So, let’s file this under ways not to impress the shareholders. At the IndyCar Grand Prix in Detroit, Mark Reuss, an executive from General Motors, was in the driver’s seat of the pace car when the car’s tail end swung wide on a turn and veered into the wall.
The cruel irony? The pace car was a brand new Corvette ZR1, which itself is manufactured by General Motors. Not the best look at one of motorsports’ more prominent platforms, eh?
You can see the car wildly swerve out on a turn at the 14-second mark of this video:
Neither the driver nor the passenger were injured in the crash. The same can’t be said of the Corvette, which retails at over USD$121,000.
Now, in reality, nobody is really holding it against the driver for spinning out, or at least we can’t imagine so. This is a track for professional drivers, and while Reuss holds the fairly lofty title of executive vice president of product development at GM, that certainly is not the same as a professional driver. All the same, Reuss felt prompted to publish this apology on Facebook:
"I want to thank you all for your well wishes today. I am ok. I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot, and calm. On Z06's, Grand Sports, and other things. It is never a casual thing for me, but an honor to be asked. Today I let down my friends, my family, Indycar, our city and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world."
At least Reuss got some cover fire from Ryan Hunter-Reay, the eventual winner of the event. “I think that's a testament to the Corvette ZR1. I know that thing is 750 horsepower," said Hunter-Reay. "I've driven one before, and you do not want to jump on the gas in that thing, and for sure it's a fast car. ... It's something that can happen and the race hadn't started. No big deal."
But, you know nobody at his automobile manufacturing job is going to let him live this down. My guy Mark Reuss put that thing in sport, and he might never do that again.
