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Christian Fittipaldi: I have a small, constant headache all day
Newman-Haas Racing's Christian Fittipaldi is recuperating at his home in
Miami after suffering a subdural hematoma during a testing accident last
week at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.
Fittipaldi, who drives the #11 Big Kmart Ford-Cosworth, was in the midst of
a career season after he claimed his first pole positions in Rio and won his
first FedEx Championship Series event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc.
Through the first twelve events of the season, Fittipaldi was leading the
charge in both laps completed and miles completed.
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Question:
HOW DO YOU FEEL BOTH
PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I am doing a lot better. Emotionally I am
feeling both sad and happy. I am sad because everything was going well this
season but, on the other hand, I am happy because the injury could have been
even worse. So it goes both ways."
Question: DO YOU LOOK BACK AT YOUR PREVIOUS INJURIES AS FAR AS LEARNING HOW TO BE
PATIENT DURING YOUR RECOVERY?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Well in a way, no. (The injury) I suffered
in Surfers (Paradise, Australia) was completely different than this. It was
more of a mechanical break (of my leg) and the recovery was more of getting
my leg back together again and being able to sustain the car forces. What I
have now is something that only time will help me get better."
Question:
AT WHAT POINT DO YOU LOOK AT THESE STRING OF INJURIES AND ASK YOURSELF, 'WHY
ME?'
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Well I think that everything happens for a reason in life. If God
wanted it to be this way maybe he is trying to show me some other things in
life and he is preparing me for my future. I honestly believe it has to be
this way, and I am sure that the day I was testing I was doing everything
correct. The team had prepared me a good, competitive car for me running
there, and no one was working in a bad way, so, I believe that there are
good things that come from bad things in life."
Question:
I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CAN'T REALLY EXERCISE THE TYPE OF INJURY YOU
SUSTAINED, BUT RATHER YOU JUST HAVE TO REST. HOW DIFFICULT IS THAT FOR YOU?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Actually I have a small, constant headache all day and as soon as I move my
head to the sides it hurts a little bit. Basically I am going to try and go
swimming a little later this week and go from there. But I am not worried
about my exercise right now. I am more worried about getting better as
quick as possible now."
Question:
WOULD YOU SAY THAT THIS HAS BEEN A TOUGH YEAR FOR DRIVERS IN CART?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"That's
a bit difficult to comment on. I am really only worried about what happened
to me. Obviously, my accident didn't happen during the best time. I think
what we should do is continue to improve the safety of the cars. Don't ask
me what we should do, but we need to continue to work on making the cars and
the tracks safer for everyone."
Question:
DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT THE ACCIDENT IN GATEWAY?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Nothing. I only
remembered opening my eyes in the hospital believe it or not. I don't
remember anything at all. If someone would have told me that I had my
accident in turn three rather than turn one, I would have believed them."
Question:
THERE WERE SOME RUMORS GOING AROUND THAT YOU WERE THINKING OF RETIRING
BECAUSE OF THIS ACCIDENT. IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THAT?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"No, no, no. Those
are big rumors. I don't really know who started them. That didn't even go
through my mind. The day I start thinking seriously about that I won't have
any problems taking that step. But it's definitely not that time for me
yet."
Question:
WAS THE TEAM ABLE TO TELL ANYTHING FROM THE CAR ABOUT WHAT CAUSED THE CRASH?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"What maybe caused the accident was a malfunction in the gear shift. I went
from fifth gear to fourth gear and apparently what happened was that fourth
gear took a little longer to engage than what I thought it was really going
to take. Suddenly when it engaged, it locked both rear wheels and the car
spun very, very quick."
Question:
DOES THAT SHIFTING PROBLEM HAVE MORE TO DO WITH A HARDWARE PROBLEM, OR IS IT
AN ISSUE WITH THE ELECTRONICS.
Christian Fittipaldi:
"It's difficult to answer. But in our case
it could have been sort of a hardware problem. We were trying a new shifter
that was completely different than what we were running this season. What I
am not really in favor of is downshifting on the ovals when you are coming
from a very high-speed to a low-speed turn which is the case in St. Louis.
By the time you get to the end of the straight in St. Louis, you are going
about 210 mph. When you get to the turn you are going about 140 mph and you
definitely have to go down one gear, so when you get into a problem you have
the potential to have a really big accident."
Question:
BEFORE THE ACCIDENT YOU WERE TESTING A NEW ENGINE. HOW DID IT FEEL?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"It
felt really good. Vibration-wise it felt better than the current engine.
It vibrated a little less. Power-wise there was not a big difference
because obviously, it was not the latest and greatest spec-engine we were
running because it was the first time we were running the engine. There
were some things that really surprised me and made me very happy when I was
driving it. It was a brand new engine and its first time on the track and
we managed to run 80 to 90 miles completely trouble free."
Question:
ALL OF THE REPORTS WE SEE HAVE YOU BACK FROM YOUR INJURY SOMETIME AROUND
HOUSTON. MIGHT WE SEE YOU BACK BEFORE THAT?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Realistically, I don't see me
coming back any sooner than that. It is going to happen around Houston and
Surfers. I hope it is Houston because it is earlier than Surfers and I
really like the track at Houston."
Interview provided by Ford Motorsports
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