Chris Albin injured at HPT

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brprok81

New member
Chris was injured in an accident in his HP car in Monday's race. He apparently had a left front wheel bearing fail which caused him to go straight off at turn 3, impacting the concrete wall at a high rate of speed. Chris was alert when the safety crew arrived but complaining of neck pain. The latest info I got was that he cracked the C2 vertabrae. He will be in the hospital for a couple of days, but he should make a full recovery. Please keep Chris in your thoughts. Get well soon Chris!
 
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Wow. That is sobering news. Glad to hear that he is expecting a full recovery.

Get well soon Chris.
 
Ugh. I hate to hear about stuff like this.

Curiosity asks: Head restraint? If so, which one? What kind of seat/restraints? - GA
 
Sorry it's ANY injury, but glad it's not worse. I cross posted this on the ITAC site as well. Get better quick Chris, IT needs you back at the CRB table!
 
I wonder if he needed a fusion. I got one back in '01 when I broke my C7 vertebrae during a roll over at Nelson Ledges. Four days in the hospital, three months in a neck brace, one titanium plate, and four screws. Couldn't race for a year after that, and it took two years before everything started feeling normal again. But, everything turned out just fine; I have no lingering problems with it at all. It's pretty amazing what they can do nowadays with injuries like this. Unfortunately that was my way of learning the hard way to take your safety gear seriously. Now my stuffs about a million times better.

I wish him luck on his recovery.
 
He was wearing a HANS. Vertabrae is cracked, no fusing required.

Broke a kneecap also.

Doctors say he is fine, but they saw something funny in his heartbeat, so they want to do a few more tests - likely not related the 'crashing his brains out' as he put it. Should be going home tomorrow.
 
Is there any crash data? Approximate speed, approximate angle of impact, etc?

For all the safety mandates these days, I wish very simple mechanical crash recorders were mandated. You could build one for $50.
 
WOW, you don't expect to hear this. Chris is probably the top wheel in MWDIV. Just goes to show anything can happen.
Get well quick FastGuy!
 
Chris' progress

Thanks for everyone's good wishes. Chris is in much better spirits tonight. The neurosurgeon came by before 8am this morning and told him that he would get a new collar (which he now has) to wear for 12 weeks. Along with follow-up x-rays, he believes that the C2 fracture will heal as long as Chris takes care of himself. The leg is actually going to be a bigger deal. He fractured the kneecap in a couple of places, so his whole left leg is immobilized in a splint which will have to stay on for a yet to be determined amount of time. He has various bruises and muscle strains, but those are to be expected. They had him up and walking with crutches this afternoon, and he is going to try to take a shower tonight (finally). We do not know how long he will be off work because we don't know who well he is going to be able to drive, even an automatic.
The cardiologist has ordered a medical (medicine?) stress test.....no exercise, just making the heart think it is working....just to make sure that the heart was not hurt/bruised in the incident. This will be done in the morning, and he will probably be released after that.
He will not be racing at the Runoffs or at the ARRC. The car is a write-off. We will post pictures as soon as we get a chance.
We would like to thank everyone for their visits, calls, emails, and posts today. They mean a lot to us. We think he is going home tomorrow, so at least he will be able to rest at home.
Thanks again.
 
Wow ! ! was just talking to Gary of 247 parts on Sunday about Chris running at the runoffs.

Hope he has a speedy recovery and all goes well !
 
Glad to hear he is ok. Recaps I got through some flaggers was it was a hard hit and a the car bent quite a bit.
 
Glad to hear the neck fracture is about as trivial as those things can be, and that surgery can be avoided. Hang in there, Chris!
 
Everybody CHECK your WHEELS. I had that same thing happen to me in the Enduro at ARRC two years ago. I kept saying over the radio that the car didn't want to turn left and finally in T5.... straight into the tire / cement wall. The gravel trap probably saved me some pain, but the hit was still pretty hard. Nothing like what Chris probably had. Those bearings can cause you problems.
 
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