Indy Racing League (irl) Tickets - Rookie De Silvestro Survives Crash At Texas

Swiss open-wheel racing darling Simona de Silvestro survived her first fiery crash in the IRL at the Firestone 550K at Texas on June 5

. In what could have ended very poorly for the Swiss driver's rookie year on the IndyCar circuit, de Silvestro's No. 78 car got loose and hit the wall on Lap 99, bursting into flames in what was clearly the most horrendous crash of the season so far in the IRL.

De Silvestro's car caught fire and smoldered while the emergency medical crew made several attempts at getting her out of the fireball, eventually pulling her from the rubble as her car gelled into a seared pile of burnt plastic and rubber and spectators with Indy Racing League (IRL) tickets to the race looked on.

Miraculously, the Swiss driver escaped from the track with only minor injuries to her right palm. After the smoke cleared, de Silvestro spoke with the media about her mishaps on the track, telling the Star-Telegram, "It's just a shame. This was my first real accident. It was a big one. Hopefully, the next one won't be so big."

While she brushed off the incident, her racing team at HVM Racing took the matter more seriously, criticizing the safety crew at the Texas Motor Speedway for its delayed extraction of de Silvestro from her car. Keith Wiggins, team principal of HVM Racing, spoke with F1sa.com after the race, saying, "That was a scary moment and we are glad she is all right. The safety crew should be ashamed of themselves."

De Silvestro's disappointing (and mildly terrifying) Texas race came just a week after her brilliant Indy 500 debut, where she placed a respectable 14th on the oval track. De Silvestro, the reigning IndyCar Rookie of the Year, is clearly still learning the ropes of the IRL, and she recognized she made a big mistake mishandling her car when it got loose at Texas.

Not letting a little flame get in her way, however, Simona de Silvestro is already getting back in the saddle, gearing up for the next race on the IndyCar circuit June 20 at Iowa. As far as injuries from Texas go, the female powerhouse escaped relatively unscathed and can continue racing this month. After her Texas crash, de Silvestro told the USA Today, "My hand is a little bit burned. I couldn't get out quickly enough. I feel OK and will be ready to go in the next race."

Currently (as of June 8), de Silvestro is in 21st place in IRL driver standings, and she's had a very decent rookie year so far, placing 16th at Sao Paolo and St. Pete, 21st at Alabama and Kansas, 17th at Long Beach and 14th at Indianapolis. The 21-year-old Swiss driver looks to be the next Danica Patrick as far as top females in the racing industry go, and even despite a hiccup at Texas de Silvestro will continue to improve as she learns the ropes around the IRL.

Simona de Silvestro has been deeply invested with open-wheel racing since her youth, when she was first introduced to kart racing in the early '90s by her father, who owned a car dealership in Switzerland. Prior to entering the IndyCar Series, de Silvestro raced in the Formula Renault 2.0 Italy, Formula BMW U.S.A. and Champ Car. She entered the IRL this year after joining HVM Racing.

by: Pat Smith

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