OUCH!

B

Bill Miller

New member
Driver of this car supposedly walked away w/ only a broken shoulder balde. Track was Puttnam, I believe

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Yep, Putnam Park NASA event two weeks ago. Witnesses say the car snapped to the left and spun off track at the end of the front straight when he started braking for T1. The tire tracks thru the grass were at nearly a 45 degree angle to the track so I can only assume something broke. The car managed to thread it just past the earthen berms that follow the track on drivers left. Car ended up on the track access road a good 50 feet on the other side of the fencing. Unfortunately the fencing was of an agricultural design, not a proper race track barrier. Apparantly some crew folks who were driving down the access road had it happen right in front of them and were the first responders.
I'm hoping track management reviews this and makes some changes for next season...
 
Add "fence post" to the list of things that I've now seen poke into race car cockpits. Let's review the open- vs. closed-face helmet question again, shall we?

K
 
Unhappy coincidence there, K. Here's what happened to me on the second lap of qualifying on Saturday morning (just before the Vette shunt occured:
:eek:
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I hadn't been on track more than 2 minutes...
I was following a couple 944's into T1, one threw up a rock or bolt or something. That's not a hole, it actually shattered around the center circle of glass. It didn't spread anymore after that. Any farther to the right and I would have been done for the weekend as it would have been in my direct line of site. Reaffirms why I wear a full face helmet with the shield always down. It did make the left hand Turn 4 kinda tough to see...
 
That sure set the tone for the rest of the weekend for the guys in my group...... The grass was still wet since the sun had not come out so he has along for the ride once he was off the track. I couldn't belive how far he slid. I had heard about the fence post but to see the pic sure does make you think twice.
 
Originally posted by vwmann1@Oct 22 2005, 10:41 AM
That sure set the tone for the rest of the weekend for the guys in my group...... The grass was still wet since the sun had not come out so he has along for the ride once he was off the track. I couldn't belive how far he slid. I had heard about the fence post but to see the pic sure does make you think twice.
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One thing that I notice from the pictures is that it looks like the horizontal bar that the shoulder straps of his harness are attahed to is way below the opening in the seat. A bar mounted at the same level as the seat openings might have deflected the post away from the opening.
 
Originally posted by planet6racing@Oct 27 2005, 08:39 AM
I now understand why that track is not SCCA approved...
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To the best of my recollection, the issue SCCA had with the track had to do with the last turn onto the front straight, three straight race weekends and there at least one car on its roof at each weekend. SCCA wanted it reconfigured, Putnam said 'Indy cars don't have a problem, you shouldn't either'.

That's what I heard, at least.
 
The T10 outer guard rail was eventually changed and moved back from the track surface. We would love to run there, but the track management was decided that NASA is their future as far as a non-marque club racing organization and currently has no interest in having SCCA run there.
 
Originally posted by Racerlinn@Oct 27 2005, 10:27 AM
The T10 outer guard rail was eventually changed and moved back from the track surface.  We would love to run there, but the track management was decided that NASA is their future as far as a non-marque club racing organization and currently has no interest in having SCCA run there.
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Thanks, Steve, for the update. I have not been back there since I moved from Indianapolis in 1998.

Back on thread, I just got an email from a friend who was there. Take a look at the last picture. Yes, that is the track gate. Yes, the car landed in that spot. Yes, that is the entrance road he landed on. Yes, the mound on the left of the entrance road is a spectator area. The car flipped three times going over the barrier.

More than the driver was lucky that day!
 
This just shows to go that anything can happen behind the wheel of a race car. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt worse and that no one was standing there watching what would, no doubt, be a really exciting turn.

Sometimes you think the SCCA is a little bit of a stick in the mud when it okays tracks, but it's things like this that make you understand why they have to be that way.

Until this post, the freakiest thing I'd seen was an onboard fire extiguisher coming loose from a flipping car and discharging like a rocket through the rear hatch. The fence post is far worse. :o
 
Untill Bill said the car flipped I had not heard that. No one brought that up on the day or at dinner that night and it was big topic of discussion. Doesn't mean it didn't happen just did not hear that.

If the SCCA does not want to go there I can understand. It is a track that I really enjoy though and I wish there could be some type of compromise reached.
 
I had never heard that it flipped either, and I was at the track all weekend as well.

Doug, Indy SCCA has always been interested in returning to the track.
It's Putnam management that says no to us, not us to them.
I enjoy the track as well, that's why I run the NASA events there.
 
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