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John Goreham Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com 6-4-2018 GM’s Executive Vice President of Global Product Development, Mark Reuss, had the unfortunate and embarrassing experience of crashing a pace car this weekend at the Detroit Grand Prix Indycar event. Reuss lost control of the Corvette ZR1 in a corner with uneven pavement. The vehicle appeared to oversteer and corrections sent Reuss into the wall nose first. Thankfully, Reuss and a track official in the passenger seat were uninjured. Members of GM-Trucks.com staff have met Mark Reuss on multiple occasions and have shared racetracks with him. Mr. Reuss is “guy’s-guy” who is very easy to speak to. We’ve had the pleasure of sharing meals with him and informally discussing a wide range of topics. Mr. Reuss has also granted Zane Merva of GM-Trucks.com formal interviews to give updates on truck developments. At the track events we visited, Reuss took advantage of media days to get to know and hear from members of the media during important Chevrolet and Cadillac performance model launches. He also took advantage of the open track to turn hot laps in the products he helped bring to market. His competency behind the wheel of 700 hp + cars is not in question. Mr. Reuss also knows this particular track, having driven it on many occasions before this event. GM issued this statement on the accident: “We are thankful that there were no serious injuries. Both the pace car driver and the series official were taken to the infield care center, where they were checked, cleared and released. It is unfortunate that this incident happened. Many factors contributed, including weather and track conditions. The car’s safety systems performed as expected.” Mr. Reuss posted a comment to his personal Facebook page thanking friends, family, and GM fans for their support. Since the post was not public, but only shown to his FB friends, we have opted not to reproduce it in its entirety as other media have chosen to do. Reuss apologizes in the post, and thanks his well-wishers, but says he let people down. We don’t feel let down. If a pace car isn’t a real track car, and if it isn’t going to be driven hard, then what’s the point?