ECR crew members cleared and back to work after Rossi fire

The fire that ended Alexander Rossi’s strong Indianapolis 500 came into contact with his refueler Mike Miller, which caused damage to his hands.

Miller and some crew members on the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet also inhaled fire extinguishant sprayed in their direction during the mishap, which led to visits to the infield care center and all being released.

“It’s always a terrible situation,” Rossi said. “It’s so disappointing. It was such a phenomenal race car. The team made a great decision to stay out there, when that first split happened with strategy.

“Everything we were doing on the No. 20 stand was awesome. That’s what is so painful about this place. You have to have so many things go right. That’s what is so disappointing, it’s another opportunity gone. That’s the way that it goes. All I know is that the gearbox was starting to go. All I know is that it was a gearbox issue.”

According to ECR, Miller was in the shop on Monday morning working with his teammates to prepare Rossi’s car for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

PREMA Racing also dealt with adversity on pit lane when polesitter Robert Shwartzman crashed into three crew members and the pit wall, which ended his day. One crew member was seen and released.

“We didn’t finish the race the way we had hoped, but I’m just relieved that the crew is okay," Shwartzman said. "On my third pitstop, my rear brakes failed, so I only had the front brakes available. As I came into the box both my front tires locked up and the car went into the wall and some of the crew. Thankfully everyone is okay, though. I had a solid start to the race though and after the early caution and restart I lost a few spots and settled into fourth. Our first pit stop was extremely slow, dropping me from fourth to 21st and I fought back some more places before my final stop.

"The Indy 500 is so unpredictable, we saw many strong drivers not finishing, but despite the result, I’m proud of our historic pole in qualifying. That was a huge achievement. Now, we need to reflect, work harder, and keep improving.”