I'm not starting a thread to preach at anyone. I just wanted to tell you all that I learned a lesson from almost losing a buddy this past weekend. I hope all of you racers out there take this to heart and realize that what happened to Bobb could happen to any of us. The best thing to do is take every precaution for safety that you can. If you can't take something positive away from Bobb's near-tragedy, then you probably don't care too much about your own safety and well-being. After hearing that Bobb broke his jaw in several places and had most of his teeth knocked out, I immediately changed my mind about helmets. My helmet is due to expire in 2005 and I was going to replace my full-face model with an open-face. I've seen some Pro-Stock racers wearing them, so I figured, why not? Bobb's teeth and jaw is why not!! I'm taking a lesson from what happened to my friend and I did an about-face on the subject of helmets. I'll be replacing my trusty Bell RS-III full-face with a brand new full-face model. Those of you reading this who use and prefer the open-face helmet, I wish you the best of luck and continued safety. Everyone, please take whatever lesson from this mishap that may apply to your situation, and use it the best way you can. Take Care.
Sorry to hear about the mishap. Hope a speedy recovery comes his way. Amen to the full face helmet advice.
Right on Doug! Going into the off season, we should check ALL of our safety measures & make appropiate changes. It doesn't matter if you run 15's or 8's. We as racers cannot take anything for granted. Randy
Also what we have to remember is that Bobb was only doing 100 through the eyes, not his usual 130+. When you think about that, think about how many guys are running low 11's at over 100 mph and try their best to not install a roll bar and harness. It only takes one time and it may be your last. This should definitely be a wake up call for everyone. I already have plans on upgrading my cage with a cross bar under the dash, a re-enforced seat and replacing my stock steering wheel & colomn, also looking into re-installing an emergency brake set-up. My thoughts and prays for Bobb and Amy.
Won't happen to me, RIGHT? I'm glad somebody(Doug) started this thread, before I could even get home! How many of us have the thought that it can't happen to us, fortunatly Bobb had a VERY SAFE car, and he'll be ok with time. I don't want to even think about what might have happen'd if he'd have tried to "get one" past tech! Most of us only want to spend money on parts that will make our cars faster, there are several items eveyone of us need to look at on our cars. The IHRA/NHRA rulebooks are an excellent referance as to the equipment that we need for a given E.T. range, these people have "been there, done that", these rules have been written over the course of YEARS, of accumulated information and studies. While they may seem like overkill at times, I for one am glad that they are there. Another addition that I know I'll be adding to my car is that of a fire extenquisher, there was no fire this time............Something else that everyone of us should do, is when visiting an unfamiliar track is to take a few minutes to "checkout" the shutdown area, there is a sand/gravel pit to stop runaway cars at Cecil but, I didn't even know it was there until after the fact, it is hard to see from the shutdown area as it runs downhill. The track official told us that it does work, over 200mph dragsters have tried it. We need to learn from Bobbs unfortionate experience! Before you go out to the track next time take a good hard look at you're car, this can be a dangerous hobby/sport, don't you owe it to you're family & competition to be as safe as possible? I'll get off my soapbox now, but after this weekend the subject hits very close home.
Bobb is helping us all out yet again. His car was built very well, way better than mine. I will be doing some updates that I have been avoiding. I have had a few small issues with my brakes this year, band aiding them back together each time trying to avoid the expense of replacing the old 4 wheel drums. This was always going to be a winter project, I am sure a lot of us have these things come up and make the decission to fix after the season is over. As in Dougs post, I use a full face helmet for safety, I hate wearing it but I know it is safer than the more confortable open face.
I agree with you 100% Doug. Like the old saying-"Better to be safe than sorry" holds very true. This past weekend,when I was racing my Regal GS,and even though it runs only 14.9's,I was still wearing a current up-to-date race helmet. When I was getting my car teched,the tech official said that if my car ran faster than 13.9, I would have to wear a helmet.(?)Regardless of how fast or slow your car is,safety is number one. Look at it this way-the majority of cars are going down the track @90+ mph,so heaven forbid if something should happen you've got a better chance of escaping injury,or for that matter,escaping death. That's my 2 cents.
We go over this often on the motorcycle list and it hard enough to get guys to wear a full face on two wheels, let alone in a cage. Looking cool always seam to out weight any bodily injuries, until they happen. No matter what the sport you need to protect your face and head. Cause that what if, is just around the corner.
I read the other post on this subject. I still do not see the cause of the accident. From my reading, I think it was a brake failure? What kind of failure? Loss of fluid, bad brakes, bad lines, bad hoses, bad master cylinder? Did something break during the run? Would be very helpful to learn the cause of the failure so others can check things on there cars.
Not sure we know exactly what happened, yet. Speculation is a brake failure. Back to this post. Do you know that when you sign the waiver to go on the track it says you have inspected the track, etc? Do you look at the fire escape routes when you stay in a hotel? etc. I have a full face helmet, and would not have it any other way, either, a bunch of us will be working on safety improvements this winter, thanks Doug for starting this thread, it's a very important point!
Roberta, you brought up a good point about the waiver. Somewhere, I recall one stating that *by signing you have inspected the track* as well. A couple years back I raced an NHRA Divisional at Montgomery. I had never been there before, so as I was warming up the car I went down the return road, HOURS before the event started to familiarize myself with the facilities. To be blunt, an *OFFICIAL* chased me down and threatened to have me thrown off the facility for doing this. He stated that the return road was off limits until the event was under way. I told him I wanted a lookysee since I was a newbie here. He told me *you'll see it when you get there in due time* Now, how does one inspect this situation if your not even allowed down there?? :rant: JH
Jim I can see sometimes that happening. But as we all know that WILL NEVER happen at any Buick only meet (I consider all of us a cut above the rest). Regarding a generic (other) meet. My next step would be to complain to the management. Or I would just wait a bit and grab a golf cart and take another trip down on the return road when the idiot isn't there. Or call his bluff. "Yes I'm checking out the track", providing your not actually on the race track area, off on the return road and guard rail. Let him go to management to throw you out, I really doubt it would come to that after you explain the life's problems of civil lawsuits and the high cost of insurance. Another way I do it is while warming up the car while some time shots are going on early in the morning or just prior, I would take a slow warm up drive down the return to the scales or little further shut the car down and walk over and check it out. I did this during my first times at Norwalk and also at Bristol.
perhaps....when we as a group "own" the track for a day, all racers gather before the first pass is made and WALK the 1320' and shutdown area and the return road back. This will not only familiarize everyone with the layout but also allow us to closley inspect the trak itself for debris. Thinking of Salem - you couldn't even SEE past the scoreboards with the uphill slant I know its quite common on road coarses to walk the track to familiarize oneself with the layout. You sign that waiver at the gate right ?? before you even enter the grounds ?? Kinda Bass Akwards, No ???
I have for a long time, took the first pass a lot slower, at a new track. See how it hooks, if you like, but back off about half way. We have all seen return roads coming back on either sides, and different placement of booths, and scales. Thanks again for starting this thread.
YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT !!!!!! 2nd to last pass for this beautiful car, now it's gone, but the driver is still here.....thank God for "GOOD" safety equipment !
I bought my helmet last winter before comeing to Salem - full face... Even with ONLY a 15 second car.... Can't be too safe.
Personally a good single shot of the aftermath would show WHY its so important that we have good rules to live by. More people are encouraged to to the correct thing by seeing what happens to a good car. I myself run a full face helmet and my car is legal for where I am. When I go faster I will upgrade more. Its just like when Darrel Russel died. New rules came out the next day. We all need not to be casual with safety rules. They need to be enforced to keep people alive. Bob is alive (because God allowed him mostly) and the car was built correctly.
