Chip Ganassi seriously injured in a last lap crash with Al Unser Jr. at Michigan 500 (July 22, 1984)
- 6 years ago
Chip Ganassi, was injured at the Michigan 500 at Michigan International Speedway, when he lost control of his March Wildcat Cosworth exiting turn two, collecting Al Unser Jr. (March Cosworth) and taking both drivers into the infield armco. Chip hit a wall, then struck Al's car. Chip Ganassi suffered swelling of the brain, cuts and bruises and a broken bone in the right hand. Ganassi was unconscious for 12 to 14 hours, and there was a chance the head injury he sustained would be fatal. Al Unser Jr. was not hospitalized.
The accident occurred just past halfway in the race when Chip Ganassi lost control of his car exiting turn two, Al Jr. had nowhere to go and they headed to the infield armco. Chip's car was travelling backwards and started to lift. The driver's left rear clipped the armco and started a violent tumbling on top of, and parallel to, the armco barrier.Chip's helmet strike the armco. As the carnage came to a stop it was obvious that Ganassi was hurt badly. His helmet was split, Coma, and long recovery. But recover he did. He ran Indy in 1985 with Foyt, and then 1986 with the Machinist's Union team.
Mario Andretti was declared the official winner, and Tom Sneva was certified as second. But the next seven places remained in doubt after Gordon Johncock protested that his car was passed by five others under a yellow flag. Johncock filed the objection after he came in fourth. Marty Rompf, a race spokesman, said a hearing into the protest would be held within two weeks with the third through 10th finishers.
Remarkably, a week after accident, Chip Ganassi walked out of the hospital with nothing but a broken wrist. Ganassi took six months off from racing, and in the wake of the injury, he realized something that was crucial in his journey from driver to owner. “I was out of the car for six months,” Ganassi says, “and it gave me a different perspective of what it meant to be in the car. I had been in the car for so long that I didn’t know what it was like to be out of it.” Ganassi raced about 30 more times, but it was never the same. He felt the call to run his own team and joined Patrick Racing as a co-owner in the late 1980s. In 1990, he broke away and started his own team.
The accident occurred just past halfway in the race when Chip Ganassi lost control of his car exiting turn two, Al Jr. had nowhere to go and they headed to the infield armco. Chip's car was travelling backwards and started to lift. The driver's left rear clipped the armco and started a violent tumbling on top of, and parallel to, the armco barrier.Chip's helmet strike the armco. As the carnage came to a stop it was obvious that Ganassi was hurt badly. His helmet was split, Coma, and long recovery. But recover he did. He ran Indy in 1985 with Foyt, and then 1986 with the Machinist's Union team.
Mario Andretti was declared the official winner, and Tom Sneva was certified as second. But the next seven places remained in doubt after Gordon Johncock protested that his car was passed by five others under a yellow flag. Johncock filed the objection after he came in fourth. Marty Rompf, a race spokesman, said a hearing into the protest would be held within two weeks with the third through 10th finishers.
Remarkably, a week after accident, Chip Ganassi walked out of the hospital with nothing but a broken wrist. Ganassi took six months off from racing, and in the wake of the injury, he realized something that was crucial in his journey from driver to owner. “I was out of the car for six months,” Ganassi says, “and it gave me a different perspective of what it meant to be in the car. I had been in the car for so long that I didn’t know what it was like to be out of it.” Ganassi raced about 30 more times, but it was never the same. He felt the call to run his own team and joined Patrick Racing as a co-owner in the late 1980s. In 1990, he broke away and started his own team.