Indy car safety team pioneer Dave Hollander passes away

Mario Andretti didn't dwell on danger during his Indy car career but he once admitted it always gave him peace of mind when he saw Dave Hollander and Lon Bromley sitting in their safety trucks at the track.

Hollander, one of the cornerstones of CART's unparalleled safety team for 25 years, lost his battle with cancer on Friday but the big, burly fireman from New Jersey won over the drivers with his caring manner and attention to detail.

"Dave was one of a kind," said Bromley, who became CART's safety director in 1984 and fast friends with Hollander. "He was very dedicated to the safety team and he always thought of the drivers first. He always wanted the best for them."

When Wally Dallenbach and Dr. Steve Olvey launched CART's safety team in 1979, they were looking for a few good men and Hollander was easy to spot.

"I can't remember if I met him at Trenton or Pocono but he was a Jersey boy and a big race fan and he was gung-ho to help," said Dallenbach, an Indy-car front-runner for the better part of his 13-year career before becoming the respected chief steward of CART in '79. "I think he worked every CART race from 1979 through 2007 and he was a true soldier, always about helping other people."

Olvey, who along with Dallenbach and Dr. Terry Trammell led open-wheel racing out of the dark ages in terms of track, car and driver safety, remembers Hollander as totally dedicated.

"Dave and Greg Passauer were our two strong men and neither was afraid of anything," said Olvey, who still serves as a consultant for IndyCar while maintaining the safety program at the Circuit of The Americas.

"If Wally had asked Dave to knock down a wall, he'd have done it, he always threw everything he had into it."

Bromley, the general who manned the Safety 1 truck, chuckles at his first meeting with Hollander (seen here with arms raised at an Atlantic accident scene in 2004), the second in command who drove Safety 2 at the CART races.

"I was sitting on the passenger seat of his truck and I laughed at something and he said, 'That's not funny," and I said, "Oh yes it is,'" and that's how we started.

"We always had a lot of push and shove between us and he was a very strong-willed person but he was as dependable as they came. And a big prankster, although I saw him scare a lot of people."

Adds Olvey: "Dave was gruff on the outside but he had a heart of gold. He was always fun to be around."

And Dallenbach chimes in: "He wasn't exactly E.F. Hutton but when Dave spoke you wanted to listen."

The CART team's rapid response and expertise under pressure saved Alex Zanardi's life in 2001 in Germany and then Cristiano da Matta at Elkhart Lake in 2006. They set a standard that other racing series around the world have yet to duplicate.

Hollander, 66, was more or less the director at the scene of an accident.

"Most of the stuff we learned the hard way at the racetrack and Dave was right in the middle of everything," continued Dallenbach. "He was very professional and took command of every scene he was around and people respected him."

Bromley, whose Safety 1 business services Texas Motor Speedway at all major events, has been besieged with calls and emails since Friday.

"I've heard from entire CART team the last two days and I'm sure Dave pissed them all off at one time or another but they all respected him. He loved racing, he loved the drivers and he loved his job."

Dallenbach stayed in touch with one of his best friends almost to the end.

"I called him every couple weeks and he had that same gravely laugh and he was fighting the good fight. Dave was a special guy, one of the best too."