KOH wreck

crash2 · Feb 15, 2012

Ouch---This was a hard hit..

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Longer version

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I know when I raced with Larry in the first one one of my fears was smashing my knees into the dash in a hard hit.

crapyota · Feb 15, 2012

wow!!

Jaydog · Feb 15, 2012

Ouch!

boxboy · Feb 15, 2012

damn!!!! how are they doing? did he really break both ankles?

TreeClimber · Feb 15, 2012

There was talk on Pirate, that the driver was throwing up blood the next morning, and that one of the two was helicoptered out the next morning. They were talking that the HANS device was a lifesaver. Car is OK, bent A-arms and some other damage, but not a total wreck.

Not sure if I remember this correct.

crash2 · Feb 15, 2012

TreeClimber · Feb 15, 2012

Picture is worth 1000 words. :awesomework:

(I guess I did remember it correct)

Jeepasaurusrex · Feb 15, 2012

I will agree, the HANS devices saved neck trauma. When I was crew chief on a sprint car, I learned one thing. They are made to crash and the driver survive. The cockpit has knee restraints to keep your feet out of the firewall and steering gear. The drive shaft that goes between your legs has a chrome-moly safety hoop around it. Your arms are restrained by restraints to keep them inside the cage during a roll over. All of those items should be kept in mind when building a vehicle to race.

pokey · Feb 15, 2012

Securing the spare tire would be a good idea as well :booo: Hard hit glad their OK :cheer:

Whats the deal with the siren on the other rig :eeek: thought it might be a medic but he just kept going.

JKZ Motorsports · Feb 15, 2012

pokey said:
Securing the spare tire would be a good idea as well :booo: Hard hit glad their OK :cheer:

Whats the deal with the siren on the other rig :eeek: thought it might be a medic but he just kept going.

It is used to warn the slower car in front that you want to pass.....

When I raced at Goldendale a couple years ago some of the cars had regular horns, some had airhorns and a couple had sirens. Couldn't hear the regular horns but definetly hear the others.

JKZ Motorsports · Feb 15, 2012

Glad to see they are doing well:awesomework:

hlb3 · Feb 16, 2012

Wow, that was quite the wreck, looks like thwy got off lucky. So what was the driver doing? Did he get lost in the dust or was he just being a moron?

pokey said:
Whats the deal with the siren on the other rig :eeek: thought it might be a medic but he just kept going.

Haha, I was thinking the same thing, I was thinking that is the coolest medical rig ever.

Bodaciouscj7 · Feb 16, 2012

hlb3 said:
Wow, that was quite the wreck, looks like thwy got off lucky. So what was the driver doing? Did he get lost in the dust or was he just being a moron?

As I understood when discussing the crash at pit 2a is that Matt knew the drop off was there but thought he was at a different point on the course. The car is VERY fast. Thusday, Matt said the car was smooth at 90 mph through the whoops and had more left. He was just trying to make a pass that had he been where he thought he was would have moved him up 4 or 5 positions on course. The car was more than capable of winning the race.

It's racing, mistakes are made in the heat of the moment. Anyone that gets into the seat of a racecar accepts the dangers. I hope the Ultra 4 class requires head restraints after this as Matt and Nick may not be here today if it weren't waering them.

CHOP SHOP · Feb 16, 2012

Hurry, PASS PASS PASS PASS! Wait, FAIL!

Travis1 · Feb 23, 2012

pokey said:
Securing the spare tire would be a good idea as well :booo: Hard hit glad their OK :cheer:

FWIW - I don't recall seeing any cars out there that didn't have their spare secured.

Broken Again · Feb 24, 2012

The track marshal in the red hat is my buddy Quinn.

Quinn's rig here...
http://www.nw-wheelers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61834&highlight=quinn

pokey · Feb 24, 2012

Travis said:
FWIW - I don't recall seeing any cars out there that didn't have their spare secured.

Did you watch the video:eeek: I know it was a hard hit but it shouldnt have came out like it did (or the tool bag. ) Almost caused another wreck when it hit the other rig. Could have easily been much worse

boxboy · Feb 24, 2012

pokey said:
Did you watch the video:eeek: I know it was a hard hit but it shouldnt have came out like it did (or the tool bag. ) Almost caused another wreck when it hit the other rig. Could have easily been much worse

are you suggesting they did not have it secured at all?

mark · Feb 24, 2012

boxboy said:
are you suggesting they did not have it secured at all?

I think he was suggesting it was not secured "well". I do have to agree with Jim, that tire should not have jettisoned like that. If it was wing-nut bolted on it would have gone NOWHERE. If it was just strapped on like I saw many done... it either wasn't strapped well (captured, 3-points would be my recommendation so it can't move in any direction) or the strap broke, which either mean HK needs to evaluate allowing tires to be strapped on with a ratchet strap, or there were other extenuating circumstances.

Definitely an "oh ****" moment for that team when they realized what was about to happen, but could do nothing about it.

One this that surprised me in the video, and maybe I didn't see it or the course official was all by himself.... no flagger or anything to go up course a little with a yellow flag or something to warn other drivers. I don't know the spot in the course, but may be a good thing for future races to have two people at each spot, one person can be a flag-man if something like this happens, especially at a "pinch point" like this.

Web-wheeler opinion based souly on the videos shown above.

Travis1 · Mar 12, 2012

pokey said:
Did you watch the video:eeek: I know it was a hard hit but it shouldnt have came out like it did (or the tool bag. ) Almost caused another wreck when it hit the other rig. Could have easily been much worse

Yeah... and the rigs that I saw down there largely used straps to hold the tires down, with some other means of keeping the tire laterally in place. Under normal conditions, rolling multiple times, flopping, nerfing, etc. the tires don't go anywhere. The straps I've seen aren't tiny, they look like the 10,000+lb 2" cargo straps.

They lawn darted HARD in to the ground. Doing about 30-35mph before being abruptly stopped. It's not like they have crumple zones built in to absorb some of that energy.

The impact caused the co-dawg to (IIRC) break both ankles, for sure one, from the impact. Was flown to an ambulance and driven to a hospital. The driver was checked out and declared ok, the next morning he wasn't and was life flighted out.

IMO, in regards to the tire, and listening to the radio chatter of what went down as a gauge of how bad the hit was - I see more of a **** happens than a safety issue.