SRX suspends former IndyCar driver Paul Tracy after controversial incident with Ken Schrader
Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) announced Friday it has suspended driver Paul Tracy in relation to an on-track incident during Thursday’s race at Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Virginia.
“We take issues regarding driver safety extremely seriously at SRX,” SRX CEO Don Hawk said. “This is not a decision we take lightly. It is our responsibility to ensure that we foster a competitive, and most importantly, a safe racing environment. I have been in contact with Paul directly and we appreciate his cooperation on this matter.”
Tracy, the former IndyCar Series driver, was involved in the crash with 10 laps remaining which took out several cars, including Ken Schrader and reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden. Tracy made contact with Newgarden coming out of Turn 4, sending him up into the wall.
Tracy described the incident as “hard racing,” declining to take responsibility for it.
“I mean Newgarden and I were bouncing off of each other for a couple of laps,” Tracy said. “I got a nose ahead of him, half a car length ahead of him and I just got hooked and turned sideways down the straightaway. It was just hard racing at the end there with 10 laps to go, and everybody’s going for it hard. It’s a tough track to get off the corner, it’s a bad deal for everybody.”
Schrader, the former NASCAR Cup Series regular, was livid after the race, and threatened to never race in SRX again as long as Tracy was there.
“I’m pretty sure green [Tracy] had black [Newgarden] shoved into the outside wall … [watches the replay] I’m not runnin’ another race with him, I’m done,” Schrader said, via Motorsport.
Kyle Busch wins rowdy SRX Series race at Motor Mile Speedway
Racing in his first SRX Series race, Kyle Busch walked away as a winner as he drove his No. 51 Florida Panthers car to the checkered flag. He is the fourth driver ever to have scored a victory in their debut. Busch catapulted past Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer with just over 30 laps to go and never looked back.
“It’s cool, a lot of fun,” Busch said after the race, via The SportsRush. “You know really great to come out here and just have a good race with the SRX guys. You know, a lot of cool guys that got different personalities on different backgrounds. So it’s nice to be able to get out here and just kind of let loose and go out there for a win. So it was nice to grab that one.”