IndyCar's Grand Prix of Louisiana was so wet this weekend that qualifying was cut short, a practice session this morning was cancelled and the race itself was bumped up fifteen minutes to avoid more storms. Naturally, folks got stuck. One true hero decided to help Gabby Chaves out of the mud on his own.
In case you missed it, here's how most of the race went:
Slippery track. Lots of standing water. Lots of crashes. Lots of yellow caution flags for crashes, debris and other crap dragged onto the track. According to NBC Sports, only about 30% of the race itself—31 minutes of about an hour and forty-five minutes of race time—was actual green-flag racing.
This meant that the race was a slippery, terrible mess, both on and off the track.
Wet tracks aren't just a hazard to navigate. Mud outside the track makes it even worse.
Many fans tend to underestimate the suckiness of mud off the track, but muddy conditions are some of the worst that you could encounter. Thing is, mud outside the racing surface itself means that it's a lot easier for wheels to dig in to the ground when cars go off. Wheels digging in either means you get launched into a flip (say, if you're sliding sideways and your car bites into the ground on one side) or you just plain get stuck.
The latter was the case for Bryan Herta Autosport IndyCar driver Gabby Chaves. Chaves ended up in the grass after making contact with another car, only to become a giant immobile mass of car-and-person stuck in the ground off the paved surface.
That's when this hero stepped in. Why wait for the recovery vehicle when you've got two arms? This corner worker wasted no time getting behind the car to help push Chaves out of the mud.
Naturally, this early nomination for Corner Worker of the Year became a hilarious meme.
This guy was ON IT.
The race may have been a dud, but it appears as if it was mostly Mother Nature's doing. Even the best tracks get overwhelmed with puddles and mud, including newish circuits in Louisiana.
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.