Power and Philippe injuries could have been avoided

According to this SPEEDTV.com article, a corner worker was seen waving a flag at Infineon Raceway on Saturday but it was down below the turn, on driver's right, and the drivers are looking left and up as they head for the outside apex to take the proper line. Supposedly, a strobe light system near the top of the hill was functioning but it's quite a ways from the edge of the track and not exactly in a driver's sight line.

All Indy cars are equipped with lights on the dash that flash on for a full-course yellow but, according to the Team Penske crew, their telemetry showed Will Power's light didn't come on until after he'd already made contact.

"I had no warning on any kind or, obviously, I would have backed off," said Power. "I came over the hill and there was Nelson."

And, while it was a bang-bang situation, those eight seconds that elapsed before Philippe came to a stop and the big impact were crucial.

[Editor's Note: The IRL needs to seriously look at who can turn on the flashing lights on the dashboards. If it is just the control tower, that does not work on road courses as the tower cannot see all around the track. This was practice mind you, so giving every corner worker a button would not be such a bad thing. In the race, well that's another story.]