PAPosse Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Reading this reminded me of the incident at THR this past weekend. Thankfully a fence was in place and it did it's job. However, I was pretty surprised when I went to HoT a few weeks back and people were standing in the pits (also behind a fence) as the cars came straight at them. It's just not a safe place to be. It sounds as if these circumstances are different as a tire and part of an axle flew into the pits where there was no fence...but we all need to be careful out there.... http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/18108.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Rule #1.....NEVER turn your back at race(of any kind), Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer61 Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 after Brad Burkes wreck this past week I seem to have developed a fear of hanging around those Nascarts during a race. That could of been catostrophic. Damn sure glad there was a fence there, and happy to know that Brads flight time will go towards his pilots license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumper Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 I was almost killed several years ago at RGS by a tire/wheel.I was walking back to my truck in the pits when several people starting yelling at me.I liiked up and saw this wheel way high comming straight at me.I side stepped it and it hit right where I would have been standing.Laughing I said YOU MISSED ME.Then after the bounce it went back into the air and on the second bounce went through my trucks windshield,smashing the door and windshield post.On inspecting the wheel,nothing had broken,the wheel came off because the guy forgot to put the kotter key.It was the RF.He came to get it and I asked him if he was going to pay for the damage and he refused.I kept his new tire and wheel. The point is RGS is a first class facility with great catch fences This maverick tire just happened to hit the gard rail at an angle that sent it 50 feet straight up and over the catch fence.A flying tire will kill anyone it hits.As racers we owe it to our fans and fellow racers to make our cars as safe as possible.Accidents happen but stupidity does not need to.I still have that tire/wheel to remind me of that fact.That broken axle in Georga probably was on a car that took a hard on that axle previously and should have been replaced.Just guessing but how many times have you had a part fail the week after it was hit? This catch fence was tested again some time later by a sprint car.I was watching the first sprint car race for me in the pits at the end of the backstrech.I wanted to see the suspension at turn in.One car broke the front axle and started to end over end.It also bounced over the gardrail but was caught by the catch fence.The car was suspended upside down 10 feet in the air 5 feet from where I was standing.That scared me more than the tire deal because I saw it comming.Without a catch fence this sprint car would have bowled over many people in the pits.Racing is dangerious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 There was a piece of debrie that flew into the stands at THR this last Saturday.Fortunatlely the stands were empty enough that it didn't hit anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed demon 7 Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 A car lost control on the interstate, went through a field, and crashed into a school building. 15 children were injured, 2 were killed. Now, this is not a true story, but it is a sick reality that could happen. If it happens, are they going to shut the school down or the interstate? Accidents happen. These spectators were in the pits, they signed a liability waiver. I am not saying that the track is not wrong. If there was no catch fence, then they were. Or was it that these people were where they were not supposed to be, like the story states. I parked my trach and trailer at Gator Motorplex this weekend right at the entrance to the track. I actually looked up and said to myself, A tire and wheel could come loos and hit my truck and thought about moving it, but I didn't. We all should be aware of our surroundings at the race track, at all times. I am ussually in the infield taking pictures, and I have been run over by an out of control modified, but I was able to see it coming and get out of the way without serious injury. I position myself in a strategic place on the track, with a barrier behind me. I have turned around and seen a Sprint car heading towards me at over 60 mph and hit that barrier, had it not been there, I most likely would not be here today. Things happen all over the track and I am only able to see a portion of it, but I am always scanning, one eye through the camera, the other eye is open looking around. It may make me crosseyed later, but it lets me continue to do what I do safely and live to do it again. Again, accidents happen, and it is all of our responsabilities to point out any safety concerns to the track officials, and it is there responsability to make sure that we are safe while we are at the track. My heart goes out to those who were injured and to the family of the one who was killed. Everyone, please be safe this weekend and every weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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