By Dave Lewandowski

One of a periodic look behind the scenes of Indy Racing League personnel and their duties on race weekends.

Who knew that a broken leg would lead to a comfortable gig on race day? Certainly not Mark Sandy, the Indy Racing League’s electronics manager.

Sandy is the guy you see on the race broadcasts belted in next to Honda Accord Safety Car driver Johnny Rutherford and with his gloved hand out the passenger side window during caution periods. That’s an added signal to remind IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights drivers they’re following the pace car.

Officially, Sandy is an extra set of eyes and ears for Rutherford, who’s in communication with sanctioning body officials in Race Control.

“I inspect for debris on track as we go around,” Sandy says. “When we come around every lap I look at the pits because a lot of times cars are coming out when we’re coming around. Also, when we come off the track we usually cut across pit lane to get to our hole and I watch if pit lane is clear.”

Sandy says Rutherford is “more in his element” when he’s driving faster than his age (the three-time Indianapolis 500 champion is 72), but the speed isn’t a concern to the motorcycle enthusiast.

“When I go back and watch the races at home the pace car doesn’t look like it’s going that fast, but I know we’re doing 115 in that spot,” he says. “The fans, after watching the IndyCars go around at 180 (at Iowa Speedway on June 20), have no idea that we’re doing 105 on the track. The street courses are more exciting than the ovals because we slide through the turns sometimes and I’ve had to pull my hand in a few times to not hit the wall.”

Sandy has been Rutherford’s running mate since June 2008 and has other (not as adventurous) duties on race weekends. He oversees the electronics on cars that the Indy Racing League requires (accident data recorder, track condition relays) and safety items such as the earpiece accelerometers (measures G forces during a crash). Then there are safety inspections before cars/drivers are allowed on the racetrack: check seat belts, head surrounds, SWEMS, helmets, fire bottles, cut-off switches – “anything that has to do with safety,” he says.

Sandy had been assisting on pit lane, but suffering the broken leg obviously cut his mobility.

“That’s when there was an opening in the pace car and they wanted someone there every week to have standard procedures,” Sandy says. “I have a lot of the (pit lane) technical inspectors ask if I want to trade jobs with them and my comment is not until they get dual climate control in their firesuits.”