A GIANT INFLATABLE ORANGE BROKE LOOSE DURING NASCAR BUSCH SERIES POLE QUALIFYING FRIDAY AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY. TEAMS ON PIT ROAD WATCHED IT BOUNCE DOWN THE FRONTSTRETCH OF THE TRACK BEFORE FINALLY IMPALING ON A TURN FENCE. A SECOND INFLATABLE ORANGE BROKE LOOSE AND ENGULFED AN INFIELD CAMPER.
TINA GORDON, Driver, #39 Yahoo! Ford:
"It looked like something out of a bad horror movie, 'Invasion Of The Giant Oranges,' or something. I have to admit, that was a first. I've never seen anything like it.
"All we could do was stand there and watch. It was a strange sight but one that will be fun to tell people about later."
By Mark Aumann, Turner Sports Interactive July 9, 2004
8:14 PM EDT (0014 GMT)
JOLIET, Ill. -- The first event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a hot-air balloon race. On Friday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway, a balloon tried to join the race.
An approaching thunderstorm stirred up heavy winds, and at least two of the Tropicana balloons in the shape of giant oranges ringing the track came loose from their moorings during Busch Series Busch Pole qualifying, one engulfing a camper and the other nearly running into the No. 7 Chevrolet of Todd Szegedy during his attempt.
"That would be the one thing that made me famous," Szegedy said. "That'll be my new nickname, the 'Orange Boy.' And I don't live in Florida either."
The balloon that Szegedy narrowly missed rolled all the way from Turn 4 across the start-finish line, to the cheers of the crowd, before splitting and getting entangled in the catch fence down near Turn 1.
"I was just wondering why my crew chief was saying, 'Hey, the yellow is going to be coming out,' " Szegedy said. "I didn't see the yellow. and then I saw the big orange thing."
Szegedy said he backed out of the throttle at that point.
"The funny thing is as soon as I saw that orange ball rolling, I stood on it again," he said. "It would have been classic if it had rolled out and tried to hook to my car."
Then the skies, which had grown ominously darker during the afternoon, opened up, drenching the track and causing a halt to the procedings. Of the 18 cars which had taken times during the session, Kyle Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet was fastest, turning a lap of 182.125 mph on the 1.5 mile oval.
Szegedy's time was over 175 mph, but NASCAR was going to give the car a second opportunity once the track dried.
"I'm going to have bad nightmares about oranges," Szegedy said.
