Racing Religiously

When Greg Moore’s car hurtled off the track and into a retaining wall coming out of Turn 2 at about 225 mph during the 1999 Marlboro 500 at California Speedway, spectators saw emergency crews rush to the scene.

What they did not see were two men--Phil De Rea and Bob Pirtle--rushing to the speedway’s medical center, located in the infield near Turn 4, or a third--Hunter Floyd--rushing to the medical center moments later.

The three are chaplains with CART Ministries, an organization sanctioned by CART to meet the spiritual needs of those connected with CART. Their jobs that day were perhaps the most difficult of all: Helping the CART community make sense of what seemed a senseless tragedy.

While doctors prepared Moore for transportation to Loma Linda Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead while the race was still in progress, the three determined the roles each would take in the aftermath.

De Rea, a Catholic priest who grew up with the Andretti family in Nazareth, Pa., accompanied Moore and his family to the hospital. Pirtle, a Protestant minister, met privately in the garage area with Moore’s Player’s-Forsythe racing team.

Floyd, a former racer who has been an ordained minister for 16 years--spent the duration of the race ministering to crew members and photographers horrified by what they had just witnessed. He was the only member of CART Ministries seen by the public that day, making the postrace announcement to the crowd that included a moment of prayer in remembrance of Moore.

Then Floyd returned behind the scenes to meet with all of the drivers before they faced the media for interviews.

Once the spectators had left and stories were filed, the CART community assembled in the garage area while De Rea, Floyd and Pirtle conducted a remembrance ceremony.

“It was a time of remembrance and prayer, where we could gather together as a family and mourn and remember Greg and encourage one another in prayer,” Floyd said. “It was really important for the whole group, because many of them would not be together again until spring training in January.”

The chaplains also rewrote the program for the annual end-of-season CART banquet, to be held the following night in Century City. The Indy Lights banquet, which was to have been held after the race, was called off and Pirtle went to the banquet hall to provide comfort for those who had left the race early and were unaware of the tragedy.

“The goal for Father Phil and Hunter and I is to try to get people to focus as quickly as possible that the tragedy itself, the event itself, is going to recede into the background in their minds, and the memories and the pleasant things that they recall about this person are what’s going to remain, and the quicker we make that transition from dwelling on the event to reflecting on the life of the person, the better off we are,” Pirtle said.

Mario Andretti recalled De Rea’s comforting presence after he and his son, Jeff, both crashed during the 1992 Indianapolis 500.

“That was the darkest day of our lives, me in the hospital and Jeff coming in 10 times worse,” Andretti said. “We needed someone there to put things in perspective, and [De Rea] does that. You need courage, you need wisdom, and you need that spiritual strength, and he contributed incredibly in moments like that.”

Being a full-time chaplain for a racing series, though, involves much more than helping the racing community cope with a racing death or serious accident. The chaplains provide many of the same services that a neighborhood pastor would provide.

De Rea, Floyd and Pirtle have all officiated at weddings and christenings, as well as funerals of those who have died of natural causes. The day after the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach last spring, all three chaplains officiated at weddings in the CART community.

Pirtle, however, noted one difference between CART Ministries and a neighborhood church. The CART community is a secular community, mixing members of various faiths with those who have no religious beliefs.

“The job of the chaplains is to serve all of those people, regardless of their background or their faith,” Pirtle said. “It provides challenges only in the fact that we are interacting with people that we care about very deeply. . . . They know what my faith is--there is no question about the faith that Father Phil or Hunter or I have--we are there because of our commitment to the Christian faith. Our mission is to reflect God’s love to the people in the CART community.”

Said De Rea, “We’re not there so much to preach as we are to witness. You’d be surprised how much you can touch peoples’ lives just by being there and being yourself.”

According to Pirtle, the chaplains do not force their religion on anybody who comes for help.

“I share my faith with them and they may in turn share their faith with me,” Pirtle said. “I think what we find is a profound respect for each other’s faith. I think in situations like that, you try to point someone toward their faith.

“You try to affirm that which will help them through the situation they’re in. If you respect other people’s faith, you affirm to them that their faith will be a help to them to get through whatever circumstances they are facing.”

The ministries officially became a part of CART in 1998, but the roots go back to 1985.

De Rea, who attended races with the Andretti family as a youth, became a priest in 1968. After ordination, he began attending the Indianapolis 500 at Mario Andretti’s invitation, celebrating Sunday mass for the family.

“All of our events are run on the weekends,” Andretti said. “Sundays, some people like to go to church, but can’t have the opportunity. They bring church to us.”

Word spread about the priest saying mass at the track, and other drivers began asking to attend.

Driver Wally Dallenbach, later to become chief steward for CART, approached De Rea about saying a prerace prayer during the drivers’ meetings.

Floyd, who worked his way through ministry school at a Ferrari dealership, contacted Dallenbach after a chance conversation with a Christian customer.

“I told her how I wished there was a Christian presence in racing, and the customer said Al Holbert--who was starting the Porsche program in Indy car racing--was a Christian and that I ought to talk to him,” Floyd said “I called him and he called back, and said he had talked with Wally Dallenbach. One thing led to another, I did three of the last four races in 1985 and have been there ever since.”

Now, at each weekend CART race, there are a Catholic mass and Protestant worship services available to all who want to attend.

At first, Floyd and De Rea served under the banner of Motorsports Ministries, which operated in several racing series, but became a CART organization with the arrival of Pirtle--who had been chaplain of the Trans-Am series--in 1998.

Drivers are grateful for the presence of the chaplains.

“The reason I do this is not to get extra points or do well,” said Helio Castroneves. “Our sport is very dangerous, in danger of an accident at any time. It’s very comforting to have a minister here because our job is on the weekends and weekends are when I like to spend extra time talking to God.”

Said Andretti, “I don’t think we could call our sport complete without it.”