The 2023 Indy 500 was packed full of excitement and drama, but for race fan Robin Matthews, recollections of the event are likely dominated by the moment a tire was ejected out of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a crash. That tire found its way into the parking lot, colliding with Matthews’ 2012 Chevy Cruze. Luckily, Matthews will be compensated with a brand-new 2023 Chevy Equinox.
Robin Matthews and her new 2023 Chevy Equinox, photo courtesy of WTHR
Per a report from local NBC News affiliate WTHR13, Matthews’ Chevy Cruze was totaled after a tire flew off Kyle Kirkwood’s race car, sending it sailing over the retaining fence, barely missing the packed grandstands. The tire continued into the parking lot outside Turn 2, where it collided with the front end of Matthews’ Chevy Cruze. Images from the scene show the headlight, hood, and fender crushed by the wayward racing tire.
“My car’s name is ‘Snowball,’ she took one for the team,” Matthews said.
Luckily, no one was injured in the incident. However, Matthews was nervous she wouldn’t have a ride after her car was taken away on a tow truck. Matthews said that her beloved Snowball was paid off, and that she simply wanted something she could drive to work without a car payment.
Matthews’ new 2023 Chevy Equinox, photo courtesy of WTHR
IMS President Doug Boles arranged to lend Matthews a 2023 Chevy Equinox after the race. Matthews apparently loved her new car so much, she worked out an arrangement to keep it indefinitely. The crossover’s new name? Snowball 2.
Matthews’ new 2023 Chevy Equinox includes a variety of motorsport-themed decals, including official Indy 500 logos and Chevrolet branding throughout.
“It’s just been truly a blessing to me and my family,” Matthews said. “Snowball was a 2012, I got a ’23. Never in a million years would I thought that they would provide me with something like this, but I’m very grateful and thankful and truly blessed and very grateful that nobody got hurt due to this incident.”
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy Equinox news, Chevy news, GM-related motorsports news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Cool story! Glad she was able to keep the brand new Equinox.
Don’t get how the Cruze was totalled. Didn’t look that bad. And the Equinox is a gussied up one. Good for her, but was it necessary?
Being a 2012 Cruze, the car was probably worth $5,000-$7,000 (depending on mileage).
Replace the hood, fender, and headlight (minimum; assuming the front bumper is still usable).
Repaint the bumper, hood, fender. Blend the adjacent door, opposite fender and both A pillars.
This also assumes that nothing in the core-support was damaged by the blow.
Probably somewhere in the $3,000-$5,000 range for repair (just looking at the surface).
Automobile insurance can total a vehicle if it’s repairs are 80% of the vehicle’s value. You just explained that the repairs are going to be approximately 100% of the vehicles value. So the insurance company will total it. I had an accident where no fluids leaked & no airbags deployed and they totaled my cruze too. That value thing is a joke though. I haven’t been able to find a cruze, or any vehicle comparable I can afford in the same shape my power plant was for the amount they totaled my vehicle for. Freaking made up numbers
I believe it’s 50% in California.
Good public relations.
Yes, really good public relations for Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Worked out an agreement to keep the Nox?
Sounds like if you don’t take legal action and sign this release will guv3 you this car.
What an amazing story. My eyes are welling up as I type. This is the true definition of Pulitzer Prize Journalism. Jonathan, what are you doing wasting your talents on GM Authority, when you should be writing for The New York Times or The Washington Post. What a powerful article.
Well yeah, of course it had motorsport-themed decals. It was an event vehicle, likely used to shuttle Indy 500 people and stuff around in the weeks leading up to the race. There were probably several other identical Equinoxes in the same livery, on loan from GM. So ‘new’ in the sense that it was never registered, at least.
But all in all, everyone involved gets a ‘win’ with this resolution…I’m OK with that.
Well she is probably an Indy car fan for life now. CHAMP/IRL/CART needs all the fans it can get.
That damaged car needs to go on EBay for 5x what it’s worth. Quick before the moment’s gone.
If she likes the racing, maybe have a annual pass to the Indy500 each year too!
Would have asked for a better car. Like the all-electric Blazer or Equinox EV, heck, maybe a Lyriq.
Just like my daughter. She went from a totaled Cruze to a brand new Equinox. But after insurance I PAID the difference.
IMS stepping up & doing the right thing.
The publicity this created was phenomenal!
Now if this has been a Nascar event, Jim France would of tried to fine the lady for unapproved interaction with a tire & charged her for towing the car off the property!
I think it is totaled. The labor alone is equal or more than the car’s worth.
Probably the damaged car was ready to be repossed
Probably the damaged car was ready to be repoed
I’m happy for this lady. And she got a new car in the deal and it’s fantastic Public Relations. Win-Win.
The right thing was done here and that’s always good to see, so other companies can learn from this situation.
Ethics and integrity should be common practice.
IMS simply counting their lucky stars that there were no injuries. Giving her a “track vehicle” costs them nothing compared to the lawsuits they would have faced had someone been injured. They were probably writing it off as a depreciating asset anyways. Now it’s one less asset they need to dispose of after it gets fully depreciated. Costs IMS virtually nothing, and the woman gets a replacement car. Win-win for both parties.
This lady certainly needed to be looked after properly, and IMS hit a home run with the solution. Looks like the Equinox she was given was pool car for the race, either owned by IMS or by Chevrolet. So once the race was over, the car would have been wholesaled to a dealer as a used car. So, IMS gets to write off the car, the lady gets a current year, if not brand new, ride and all’s well that ends well.