For two days last week a few of the Indy Car drivers took a holiday 300 miles off the coast of Monterey to visit the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz class nuclear-powered super carrier. Flying Like a COD
By Paul Page
Exclusive To SpeedCenter
©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
I flew Parker Johnstone, Scott Pruett, Eddie Lawson along with his girlfriend, Crystal Bernard, Christian Fittipaldi, Jeff Krosnoff and Paul Morgan (the "mor" of Illmor) on a COD C-D Greyhound prop-driven aircraft and landed on the wire with a trapped landing.
In addition each driver was offered the opportunity to land the COD on the flight deck and they all had a blast! The excitable Parker said of this experience, "If I wasn't a race-car driver, this is what I would want to be doing. It was unbelievable!"
The drivers had complete run of the ship for two days, viewing all sorts of tactical aircraft along with a full tour of the ship.
The drivers, and myself, were especially impressed when the entire crew of the ship lined up on the flight deck for an autograph session. The crew covered the deck from one end to the other!
You never realize how many people it takes to run a ship such as the USS Carl Vinson until they all gather in one spot. Thousands of of autographs were signed that day and it was a pleasurable break from the hectic schedule of the PPG IndyCar World Series that we all needed.
If we get a chance during the broadcast for the race at Nazareth we'll show you a few clips of how much fun we had.
