She's annoyed -- she wants to go faster.
"Does this thing have a governor on it?," Truess joked, wondering if someone had placed a device on the truck to keep it from going faster.
There's quick emergency response, and then there's the Indy Racing League's Delphi Safety Team. They're the first responders to crashes at every IndyCar series race, including Sunday's Indianapolis 500.
Friday was a slow day for the safety team, as drivers steered clear of the wall before the final practice session was cut short by rain. That was just fine with Dr. Tyler Stepsis, one of the team's emergency doctors.
"You don't ever want to be busy out here," Stepsis said. "You always hope that we're just picking people up and bringing them in for checkout. But every now and then, you do see bad things happen."
And when bad things happen, seconds can make the difference. The IRL team arrives quickly -- sometimes reaching the accident scene before all the cars stop skidding -- then swarms the wreckage to make sure drivers are OK.
Racing is a dangerous business, but seeing the same rescue workers every week gives drivers a sense of comfort when there's trouble on the track. There is no such traveling safety team in NASCAR, where tracks rely completely on local fire and rescue workers.
Indy uses local workers, too, but mainly in supporting roles.
Former IndyCar driver Scott Goodyear says the traveling team is superior because team members are more familiar with the patients. Goodyear said that after a 2001 accident at Indy, rescue workers immediately knew they had to be especially careful because Goodyear had broken his back in a previous crash.
"How do you get that from having a bunch of good people, but local people that don't know the people that they're with?" said Goodyear, now an analyst for ESPN.
John Andretti, who has raced in IndyCar and NASCAR, says it would be more difficult for NASCAR to establish a safety team because it sanctions so many more races than IndyCar. Andretti said NASCAR tracks have improved their medical facilities and local safety workers are better organized than in the past.
"When I first went over there, you could barely find the infield care center -- and if you did, you took a tetanus shot to go into it," Andretti said. "Now, they're real, honest-to-goodness facilities with real doctors."
But several NASCAR drivers have spoken out in favor of a safety team similar to Indy's.
In IndyCar, about 15 safety team members travel to every race, staffing four trucks that carry everything from rescue and extraction equipment to a powder that soaks up oil slicks. Most of the team members work regular jobs, often in hospital emergency rooms, and arrange their work schedules so they can travel to races.
The team's on-track operations are overseen by Dr. Michael Olinger, who rides with Stepsis in an SUV designated as the team's command center. The command truck is driven by Truess, a former rally racer who was a pace car driver in the now-defunct Champ Car series.
One of the team's other safety trucks usually arrives at an accident scene first, with the command truck not far behind -- unless there's a fire, in which case a fire crew comes first.
The team's first step is to check on the driver, determining whether he is awake and alert and asking if he is in pain. If there is any chance of a serious injury, the team will quickly but carefully pull the driver out of the car.
From there, other members of the crew make sure no debris flew into the grandstands and oversee track cleanup efforts.
If there is a traumatic injury, Stepsis likely would perform emergency procedures with Olinger supervising. Although driver Paul Dana died at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2006, advances in racing safety have made deaths and serious injuries less common than they once were.
Last year at Indy, driver Milka Duno walked away from a crash that registered a staggering 250 Gs on a tiny crash data recorder that IRL officials have drivers wear in their earpieces.
"That was the hardest hit I've ever seen, in terms of energy," Olinger said.
After most crashes, drivers haven't suffered anything beyond a bruised ego, and the team will give them a ride to the infield care center.
And they're not always in the best mood.
Olinger recalls a heated confrontation between Danica Patrick and Jacques Lazier. Then there was the time Helio Castroneves went after Tomas Scheckter in the infield care center.
Vitor Meira, by contrast, usually maintains his cheerful disposition even after a wreck.
The worst driver to deal with after a crash in recent years? Eddie Cheever.
"Some drivers are better crashers than others," Olinger said.
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