Gunselman released from ride after racing accident with Franchitti

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Saturday, May 03, 2008

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RICHMOND, Va. – Larry Gunselman said Friday that he did his best to slow his car down and avoid hitting Dario Franchitti in the door last week in an accident at Talladega Superspeedway that broke Franchitti’s left ankle.

Gunselman was driving for MSRP Motorsports, a team that is more or less starting and parking this year. He said he was released from the team after the accident.

Although he was released from the infield care center following the wreck, Gunselman said he started feeling nauseated and was
taken to a hospital for observation. He had a CAT-scan and X-rays to his elbow and was released. He said he is still sore from the wreck.

“I’m terribly sorry I was involved in it,” said Gunselman, who was unsure how fast he was going when he hit Franchitti. “I wish I could have done something differently. … The spotter came on the radio and said, ‘Go low,’ so I did. Unfortunately when I got down on the
apron, you’re still going fast enough and you’re already committed and you have nowhere to go.

“I talked to Dario in the hospital and there are no hard feelings. It was just a terrible racing accident.”

Once he got on the apron with the marbles, Gunselman said all a driver is doing is trying to hold his line.

“We had planned on running through the first fuel stop,” Gunselman said. “I was trying to lay back and stay out of trouble. Obviously
I didn’t lay back far enough, and that’s my fault. I had no idea that the car wasn’t going to stop. The brakes that were on it were legal, but I think they were inadequate.”

Gunselman failed to qualify for Daytona but had made every race since then. The 43-year-old Gunselman was also working with the team’s other car, which had made all of the races this year.

“I think they felt I shouldn’t have been in that position,” said Gunselman, who has 62 career series starts and was in the Nationwide Series garage looking for a ride. “And they’re justified in that. I’ll take the blame. But if I could have gotten it whoaed down quicker, I wouldn’t have been in the accident.”

Gunselman was replaced at Richmond by Kenny Hendrick.