wilson89
Team Owner
IndyCar Series driver E.J. Viso has been diagnosed with the mumps and has withdrawn from this weekend’s Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
As a result, the Indy Racing League is asking participants who were in contact with Viso last weekend at Watkins Glen to provide documentation that they have either had the illness previously or been vaccinated for it.
The league also has notified the Indiana State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about Viso’s illness. IRL officials didn’t identify Viso as the ill driver, but Viso’s team, HVM Racing, confirmed it with a release Wednesday afternoon.
“Our primary concern is with E.J. and the crew,” said Keith Wiggins, HVM’s team owner. “We want to see him return as healthy and quickly as possible and also have the crew checked out due to their close proximity to him. We have discussed several different options for this weekend, but none of them enabled us to both preserve the health and interests of E.J., PDVSA HVMRacing and its members, other competitors and teams and the Indy Racing League.”
Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations for the Indy Racing League, said the IRL will ask those who came in contact with Viso to provide documentation or submit to a blood test. Others who attended the Watkins Glen race are encouraged to seek medical records regarding their mumps history or take a blood test.
“We are pro-actively working with the appropriate governmental health agencies and the entire IndyCar Series community to inform them about mumps and to take proper precautions,” Barnhart said in a statement. “We do not anticipate anyone attending this week’s event being at risk because the contagious period does not fall within the weekend.”
Mumps is a viral infection that is highly contagious but rarely life-threatening. It affects glands that produce saliva, and symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, pain below the ears, swelling and tenderness along the jaw and in front of and below the ears.
As a result, the Indy Racing League is asking participants who were in contact with Viso last weekend at Watkins Glen to provide documentation that they have either had the illness previously or been vaccinated for it.
The league also has notified the Indiana State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about Viso’s illness. IRL officials didn’t identify Viso as the ill driver, but Viso’s team, HVM Racing, confirmed it with a release Wednesday afternoon.
“Our primary concern is with E.J. and the crew,” said Keith Wiggins, HVM’s team owner. “We want to see him return as healthy and quickly as possible and also have the crew checked out due to their close proximity to him. We have discussed several different options for this weekend, but none of them enabled us to both preserve the health and interests of E.J., PDVSA HVMRacing and its members, other competitors and teams and the Indy Racing League.”
Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations for the Indy Racing League, said the IRL will ask those who came in contact with Viso to provide documentation or submit to a blood test. Others who attended the Watkins Glen race are encouraged to seek medical records regarding their mumps history or take a blood test.
“We are pro-actively working with the appropriate governmental health agencies and the entire IndyCar Series community to inform them about mumps and to take proper precautions,” Barnhart said in a statement. “We do not anticipate anyone attending this week’s event being at risk because the contagious period does not fall within the weekend.”
Mumps is a viral infection that is highly contagious but rarely life-threatening. It affects glands that produce saliva, and symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, pain below the ears, swelling and tenderness along the jaw and in front of and below the ears.
