IndyCar: Power to medical center after Cream Puff attack on podium
WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin – For the second time this summer, a race winner for Team Penske had to go to a track medical center because of a freak injury caused by a Victory Lane celebration gone awry.
On June 29, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski had to seek medical treatment after he cut his right hand on a broken champagne bottle during his Victory Lane celebration for winning the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
After Sunday’s victory in the Verizon IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile, Team Penske driver Will Power had to have a medical procedure after contents of the Wisconsin State Fair’s Famous Cream Puffs clogged up his ear canals.
One of the recent traditions for a race winner at the oldest continuous racing facility in the world is to receive Cream Puffs – the iconic desert concoction served at the annual Wisconsin State Fair. The Milwaukee Mile is part of Wisconsin State Fair Park.
The awarding of the Cream Puff usually turns into a Food Fight and that is exactly what happened when Power’s Team Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, the second-place finisher in Sunday’s race, and third-place finisher Tony Kanaan got into the act. It began with both drivers smashed the Cream Puffs in Power’s face and ended when Kanaan took two Cream Puffs and “creamed” Power in both ears.
Unfortunately for Power, the driver from Toowoomba, Australia had to be treated in the Infield Care Center for a medical procedure known as “Ear Irrigation.” That is when a large syringe is filled with warm water, inserted into the ear canal and repeatedly injected to flush out the blockage in the ear – in this instance, the smashed remnants of the Cream Puffs.
“Poof, it went in -- Cream Puff, all that stuff coming out,” Power said after he was released. “My ears are clean and dry now. That lady (IndyCar nurse) was there for a while like squirting, squirting, squirting. The doctor was looking in my ear.
“It's all clean now.”
Power has been known to pull a few pranks with his unique wit but on Sunday he became the victim of two of the best pranksters in all of racing – Montoya and Kanaan.
“That's two veterans just telling me, ‘You can't come up on this podium without us giving you the work-over,’” Power said.
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