Gonzalo Rodriguez from Uruguay, a 27 year old CART rookie driving for team
Penske, died today during practice when he hit the wall head on at turn 8 at
the end of the back straight at Laguna Seca. I did not see the crash as I
was working at turn 4 at the time. Talking to some of the drivers later that
saw the crash they speculated that his throttle may have stuck. He locked up
his front brakes but went straight off the track into the wall at and then
somersaulted the wall. The Indy cars are doing about 170mph at the end of
the back straight and slow to about 90mph for turn 8 so he was going pretty
fast at the time.
Sad day for CART and the fans.
Larry Miller
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