David Pook Update

[rev-ed]

Janie posted this in the other thread, but I thought I'd make sure everyone got the good news.

CONTACT: Adam Saal (248) 362-8800

DAVID POOK RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL FOLLOWING THURSDAY TESTING INJURY AT
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

DETROIT (January 20, 2002) - David Pook, the 30-year-old son of Championship
Auto Racing Teams President and CEO Christopher R. Pook, was released from
Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix this afternoon and is traveling back to
his home in Long Beach, Calif., after being treated for a severe neck injury
sustained in a private testing accident late Thursday at Phoenix
International Raceway.

Pook sustained a clean fracture of his second cervical vertebra in the
accident that occurred in a late afternoon test run on the one-mile Phoenix
oval. Pook was testing his NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Chevrolet
stock car that suffered a suspected steering failure. He was travelling
approximately 150 miles per hour down the front straightaway at the time of
the suspected equipment failure, which resulted in a nearly head-on
collision with the Turn 1 wall. He was wearing a HANS Device.

Pook has been fitted with a "halo" external support device although his
injury did not require surgery. Although he remains bruised and sore, Pook
has been awake and alert since the incident and remains in good spirits. He
is expected to wear the "halo" for up to three months.

"We are incredibly touched and grateful for the out-pouring of sympathy and
support that the racing community, literally from around the world, has
shown for David and all in our family," the elder Pook said today. "We feel
very, very fortunate that David survived an impact as big as it was with
only a fracture. I want to particularly express our gratitude to David's
crew chief Carl "Junior" Joiner who built a unique and special seat that
held in place during the complete impact, as well as the HANS Device that
played a major role in David's survival."

Pook is a veteran race driver who has competed in both the CART Toyota
Atlantic Championship and the Dayton Indy Lights Championship. He also drove
a Van Diemen RF95 to the 1995 SCCA Formula Continental national
championship.

Friends and well wishers can contact David Pook through his web site
DavidPookRacing.com that is scheduled to come online tomorrow. Cards and
letters may be sent to the following address:

DP Motorsports
3710 Industry Way, Unit 201
Lakewood, CA 90712

-CART-

[Mackie]

As I said in the previous thread, "for all we know he may have been using the HANS device." This unit is not going to be the all-inclusive, end-all to save racing. People like to point fingers at the IRL for not mandating it or similar units. In the open cockpit environment of the IRL cars, where the sky is the limit for headroom, unless the car is "on the roll bar" and skidding across the pavement at 150, personal safety devices should be a drivers decision.

[cmego]

Mackie, sometimes people need to be protected from thier own poor decision making.
DE a great driver, but a poor decision maker.
Would you ride a Motorcycle w/o a helmet?