Andretti Placed On Probation
In an Associated Press release today, April 16th, it was announced that Michael Andretti has been placed on probation by the IndyCar Racing Officials, which also assessed fines to driver Christian Fittipaldi and two racing teams.The penalties were issued by Wally Dallenbach, IndyCar's chief steward.
Andretti, who also was placed on probation last year, was punished for his actions in three of the last four IndyCar races. Two of the incidents occurred in the race at Long Beach, Calif. and involved contact with the PacWest team and drivers Mauricio Gugelmin and Teo Fabi.
The crews of Andretti's Newman-Haas Racing team and the PacWest team were both fined $5,000 following the Long Beach race for post-race confrontations in the pits.
In addition, Fittipaldi was fined $5,000 for physical contact at Long Beach with driver Greg Moore, but that had been announced within minutes of the incident while the race was still on.
Andretti also tangled with driver Paul Tracy at the race in Australia and had contact with Gugelmin in the season-opening race at Miami.
Last July, Andretti was placed on probation following the race at Cleveland for a number of incidents. That probation ended with the 1995 season. And in 1994 Andretti was placed on probation following over a half-dozen incidents at Vancouver.
