Crash course: Andretti team scrambles to get Kanaan back on track after 2nd Indy crash

Andretti team scrambling after Kanaan crash

INDIANAPOLIS — Michael Andretti’s team is scrambling to get Tony Kanaan back on the Indianapolis track after the Brazilian crashed for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Andretti Autosport spokesman Al Larsen told The Associated Press the team will put together a car using parts from the backup Kanaan crashed in Sunday’s 1-hour practice session, pieces from his primary car that hit the wall Saturday, and items from the qualified car of Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The goal: To have Kanaan back on the track by midafternoon.

“They were talking about being ready by noon and being out there for practice this afternoon, so they’re probably going through the tech line right now and will be talking to you in a couple of hours,” John Andretti said after qualifying 27th with a four-lap average of 224.518 mph. “The way he hit, there’s no good way to hit here, but it was better than yesterday. I’m 98 percent confident he’ll be in the race.”

Kanaan was practicing Sunday morning when he spun coming out of the first turn. The rear end of the car hit the outside wall, sending Kanaan skidding through the short chute between the first and second turns where he spun again and slammed into the outside wall a second time. The crash was almost a replay of what happened during Saturday’s qualifications.

The 2004 IndyCar Series champ climbed out of his car without assistance and was cleared to drive after going to the infield medical center.

But with Sunday being the final qualification day, the Andretti team was doing all it could to get Kanaan back on the track after entering the weekend as one of the favorites to win the pole.

Despite Kanaan’s problems, Andretti Autosport teammate Danica Patrick was still the center of attention around Gasoline Alley. One day after blaming her poor qualifying performance on the team’s setup of her car, IndyCars’ glamour girl was more reserved.

“I was a little emotional yesterday and I know we had some issues,” she said in a television interview during Bump Day qualifying. “I was still shaking when I did the interview because we were on a very, very ragged edge out there.”

But even she seemed more concerned about Kanaan’s chances of making the 33-car field than the reaction of fans.

The team has gone all in.

Crew members from four of the five Andretti Autosport teams were combining undamaged parts from both of Kanaan’s cars with that of Ryan Hunter-Reay’s No. 37 car. Hunter-Reay qualified 17th Saturday with a four-lap average of 224.547 mph and will not practice Sunday afternoon.

The only Andretti crew not working on Kanaan’s car was that of John Andretti, who was the first driver to qualify Sunday.

“They asked (Hunter-Reay) about it and he said that the team has done so much for him this season that this was the least he could do to pay it back,” Larsen said.

Kanaan was not immediately available for comment, but Larsen described the 2005 Indy pole winner as upbeat and said Kanaan was cheering on the crew members who are fixing his car.

The good news is that the crash happened at 9:21 a.m., more than eight hours before qualifying ends for the May 30 race, and that Kanaan has driven all of his teammates’ primary cars in practice.

And even if the team can’t fix Kanaan’s car, it’s possible he could take out one of his team’s backup cars.

“You could probably do that in the Go Daddy backup car,” Larsen said. “We’re an open society here, so everybody’s information is available to him.”

Kanaan’s dreadful weekend has added a new chapter to Indy’s Andretti Curse.

None of the team’s five cars made it into the top nine spots for Saturday’s pole “shootout” and Patrick’s comments were almost as big a story as Helio Castroneves winning his fourth pole. Patrick, who had never started worse than 10th in five previous Indy starts, qualified 23rd with an average speed of 224.217 — and behind two other women.

But she wasn’t the only one struggling.

Marco Andretti, Michael’s son, has the best starting position on the team — No. 16.

Hunter-Reay qualified Saturday, got bumped, then had to bump his way back into the field. John Andretti, Michael’s cousin, didn’t even practice Sunday morning to avoid taking any unnecessary risks, and Kanaan, who did, wound up hitting the wall.

Kanaan has never started worse than sixth and led laps in seven of his eight career Indy starts but has never won the 500 and now will be hard-pressed to make the race.

“You never want it to happen, but if it happened at 3 o’clock, there’s a finite amount of time to get it ready and we’ve got a good bulk of time to put it all together,” Larsen said. “I’m not saying we couldn’t put it together if it had happened at 3 o’clock, but the degree of difficulty would be much worse.”