First In Class
By Tom Hickey
©1996
SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Fantastic weather. A full, 28-car starting grid. Exciting racing for
91 laps around the streets of Toronto. "Thunder by the lake" is how
it's known here. Then, in a storm of carbon fibre debris, IndyCar lost
one of it's promising rookies tragically and dramatically.
On the third lap of green flag racing after a late race restart to
roll Michael Andretti's Lola-Ford from the turn-in at turn three, Jeff
Krosnoff's Reynard-Toyota was launched off the rear wheel of Stephan
Johansson's Reynard-Mercedes.
Airborne on the fastest part of the course, Krosnoff was sent cartwheeling and spinning into the inside retaining fence, tearing up a large section of fence before striking a
lamppost and caroming back across the track under the walkway bridge,
stopping against the concrete wall at drivers' left. The engine and
gearbox assembly continued down the track, coming to rest in the
runoff area of turn three, accompanied by the relatively undamaged
cars of Johansson, Emerson Fittipladi and Andre Ribiero.
This wasn't like Stan Fox's legs dangling from the front of his racer as it sped
backward along the wall at Indianapolis in 1995 -- there was no
'front' remaining on this race car.
Stunned, and not yet understanding all of what had taken place before
me, my finger was still jammed down hard on my camera shutter, shooting
empty frames on a now spent roll of film, high in the turn three photo
tower.
It did not take long to realize the severity of the crash. What
remained of the tub of Krosnoff's car resembled more an infant's car
seat than a strong, crash-tested IndyCar chassis. Nothing from the
shoulder supports forward. Nothing from the rollover bar backward.
IndyCar officials were on the scene immediately, running from their
nearby station in the turn three runoff, but it seemed to take forever
for a safety vehicle to arrive, and even longer for track medical
personnel. On leaving the scene only momemts later, the rescue truck
pulled away smartly, but not on a lightning emergency run, no lights
flashing. Maybe they just didn't have time, or didn't see the need on
a closed track. It was an ominous end to an action-filled weekend.
I spent the next hour, still in the photo tower, still stunned,
but now catching little glimpses of Krosnoff from memories of this
race weekend...
A polite, quiet ripple of applause was given up for Jeff earlier in
the day on a parade lap where the drivers, sponsors and other
officials are put in the spotlight for one pre-race circuit of the
track in the back of a string of convertibles. Nothing like the
welcome given rookie leaders Greg Moore and Alex Zanardi, but on par
with that given his rookie Toyota compatriots PJ Jones and Juan Manuel
Fangio II, as well as fellow rookies Mark Blundell and Eddie Lawson.
Rookies?! All of these drivers have proven themselves as championship
competitors in other top-notch series -- Formula One, IMSA GTP,
LeMans, IndyLights, motorcycle Grand Prix. Jeff Krosnoff had risen
from Japanese Formula 3000 to the heights of the CART PPG World
Series, to North American and international acclaim. The casual race
fan doesn't realize the magnitude of this, but you could hear the
hardcore fans giving their recognition to Jeff and all the drivers
here to race in front of us today.
Jeff started 20th on the grid at Toronto, his best career IndyCar
start, and may well have been on his way to his best IndyCar finish.
Yet you could tell that he was honing his skills for even better
performances in the future.
As a key part of Toyota's new IndyCar
development program, he passed with skill, yet allowed faster cars to
pass with courtesy and respect. With new sponsor MCI onboard, Jeff and
the Arciero-Wells team were continually moving up the ladder. Within
the last month, the MCI-liveried Reynard was recognized as an
eye-catching, attention-getting, racing billboard. He was quoted this
weekend as saying, "I think we're really starting to make some
progress now."
This same respect was afforded IndyCar fans as well. While not
surrounded by hordes of people in pit lane or the paddock, Jeff was
easily recognized as a member of the cast of CART and happily gave
autographs to all who approached him. In fact, Jeff and his team were
easier to approach than many.
Without the press of crowds of people in
the pit area, Jeff's Arciero-Wells team were more accessible, easier
subjects for the interested fan to observe and ogle. This interested
fan had to do a two-step to get out of the way of Jeff on his scooter
in a very crowded pit lane. No bother for Jeff, just a smile, shrug
and a wave as he zoomed away. I hope my headshot of him in his Reynard
while pitting during qualifying turns out. Unfortunately, it will
never receive his autograph.
Without doubt, this gut-wrenching incident will be scrutinized and
analyzed for a long time to come. And there are other, personal
memories of this weekends racing that will trigger thoughts of this
tragedy for some time. But I have decided how I will remember Jeff
Krosnoff, number 25: Jeff Krosnoff finished second overall and first
in class at Lemans in 1994. And that's the way I'll remember Jeff,
'first in class'.
September 24, 1964 -- July 14, 1996 R.I.P.
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