In a practice session a couple of weeks ago one of the GTA’s traded paint coming into the braking zone of turn 14 (I hit over 110 there-I can only guess what a GTA would be doing). The car went off-track left, into the grass/dirt, and went between the tire wall and the flag station without appreciably slowing down (as Hank Watts once told me, “you can’t believe how far a car will slide on dirt, and on wet grass it seems to accelerate!) and shot onto the track right before turn 8, directly into the path of an Rx7, who t-boned him. Both drivers were killed. I didn’t know either of them, but I feel awful for their families and loved ones. And it raises the issue of safety once again. Man, a lot of us have put time in on that track, and I for one never thought about the possibility of traffic entering track left at 100 mph as I try to set up for #8. Maybe in addition to HP and suspension mods we should spend a little time thinking about how to maximize the chances of walking away from our 500+hp beauties in the event something goes wrong. I have a roll bar, 5-point harnesses, a helmet with my name, blood type, and allergies, arm restraints, a neck donut, and a fire bottle, but no HANS/Issac head& neck device, and no kill switch. Makes me think….

Stay safe out there.

 

RIP to the drivers, our thoughts are with you and your familes.

 

Truly a tragedy. RIP

 

Yikes. I hope they'll put another barrier between 14 and 8 to prevent that from happening again. No one would expect to see a car dart out at turn 8. You can't think about stuff like that as you setup for a fast sweeping turn.

No amount of restraint system could let one walking away or survive from a t-bone at that speed I don't think.

 

I am very sorry to hear this. My thoughts and condolences go out to each driver's families and freinds. Racing and tracking is a great time, but we all have to remember it does have some risks involved. It is amazing we do not see more of these terrible situations, but the tracks and volunteers have done a great job making these events as safe as possible.

 

My condolences to the families. This should remind us all of how valuable every day here truly is. Treat every day as if it were your last.