Car people cannot drive

You would have thought old Eldon Palmer would have learned 'em something.

That would be the Eldon Palmer who went down in Indianapolis 500 lore as the only man ever to crash a pace car, which he did in 1971. Just after veering off into the pits as the field came to the green at the start of the race, Palmer, a local Dodge dealer who got to drive the pace car because it was a Dodge Challenger, came in too hot, missed his braking point and crashed into a photographer's stand. Twenty-nine people were injured, one severely.

The obvious lesson: Don't let the seller handle the merchandise.

All these years later, IndyCar apparently forgot about Eldon, and forgot the lesson. They let a GM exec drive the Corvette pace car at Belle Isle yesterday, and this happened.

Well, you know that new aero package is a handful. Taking away the downforce makes things really dicey.

Oh, wait. That's the Indy cars themselves.

And the pace car?

Operator error. Clearly.