GM executive Mark Reuss crashed a $120,000 Corvette on Sunday. (AP file photo) There’s nothing more American than getting behind the wheel of a monster-horsepower ride and cutting loose. And thus there is nothing more embarrassing than getting behind the wheel of a monster-horsepower ride and banging it straight into a wall. GM vice president of product development Mark Reuss suffered that toxic embarrassment on Sunday prior to Race 2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Grand Prix. Driving a 755-horsepower, $120,000 Corvette ZR-1, Reuss spun and slammed hard into a wall, causing a 30-minute delay for cleanup. In the immediate aftermath of the wreck, GM issued a statement that sought to deflect a bit of blame onto “weather and track conditions”: Chevrolet statement on the accident that saw a GM exec crash a Corvette pace car prior to the IndyCar race. pic.twitter.com/7Qsp6PMBh6 — Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) June 3, 2018 Monday, Reuss took to Facebook to offer his own apologies: “I want to thank you all for your well wishes today,” Reuss wrote. “I am ok. I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot, and calm. On Z06’s, Grand Sports, and other things. “It is never a casual thing for me, but an honor to be asked. Today I let down my friends, my family, IndyCar, our city and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world.” Bad as it was, the wreck still didn’t approach the Eddie Griffin Debacle, when the Hollywood actor wrecked a $1.5 million Ferrari Enzo: Yeah. Maybe most folks should just stick to minivans. – – – – – – – Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook. More from Yahoo Sports: • Cavs star abruptly ends interview: ‘That’s [expletive] up’ • In classy move, Bears sign TE after catastrophic injury • Coach Kerr trolls LeBron at news conference • GM VP’s pace car humiliation in Detroit<doc-sep>By Des Bieler, (c) 2018, The Washington Post The start of Sunday’s IndyCar race in Detroit was delayed half an hour after the pace car crashed into a wall. Both the driver, General Motors executive Mark Reuss, and a passenger, IndyCar official Mark Sandy, were taken to a medical center at the track but reportedly suffered no major injuries. The accident occurred as Reuss, GM’s executive vice president for Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, steered the car around turn two of the parade lap at the Raceway on Belle Isle. He lost control of the 2019 Corvette ZR1, the retail price for which starts at around $120,000, and swerved hard to the left, hitting the wall. “We are thankful that there were no major injuries,” Chevrolet said in a statement. “Both the pace car driver and the series official were taken to the infield care center, where they were checked, cleared and released. It is unfortunate that this incident happened.” The manufacturer added that, “Many factors contributed, including weather and track conditions,” and it wrung a positive from the embarrassing situation by noting, “The car’s safety systems performed as expected.” Announcers during the race speculated that Reuss may have been surprised to see a racecar on the track ahead of him as he rounded the turn. Pace car crashes are very unusual, but not entirely unheard-of, as, for example, three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford managed to do it while performing the honors ahead of a 1999 race at Texas Motor Speedway. “I felt really bad for whoever was in the pace car. Where it happened is such a bad corner. It’s real easy to do,” said Will Power (via Auto Week), the winner of last week’s Indy 500 and the second-place finisher Sunday. “Come to the races, you’ll see anything,” longtime team owner Roger Penske said. Other observers were also able to find humor in the accident. Reuss, on the other hand, took it hard. His Facebook settings are private, but Forbes reported Monday that Reuss wrote: “I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot and calm. “It is never a causal thing for me, but an honor to be asked. Today I let down my friends, my family, IndyCar, our city, and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world.” Eventually, a replacement pace car emerged, with Oriol Servia behind the wheel. A part-time IndyCar driver who competed at the Indy 500, the 43-year-old Servia has been a frequent pace car driver this year, along with retired racer Sarah Fisher. Sunday’s event was won by Ryan Hunter-Reay, giving him his first IndyCar victory since 2015. He had finished as the runner-up Saturday, in the first of the weekend’s Detroit Grand Prix races, while Scott Dixon won that event.<doc-sep>Things got interesting Sunday at the Detroit Grand Prix race on Belle Isle when GM executive Mark Reuss wrecked the pace car just before the start. The car hit a portion of the wall on the track, which delayed the race about a half hour. Reuss is the Executive Vice President of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management at General Motors. He was driving with IndyCar electronics manager Mark Sandy, who was in the passenger seat. Neither Reuss nor Sandy were injured. More storires: Detroit Grand Prix: GM exec wrecks pace car before Dual II start Detroit Grand Prix: Another dominant weekend for Honda on Belle Isle Here's how folks reacted to the news on social media: (Note: For those unfamiliar with Toonces, check out this 'Saturday Night Live' clip)<doc-sep>
Forgive General Motors product boss Mark Reuss if he wanted to call in sick Monday. Reuss was the talk of Twitter when he put the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car into the wall Sunday, creating IndyCar gridlock behind him, and delaying the start of the race by a half-hour while Corvette bodywork was swept off the track. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday? Not this time. The unusual pace car crash of Corvette's $135,000, 755-horsepower pride and joy capped off a tough weekend for Chevy that saw Honda dominate the IndyCar engine wars. More:Why the next Corvette pace car will be mid-engine Reuss made no excuses. Taking to Facebook, he apologized for an incident that fortunately left everyone unscathed: "I want to thank you all for your well wishes today. I am ok. I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot, and calm. On Z06's, Grand Sports, and other things. It is never a casual thing for me, but an honor to be asked. Today I let down my friends, my family, Indycar, our city and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world." If it's any consolation, the pro drivers behind him were sympathetic. Scott Dixon, who had a good view of the crash from his fifth spot on the grid, observed that the Corvette wasn't the only car to get sideways in tricky Turn 2. "The track changes surfaces there,” said Dixon, who eventually finished fourth. “There's actually a bit of elevation change there, too, which is what typically catches people out. We had a couple (IndyCars) spin out there this weekend." It's not the first time a pace car has had trouble, Dixon mused to The Detroit News over breakfast Monday: "I think Toronto in 2014 was the last one with Arie Luyendyk (the two-time Indy 500 winner, not his "Bachelor" star son) spinning the Honda pace car in the rain."