In 2006, the team's IndyCar headquarters, then in Reading, Pa., suffered major losses in flood damage. But the team responded by winning the next race, at Kansas Speedway.

"We seem to always perform in these circumstances," Castroneves said.

 

Same thing happened to Wayne Taylor's Suntrust Rolex transporter earlier this year.

 

and who helped the Suntrust team out when that happened? Penske. how's that for irony. (Ganassi helped out Suntrust too, I doubt Chipster will be giving Penske any help here...)

 

I suspect he might. That is a very tight community, and when disaster hits one team, all chip in when they can. When I was racing, I loaned parts to my competitors, even a bike once, and he used it to beat me. It happens.

Art

 

+1

Too good,
RK

 

Ted's trying to figure out how to blame Danica for this.

 

LOL, sorry had to say that earlier.

 

Good one! LMAO

 

Thanks, I am glad he got it.

 

Blonde, right?

(I kid! I kid!)

Jack

 

Really feel bad for Penske