Breaking sweats and breaking bones

Little 500 race director Pam Loebig distinctly remembers the “battle wounds” from her Little 500 career.

In fact, two years after her last race, she can still point out the scars on her knee.
“The cinders tend to cut you like a cheese grater,” Loebig said. “They put these grooves into you and put cinders into your skin.”

For Little 500 participants, crashes — and injuries — are just a part of the race. Participate long enough and there’s bound to be a hard fall.

Sophomore Megan DeMarco experienced the nasty side effects of Bill Armstrong Stadium’s cinder track even before her first Little 500 race. The Delta Sigma Pi rider — who sacrificed her Spring Break to train with the team and has been training constantly since December — endured a vicious spill in practice three weeks ago.

While putting in sprint work near the end of a practice, she clipped wheels with her teammate’s bike in front of her.

“There was that split second when I lost control of my wheel, when I knew I was going to wreck and I knew it was going to hurt really bad,” DeMarco said. “I hit the ground and landed directly on my shoulder — I knew it was going to be bad. I tried to reach for my bike, but I felt like I was paralyzed.”

DeMarco suffered a dislocated shoulder and fractured ribs, along with internal and external bruising. Initially, she was worried about her ability to participate in the race.
“I worked so hard for this — over my dead body will I not be doing a lap in the race,” DeMarco said.

Her story’s ending — a clearance from the doctor to race Friday — was quite unlike senior Isaac Simonelli’s experience last season.

On the first day of veterans practice in 2009, Simonelli, who was racing for Collins Bunny Gamma, mishandled an exchange, something he said was a stupid mistake.
The result: a broken collarbone that forced him to miss the remainder of the 2009 season.

“I tried to tuck and roll, but I was going too fast and took it all in the shoulder. You just hear it crack and say ‘OK, moving on,’” said Simonelli, who now rides for Hoosier Climber.

Simonelli attributed Little 500 crashes to three factors. First, he said, there are stupid mistakes. Second, there’s just dumb luck. Third, there are some “squirrely riders” on the track who aren’t as confident, and their indecision often leads to accidents.

“Once you’re on the track working in the pack, it requires you to always be focused,” Simonelli said. “People are always moving and adjusting. Slips of concentration happen a lot, and that’s when we see those pile-ups.”

Pi Kappa Phi senior rider John Bishop experienced some of that “dumb luck” in the 2009 race. Riding in a pack around lap 50, the bike in front of him wiped out, and he had only one direction to go.

“There’s not enough time to really even think — you just kind of react with your best instincts,” Bishop said. “It all happens within one or two seconds. I was like, ‘Can’t go around him, pretty much have to go over him,’ so I did, and it turned out pretty ugly.”

Bishop suffered a separated shoulder and will have surgery this August to fully repair it.
While the crash was discouraging, Bishop accepted it as part of the race.

“Those things happen,” Bishop said. “You take the risk of being that close to someone in a pack and there’s anything from badly scraped knees to broken arms. You take your risks, but it’s all worth it.”

Loebig, now in her second year as race director, emphasized the importance placed on safety at the track but also noted that accidents are inevitable.

For example, race officials coordinate a “Rookie Week” at the beginning of each Little 500 season when new riders are required to participate in all practices in order to train them on the track.

“We take as many precautions as we can,” Loebig said. “I hate to see wrecks happen, and I hate to see riders get injured, especially if it means they can’t ride in the race.”