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Mac:You never know.
Me:Always the optimist.
I enter the shop floor, and the car is sitting in one of the empty bays—well, what was left of the car, which isn’t much. The engine, the frame, and most of the components.
“Ah, thanks for finally showing up,” Bud snips as I walk up to the officials, Neil, Mac, and Hunter.
“Well, thank you for waiting. I was only asked to attend about any hour ago, so…” I wink at Bud. The office knew when we were slated to have the wreck back.
“Thank you for coming when you did, Saint. As the car chief, you were a vital part of the build,” Hunter acknowledges as the officials nod. “Let’s get going.”
“Right. Well, the team and I at INDY’s corporate office reviewed the tapes and video from the crash, the radio, and what is left of the car. The crash appears to have been driver error; however, upon examination of the car, there was tampering to the front control arm bolt. It was stripped and then placed on the control arm,” the official says as I look over at Mac and Neil, knowing neither of them would do such a thing.
“The car passed all of the inspections, even after we made changes after the practices; how could it be missed?” I ask, shooting a look at Neil who shakes his head subtly.
“Well, that is the question. Because it was stripped, it passed inspection because we don’t look at all the individual parts, if the specs are within the limits allowed. Therefore, it wouldn’t show until something happened,” the official replies to my question.
“Okay, well, I can tell you that all parts are brand new when installed on the frames,” Neil replies to the allegations made by the officials.
“Can you prove it?” the official asks.
“Not every bolt and nut, but yes, for the most part,” Neil responds.
I shake my head. “I can verify that. We order all parts new, we have a stock of nuts and bolts—again, all new and ordered in bulk. If the bolt was installed stripped, then the car would have shown issues prior to the race. The car wouldn’t have gone through three practice sessions, qualifying, and warm-ups,” I explain.
“Exactly, it was switched out prior to the race, at least that is what we suspect happened,” official number two replies.
Hunter interjects, “Who had access to the car at the track after the qualifying sessions?”
“The mechanics and car chief,” the official answers. Everyone turns to look at Neil and me.
“Neither one of us would do that!” I exclaim. “I’m not risking my life, or the life of my driver for that matter!”
“Exactly, if what you are suggesting is true, we would have wanted her to be harmed. You can ask anyone in this shop, we aren’t those types of people,” Neil adds.
“Well, since we can’t prove what exactly happened, theory or no theory, we can’t press charges, but both of you are suspended for one week pending the hearing if you are appealing,” the official announces.
“I’m going to appeal,” I reply. Hunter shoots me a glare. “What? Neither of us would have switched out a bolt on a control arm.”
“Well, we can’t determine if that was even the actual case and malice was involved, so the suspension is related to faulty equipment causing the accident,” the official informs us.
“Again, I am still appealing the suspension,” I bark back. I turn to look over at Bud, who is standing with Drake and the Adams crew. “You have nothing to say?”
“Nope,” he stonewalls.
“Of course, you don’t. You have enough to say when she’s on the track, but nothing to say now that the car was messed with?” I glare at him.
Mac places his hand on my shoulder. “Come on, dude, calm down.”
“This is bullshit,” I growl. “You know neither of us would do anything like this.”
“I know, man. We all know, but calm down now because if you don’t, then this could get even worse,” Mac reminds me. I nod and take a deep breath looking over at Neil and Hunter.
“There’s also a fine of fifty thousand dollars assigned to the racing team,” official two proclaims.
“We’ll get that in the mail this week,” Hunter tells them.
“Very well. That is all we have for the moment. We’ll be in touch about the appeal,” official one counters.
