By DAVE SKRETTA

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis 500 rookie Robert Shwartzman’s memorable month of May ended with a terrifying crash on pit road.

Shwartzman, who bested some of the best drivers in the world to win the pole a week earlier, was coming into his stall after 87 laps when he locked up his brakes. That sent his red, green and white car — the colors of the flag of Italy, where Prema Racing is based — sliding into four of his crew members, one of whom had to be taken away on a stretcher.

The damage caused by the wreck was enough to end their hopes of finishing “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

“I honestly felt really strange brakes when I was coming slow in pit lane. I locked up both front tires, which usually isn’t the case,” Shwartzman said. “I wasn’t sure if it was the brakes or because the tires were cold. I tried to be very slow. But as soon as I touched my brakes, my whole front was lost and I went right into the guys.

“It was really scary,” Shwartzman said, “because at the moment I braked I was just a passenger.”

Shwartzman was among many drivers — rookies and veterans alike — who had massive problems on pit lane during the race, which was won by Alex Palou following a late-race pass of Marcus Ericsson for the lead.

Alexander Rossi’s day ended when a fire broke out under his car. Rinus Veekay lost his brakes as he entered pit road, sending him in a spin down the narrow lane. Colton Herta was caught speeding and had to absorb a drive-through penalty.

But none of the problems was quite as dramatic as the rookie with dual Israeli and Russian nationality.

Shwartzman had captured the public’s imagination with his stunning pole-winning ride for Prema Racing, a powerful European team but an Indy 500 newcomer. He was the first rookie to win the pole since 1983, then used the platform that it afforded him to make a passionate plea for peace in both the Middle East and Ukraine.

“It’s just really sad,” Shwartzman said, “because we did such good work in qualifying. But it’s the Indy 500. Anything can happen. A lot of strong drivers are out of the race or behind. This is the Indy 500. This happens.”

Oh-so close, again

Pato O’Ward came up just short once again in the Indy 500, a race that he acknowledged keeps breaking his heart.

The popular Mexican driver, who has twice finished second, wound up fourth behind Palou, Ericsson and David Malukas. He was in contention after the final round of pit stops, but he couldn’t make any passes to pick up any positions.

It was the fifth time in his six tries that O’Ward finished sixth or better. That includes another fourth-place finish in 2021.

Up in flames

Rossi led laps early and had a fast car for Ed Carpenter Racing until a pit stop 73 laps into the race, when fire erupted under the No. 20 car. It quickly engulfed the 2016 race winner and his fueler, who were quickly doused by emergency crews.

The fire briefly spread to the other side of the pit wall, where the large fuel tanks are kept, but was quickly extinguished.

“It’s always a terrible situation, and it’s so disappointing. It was such a phenomenal race car,” Rossi said. “It’s disappointing. All I know is the gearbox was starting to go up in temp a lot. I don’t know. It was a gearbox issue.”

Hopes stall out

Ryan Hunter-Reay had positioned himself for an improbable run at a second Indianapolis 500 win when he pit from the lead with 31 laps remaining, only to stall the car in his box. The team was unable to quickly fire it and his chances were done.

Hunter-Reay, who won the 2014 race, was in a backup car after his primary car caught fire during the final practice of Carb Day on Friday. He made it back to pit lane but had to quickly escape the car, which sustained too much damage to repair.

Hunter-Reay had a chance to do install laps early Saturday, but the race was the first time the backup had been up to speed.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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HEALTH CARE

Sue Abderholden

NAMI Minnesota (National Alliance on Mental Illness) announced that Sue Abderholden will retire as executive director effective Oct. 15. Abderholden has led NAMI Minnesota since October 2001.

AIRPORTS

The Metropolitan Airports Commission announced it has promoted Kelly Gerads to director of reliever airports, responsible for the operation and maintenance of its six general aviation airports in the Twin Cities metro area: St. Paul Downtown Airport, Flying Cloud Airport, Anoka County-Blaine Airport, Crystal Airport, Airlake Airport and Lake Elmo Airport. Gerads was promoted from assistant director of reliever airports, a position she’s held since 2007. The MAC also operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

ATTRACTIONS

Transwestern Real Estate Services announced the planned opening of a Soar N Bounce Trampoline and Adventure Park at Aurora Village Shopping Center, located at 1801 County Road 42 West in Burnsville; it’s the chain’s first Minnesota location.

CONSTRUCTION

Empirehouse, a Mounds View architectural glass and metal contractor, announced the retirement of General Manager James Bringle.

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Blaze Credit Union, Falcon Heights, announced it was honored with the Minnesota Credit Union Network’s 2025 Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award, recognizing Blaze’s initiatives promoting financial wellbeing of students in St. Paul Public Schools.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

U.S. Bank, Minneapolis, announced that it has united its Global Fund Services and Global Corporate Trust teams into a single Investment Services division led by Jay Martin, president of Investment Services. Martin has led Global Fund Services since joining the bank in 2023. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, he spent time at Citco, where he was head of operations within the Fund Services division. … Merchants Financial Group, Winona, announced the reelection of three directors to three-year terms: Molly Jungbauer, Hollstadt Consulting; John Killen, WinCraft; and James Rogers III, Mayo Clinic.

HEALTH CARE

Nura Pain Clinics, a subsidiary of the Capitol Pain Institute family of practices, announced the opening of a clinic at 707 Bielenberg Drive, Suite 108, Woodbury. Dr. Larry Studt, who joined Nura in 2024, will serve as the Woodbury clinic’s primary provider. Nura Pain Clinics also has locations in Edina and Coon Rapids.

HONORS

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced it has named ATEK Distribution, of Minneapolis, as SBA’s Minnesota Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year. The business is owned by Jeffrey Anderson, who previously served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. ATEK Distribution provides wholesale electrical construction materials, including wiring supplies, electrical light fixtures, EV charging stations, light bulbs, and solar and electrical power equipment. … Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota announced this year’s winners of BBB’s Torch Awards for Ethics: Category 1 (1-2 employees): T & J Construction, Rogers; Category 2 (3-15 employees): Front Burner Accounting Services, Eden Prairie; Category 3 (20-99 employees): Paris Painting, Brooklyn Center; Category 4 (100+ employees): Coordinated Business Systems, Burnsville.

LAW

Faegre Drinker announced that Berglind Halldorsdottir Birkland has joined the firm’s litigation practice as counsel in the Minneapolis office. Birkland, a native of Iceland, also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and chairs the International Business Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

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HomeServices of America, a Minneapolis-based Berkshire Hathaway franchised real estate agency, announced the following executive appointments: Alex Seavall, promoted from chief financial officer to chief financial and operations officer; and Candace Adams has been named executive vice president. Adams has served as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties.

SERVICES

Restaurant Technologies, a Mendota Heights-based provider of cooking oil waste management to restaurants, announced it has named Matthew Micowski as chief financial officer, succeeding Bob Weil, who has held the position since 2007 and has transitioned to a strategic adviser position within the organization.

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Edward Lotterman

Today, the health of the U.S. economy hangs on trade policies, ones not decided by Congress as the U.S. Constitution requires, but rather on the spastic impulses of the ill-informed inhabitant of the Oval Office. In this dire circumstance, ignorance of history tragically plagues public discourse on key issues. Many argue that a globalist ideology brought us to the current state of imports and trade balances. They also assert that this ideology is responsible for the destruction of manufacturing in our country. Both beliefs are not true. Both assertions twist facts.

Start with U.S. manufacturing. It has not, as some argue, “disappeared.” The U.S. remains the second-largest manufacturer in the world, turning out 16 percent of total output. Yes, that is half of China’s 32%, but more than twice Japan’s 6.5% and three times Germany’s 4.8%.

Manufacturing has declined in relative importance. A century ago, it made up a third of national output. By 1994, that had dropped to 18%, and it is only 10% now. But similar declines in relative importance are true for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and mining.

Our manufacturing sector continues to grow, even if slowly. Inflation-adjusted manufacturing output is up 8% over the last 30 years. That is less than total GDP growth of 75%, but above much of Europe. The sector has not been dynamic, but neither has it disappeared.

Nor have all manufacturing jobs disappeared. These peaked at 19.5 million in 1979, late in the Carter administration, and are at 12.8 million now. The first large drop was due to the strong dollar in the first half of the Reagan administration. That hammered steel, autos and farming, three sectors that depended on exporting or that competed with imports.

The sharp drop came in the new millennium. Some 17.3 million people still worked in factories in mid-2000, but that fell to 11.4 million by the end of the decade. This was the recession following the Wall Street meltdown of 2007-2009. Numbers did recover to 12.9 million by early 2023 and are near that now.

The second historical distortion involves changes in U.S. trade policies. Some argue that ideologies vaunting globalization mesmerized U.S. leaders in closing decades of the 20th century, driving changes in long-established trade regimes for ideological reasons.

That is nonsense. All the major actions were driven by pragmatic foreign policy considerations. There was little consideration of economic effects because they were minimal in the futures foreseeable at the time. No one was clairvoyant about the following decades.

For example, former President Jimmy Carter now is lambasted for extending “most-favored nation” status to China in 1979. Why didn’t he see this would destroy U.S. jobs?

The reality was that Carter just continued foreign policies initiated by his predecessor Richard Nixon to split China away from the Soviet Union. Nixon’s dramatic 1972 trip to China had upset the relative balance of power between free nations and the communist bloc that had prevailed for 20 years.

Keeping China apart from the USSR demanded that China grow economically and open to the rest of the world. With China’s GDP at 1 percent of what it is now, no one worried about U.S. jobs. Japan was the huge threat, China a negligible afterthought.

Similarly, the two-step construction of NAFTA resulted from Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush responding to requests from ideologically-compatible politicians in friendly nations, not from grand philosophies.

In Canada, conservative Brian Mulroney’s becoming prime minister in 1984 broke 18 years of liberal government. Mulroney was far more friendly to the U.S. and wanted a trade agreement to help him in the next elections. It also would tie the hands of future liberal governments. Many future domestic policy changes would require renegotiation of an international treaty.

With the Canadian and U.S. auto industries already in free trade since the 1950s, Mulroney and Reagan got along well. Neither saw any political downside. In 1988, our House of Representatives ratified the agreement 366-40 and the Senate followed 83-9.

That pattern repeated three years later. Mexican President Carlos Salinas approached Bush for a treaty. Again the head of a neighboring country who was the most pro-U.S. official in years asked a favor from a fellow conservative. Also, the desire to tie the hands of successors with opposing views again played in. NAFTA was negotiated with Bush, who signed the treaty for our country as a lame duck on Dec. 17, 1992.

Contrary to what many believe, President Bill Clinton’s only role was to submit Bush 41’s treaty to Congress. More controversial than the treaty with Canada, it still passed the House with 132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting aye. The Senate vote passed with votes from 34 Republicans and 27 Democrats. Thus, there was more opposition among Democrats, but still substantial support.

All this took place against the backdrop of a tortuous revamping of the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade into a stronger World Trade Organization.

The GATT had its roots in the 1944 Bretton Woods conference designing post-World War II international economic structures that would not repeat the fatal errors made in the Paris Peace Conference after World War I. The conference created the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. However, isolationists in the U.S. Congress torpedoed an International Trade Organization.

All GATT could do was organize periodic conferences where reducing trade barriers and resolving conflicts might take place. It had no enforcement powers. And the U.S. had insisted from the start on excluding agriculture from any GATT purview.

Negotiations started in 1986 when the GOP Reagan administration wanted to reverse 40 years of U.S. policy with a new organization with the power to resolve trade disputes. It sought to force the European Union and Japan to lower their barriers to ag imports from the U.S. and to reduce their subsidies to their own farmers. This did represent a globalist philosophy to a degree, but it also gave the U.S. a pragmatic edge over the status quo. The transition to the WTO finally happened in 1994.

Through all this, China had been a negligible factor. Japan was the threat. Congress had surrendered some of its constitutional authority over tariffs to the president as a tactic by Democrats to force Republican presidents to challenge Japan, the real peril. The quintessential photo of the 1996 presidential campaign showed Clinton reclining in an airplane seat with journalist James Fallows’ book “Looking Into the Sun” across his lap. It described economic growth in East Asia, but meant Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

In 1999, after 13 years of negotiations under three presidents, the Clinton administration acceded to admission of China to the WTO. Congress approved it 237-97 in the House and 93-15 in the Senate. The debate generally recognized it affirmed a policy begun by a Republican president 27 years earlier. And China’s economy was only 6% the size of ours.

Yes, “globalism” was alive in the 1990s, but U.S. policy moves were largely pragmatic and defensive. Yes, individual pundits and politicians did champion a global economy without barriers. But practical considerations drove decisions. As we now tear down much of what we ourselves created from 1944 to 2000, we need to keep that reality in mind.

St. Paul economist and writer Edward Lotterman can be reached at stpaul@edlotterman.com.