well, i just got a big dose of reality. one of my friends who i grew up with, went to school with, and occasionally raced with got killed friday night.He had been building a late model gt for the past few months. well about a week ago i went to see him to have some work done to my truck(he worked at the local ford dealership). he was so excited because he was almost done putting his motor together. well, friday night he carried it to the local track to see what it would do.HE made his pass and went through the shutdown area but he never slowed down. it seems his throttle stuck. he went though a small barrier and into the woods striking a tree, killing him instantly. he was twenty three years old ,and had his whole life ahead of him. Now he's gone forever.Im not trying to be down on anyone,but i hear so many people say take it to the track, because it the safest place to be, well, im here to tell you it doesnt matter where you are, racing is a dangerous thing to do. For the people who know me, im not one to badmouth racing, because i do it myself, but ther comes a time when you got to decide what is impotant. Sometimes racing just doesnt seem like it worth all the risk we go through to do it.i just wanted to get this off my chest and share it with you.thanks

 

Sorry to hear about your friend

 

My prayers go out to his family and friends.


Z

 

My prayers are out to his family. Yes racing is dangerous, but the track is safer, to the innocent bystanders.

 

My thoughts are with you and the families.

 

Sorry hear about your friend. Yes its true racing is dangerous anything when you travel at a high rate of speed is. But the track is way safer and so much more better to race on. You just gun it and go no need to worry about somebody running out in front off you, no need to worry about cops, you dont have to worry about killing somone or an innocent family, its just all out better. Again sorry to hear about your friend and my prayers go out to his family.

 

I am sorry to hear about your friend.In the last 2 yrs of my form, I have had 2 deaths and 2 serious injuries happen to friends that I knew and know.the one thing is when we sogn up for these event we should know the consquences to what can happen.I know that when I am harnessed in and at the start line I know what can happen and still do it.Everyone that does my form of event knows that to.We look at it this way when your time is up its up I could died just walking across the street.I try and make sure that everything is up to spec and is safe,but there is only so much that you can do to insure the safety of yourself and other.Stan

 

Very sorry. My feeling is that the track is exactly where to race. If you wreck, you only hurt yourself or maybe, hopefully not, the other racer next to you. I had a VERY scary pass in a 97 Camaro SS I used to own. By the time I hit the traps, I was doing about 107 mph. I went to hit the brakes and the motor just kept working against the braking; I pushed in the clutch and the engine QUICKLY headed for about 6000+ rpm. I put let the clutch back out and no change. At this point, I realized I was in trouble and had but one choice (keep my freakin' head and figure it out). I cut the engine to factor it out and deal with no power steering or brakes. When I got to the end of the track, I could breath again. In the end, the problem was that my floor matt was keeping my gas peddal from coming back up. What went wrong with your friends care...no brakes, stuck gas peddal, both. My view is that we should all take some time and have an emergency plan to deal with what might happen on a pass. Even keep you eyes on the other guy if he's in front or behind...you just never know what's in store.

 

Sorry about your loss....

Could that be one reason the SCCA makes ya take out yer
floormats and all other stuff before you run???

 

You beat me to it SVT_KY. That is exactly why they require that. It's especially important at driving schools.

So sorry about your friend jkoon.

Everybody, be safe and smart.

Dan

 

thanks you guys. talking about it with you had made me feel a little better. i hear of people having wrecks all the time, but i guess it never really sinks in until it happens to someone you know.

 

I'm sorry about your loss, my heart goes out to you, his family,
and friends I know it hurts, I know you see it as a race related death, I've lost many Loved ones through the years to Bike and Car accidents too. Sometimes I look back and just have to face the facts that I can't blame the action, for the result.
Once again I'm sorry...

 

I'm sorry about your friend. My HART goes out to all involved.


I raced for about 12 years all over the south east part of the US and lost some close friends. It is bad to go to the tracks and the tech people do not even look at the cars. That is why a lot of the things that go wrong at the track go wrong. They get paid to look at cars to make sure they are safe for everybody.

 

I'm terribly sorry for your loss.

Not many people realize to throw it in neutral or turn the engine off when something like this happens. There should have been plenty of time for him to do this. I wonder what exactly happened to keep him from doing such?

God bless

 

I'm sure panic set in and he forgot to put it in neutral. I'm sure it's alot more difficult to think straight in a situation like that.