Two cars race down a track. Red car pulls ahead of yellow as the crowd goes wild. Yellow pulls ahead of red, red unleashes his speed boost. Come on, someone hit the wall—you know people only watching car racing for the accidents. And it’s CSI:NY, someone has to go in flames. Even if it’s an “exhibition, not a race.” Red pulls over for a pit stop, as does Yellow. Red’s driver shares a look with a woman in black while Yellow‘s driver is revealed to be Danica Patrick. Red pulls out exchanges a glance with Danica, who…Now there’s the explosion! Can I call it or can I call it? The emergency crews break out the fire extinguisher to use on Red’s driver before the car completely explodes.
In comes, Mac to inspect the scene. Flack approaches—Mac apparently likes Red’s driver, Davi Santos. Santos may have been protected by his suit, but he may get taken down by smoke inhalation. Flack revealed that Santos was receiving death threats. And a replay of the explosion leads us to…
The Who!
New York! Hi, Lindsay, I missed you last week. She takes pictures as Mac interviews the guy who employs Davi (also known as Antonio Sabato, Jr). Stella takes the Crew Chief. Davi and the guy were supposed to retire the previous season, but Davi talked him into one more year. Crew Chief praises Davi and Liza Grey (Danica Patrick) for being great drivers—which is why it was more an exhibition than a race. Mac wants a closer look at the car but the owners are a bit hesitant to give it up.
Mac wins though, of course, as we see the car get loaded into the NYPD garage. Adam works with the Detectives Messers as Lindsay reveals she loves racing. Adam only does it on Playstation. Adam reveals there was a fuel leak—he found Petrol everywhere. Lindsay guesses the car itself was the bomb. Danny knows it’s time to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Meanwhile, the racing organization wants the races to go on and is threatening the city, who in turn is threatening Mac. Stella goes to check to see how Hawkes is doing with the threatening letters. He knows the same person wrote the same letters, but the paper and ink are all common. They note the progression of the letters as getting more and more serious. The computer matches the death threats to a letter sent to a Congressman. Josh Weaver is spit out.
Weaver says he can’t blow up a car. He just writes threatening letters. Weaver’s brother and his family was killed by a drunk driver, who got away scot-free and uninjured. He was also coming back from a race sponsored by the organization Davi and Danica race for. Weaver’s alibi is his anger management group. Weaver just wanted Davi off the road as a victory—hurt the organization by scaring it’s star.
Danny, Lindsay and Adam continue to patch up Humpty Dumpty. It’s a great montage—CSI is always good with these. Lindsay even uses my Humpty Dumpty joke, but they are missing a wire. The gasoline is bullet proof but the fuel line has been sabotaged. However, the tools used weren’t the right ones for the job. Two theories emerge: A. The person wanted to throw the detectives off (Danny) or B. They just didn’t know what they were doing (Adam.) But Danny finds a fingerprint.
New York! We go back to the racing track where Flack and Mac talk to part of Davi’s race team. He says he inspected the car and everything was fine. He didn’t tamper with it, even if he is the heir apparent to Davi’s spot. Flack asks about where the drivers go to the bathroom while Mac gets a message about an upcoming press conference regarding the exhibition. Flack and Mac check the truck, noting signs of forced entry. Mac finds a piece of coat snagged on the door. Flack is certain the car was the target as Mac orders all the tools to be bagged and tagged.
Hawkes find traces of oil with it’s special blend. It belonged to Danica’s car. The last time she and Sabato raced, he pushed her into the wall. He was fined, she was sent to the hospital. The exhibition was her first time back. Hawkes find footage of her getting out of the hospital where she threatened Sabato. Flack and Mac go to talk to her at a photo-shoot. Mac compliments her on her recovery after the accident. Flack asks her about her threats—she chalks it up as usual sporty dirty talk. Mac says they find a piece of her uniform—she says she just wanted a peek at the car. She noted that he had been going downhill since the accident and she wanted to see if his engine had been tweaked. She took pictures, which Mac confiscates.
Lindsay gets to go over them as Mac hangs up on someone. Stella says they are still processing the tools Mac bagged and tagged while running down Danica’s records. The media keeps hounding Mac since he advised the Mayor to postpone the race for 48 hours. Stella mentions that Sabato is out of surgery and asks about Mac’s racing obsession. He even admits to winning a soap box derby as a kid. Stella finds it adorable. He says it was a desire to go fast. But Sabato’s injuries are sobering. Stella gets a call telling her that Sabato is conscious.
Stella meets up with Crew Chief as they spot Sabato with his wife. He starts to code as the medical team begins to shock him. Tanya, the wife, mentions that the day was long overdue while Stella and Crew Chief look on in shock.
New York! Tanya is in shock. Stella consoles her—so Sabato didn’t make it. Tanya comments that he didn’t belong to her and that his murder was “poetic justice.” She said that dying was the only way for her husband to retire. She flashes back to him saying he couldn’t retire because of all the rumors of him losing his edge. He says he always comes home alive to her and smile. Tanya also noticed a change in Sabato after the accident.
Lindsay is still going over the pictures as Danny gives her some specs. Danny notices that the line is still intact and Lindsay says that clears Danica as she was giving an interview right after the pictures were taken—no time to tamper with anything. They go back to the car. Sabato has ended up on Sid’s table. Hawkes catalogues Sabato’s many, many injuries from racing. Shrapnel from Singapore 400, broken bones from Portugal 400 as well as Rio. Hawkes finds a second-degree burn on Sabato’s back, caused only by prolonged exposure to an open flame. Hawkes notes that it’s a miracle Sabato lived as long as he did, explaining Tanya’s statement.
Lindsay and Danny point out where a generator was and a new engine. It recycles energy. As the car turns, kinetic energy is stored and the driver presses a button located by the steering wheel. Instant turbo boost. Lindsay explains how the mystery yellow wire was used to turn the engine into a bomb. Sabato kept pressing his turbo boost and then went boom. Mac deduces it can only be a member of the pit crew.
Stella finds Tanya going to visit Crew Chief. She stays for a half hour, then returns to the 12th floor while he leaves. Mac zeros in on him as a suspect while Stella zeros in on an embrace shared between Tanya and Crew Chief.
New York! We zero in on a picture of Sabato and Crew Chief. Mac accuses him of murder. He asks Crew Chief about his relationship with Tanya. Stella has her in another room. Tanya says she went to Crew Chief’s room to get him to convince Sabato to retire. Crew Chief agreed and decided to sabotage the engine. He wanted to throw him off, make him realize he was off his game and finally retire. They just wanted to slow him down, not kill him. He insists it was supposed to short circuit and he didn’t do anything to turn the car into a ticking time bomb. Tanya cries about how their attempt to save Sabato led to his death. Mac thinks something is missing while Hawkes comes down to clear them. He finally finished processing the tools. The print on the wrench used to sabotage the fuel line matched the team owner. Flack brings him in as Mac interrogates him. Even the owner didn’t want Sabato to change his retirement plans. So, he sabotaged the car. He calls murder “looking out for his business.” He and Crew Chief are led out at the same time. Crew Chief tries to attack the owner while Tanya gives the owner the Look of Death.
New York! Mac and Stella are suited up. Danica lends them two cars to race. Mac remembers his soap box derby as he sits in the car. He and Stella rev up as Danica waves the green flag. They take off as we go to black.
I’ve had a snow day today as a blizzard hit New York City. It was great finish to a lazy, white day. If you were in the Tri-State area, be careful out there!
Advice of the Episode:
“Go out there, have fun, burn some rubber.”—Danica to Mac.
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