Thanks it was a scare for sure, but I'm back flagging this weekend. Unfortunately both this video and the NBC replay paint the incident in a bad light for you but I know your high level of driving standards and the incident was just a mistake/miscommunication. Best of luck at the Glen!
Yeah, there was an angel on station protecting me. The fact that I only got hit by one piece of debris with the amount that cleared the wall was nothing short of a miracle.
@@NolanRempel As a flagger you are kind of programmed to do that. There is still adrenaline that kicks in, but you need to stay calm because panicking only makes things worse. My flag chief was at station within 90 seconds and support staff just had me sit down for a few minute to make sure I was actually ok. Even John Doonan was on the other side of the track inspecting the incident and making sure I was fine. You'll see all of that in the full video when I get time to upload it.
Thanks so much for posting this and all the time that you volunteer for our entertainment. We were under the empty pavilion on the front stretch. Saw your flag on the wall take off for the Summit sign. Glad you didn't take any shrapnel. *Oops I guess you did take one piece, so I will edit to say, glad you weren't permanently harmed! :D
I definitely got lucky but I don't think I would have done much different. I normally wear a helmet when I'm flagging exposed stations like T1 but was not able to since I was the only one there and had the radio as well. I've been trying for 3 years now to get an aftermarket in helmet radio solution and I think I finally have someone who can make me a molded set of ear plugs/buds that can double as a microphone. They do stuff for most of the IndyCar drivers so I think that that is a pretty good bet.
