I am really surprised this didn't kick up

Wow. I have always been haunted by the Smiley/Savage crashes. What was incorrectly engineered on Smileys car?

Suspension geometry was wrong between upper/lower link and steering gear IIRC. All Cad/Cam at the time.

The geometry was the nexus of the crash as the cars were wicked ill handling from the start of the month. This was back when many of the top teams built or designed their own cars. Foyt, patrick, penske, etc.