Brain tumor hospitalizes DeltaWing’s Catherine Crawford

Panoz DeltaWing Racing shared a statement from Crawford Composites founders and owners, Max and Joan Crawford, stating:

On Tuesday, March 29, 2016, our daughter Catherine, Engineering Manager at Crawford Composites and Lead Engineer at DeltaWing Racing, underwent emergency surgery in Rome, Italy for a brain tumor.

Catherine and her husband Russ were on a business-pleasure trip to Italy when she suffered a severe headache and more serious symptoms were immediately evident. The surgeons have praised Russ for his swift action in getting Catherine to hospital – something that positively affected the outcome.

Our family is here in Rome at present supporting Russ and Catherine. We acknowledge that the road to recovery will be a long one but the surgeons are encouraged by the progress Catherine has displayed already.

We want to thank all who have expressed their support and love and at this time we respectfully request privacy.

The Panoz statement went on to add: “Catherine Crawford is an irreplaceable member of the Panoz DeltaWing Racing team and has been instrumental in the success the team has enjoyed recently.

“The team will return to Long Beach with the current team as it is and remains positive and hopeful that Catherine will make a full recovery.”

DeltaWing team manager Tim Keene added:“It goes without saying that we were all devastated by the news, as we are a very tightknit family, just as everyone is in the entire racing community.

“Catherine is such a strong and feisty woman, and I have all the confidence in the world that she’ll overcome this and come back to us all stronger than ever. We will continue on in the upcoming races, but her presence will always be with us as she makes her recovery.”