Fried critical, but stable after accident

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Sunday May 30, 1999 07:18 PM

Steve Freid (right bottom) was struck from behind by Jimmy Kite's car. AP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The best news for Robby McGehee wasn't that he ran with the leaders on Sunday during much of his first Indy 500 and finished the race in fifth place.

It was that his chief mechanic will get to hear all about it.

Steve Fried of Mentor, Ohio, who is also McGehee's right front tire man, was directing the car out of the pit in lap No. 12 when Jimmy Kite's car hit him from behind.

The accident was triggered when Kite, the youngest driver in the race at 23, was hit by Johnny Unser, whose brakes failed as he entered the pit.

Fried flipped into the air and landed on his face, sending blood pouring from his nose and mouth. He was admitted to Methodist Hospital in critical condition with head and chest injuries, but doctors said his vital signs had stabilized and he was responding to commands.

The collision disabled Kite's steering, preventing him from avoiding Fried.

"I was on the brakes as hard as I could," Kite said shortly after the accident. "There's nothing you could do with broken steering. I feel bad right now. There's nothing you could do. It's the most helpless feeling I've ever had."

No crew member has been killed at Indy since 1973, when Armando Tehran, a mechanic for driver Swede Savage, was struck by a fire truck speeding from the pits to the scene of a crash that fatally injured Savage.

McGehee, who finished fifth after starting 27th, said it was hard to run not knowing his crew chief's condition.

Two-thirds of the way through the race, the 25-year-old rookie from Chesterfield, Mo., heard that Fried had regained consciousness.

"The best thing that could happen was when they came on [his two-way radio] and told me that he was awake and giving a thumbs up," McGehee said.

Car owner Dave Conti, who said Fried is like a brother to him, recalled seeing him covered in blood.

"I was really scared," Conti said.

Janet McGehee spent much of the race crying as she watched her son from his pit.

"He kept asking about Steve the whole time," she said.

The crew dedicated the race to Fried. Conti went to the hospital when the race ended.

Race fan Steve Peterson of Prospect Heights, Ill., saw the accident from his seat in the infield bleachers near McGehee's pit and said it was unavoidable.

"Kite had nowhere to go," Peterson said.

Another pit accident later in the race knocked out Greg Ray, who had just inherited the lead when Arie Luyendyk crashed in the third turn. Ray dashed into the pits for a quick refueling but ran into Mark Dismore.

Ray took off his steering wheel and slammed it on top of his car.

"It just makes you want to cry," he said.

While obviously upset by Fried's injury, McGehee said running the race was "the highest point of my life."

"We were there at the end and that's what I've been saying that we were trying to do all week, and we're here," McGehee said.

 

Related information
Stories
Race Report
Stats
Indy 500 Results
Multimedia
Click here for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call 1-888-53-CNNSI.