What exactly does the PCA/SCCA liability policy cover?

SCCA coverage is about the best for a race series. (Amateur)

But I am pretty sure the coverage only kicks in after your insurance is "used up"-or if your insurance company denies your claim. (Like mine did.) Then SCCA (And NASA) will cover the difference or what is outstanding-up to 1 million $.

Issue is that 1 million $ really doesn't cover enough nowadays. The bills for my accident (with NASA) went so high it was coming very close to breaking the limit. And I was hurt pretty bad but I would say there have been a lot of people hurt a lot worse than me. Not sure how they paid for it.

Your insurance company will not cover very much-if any of any medical costs- due to an auto racing accident. Check with your insurance company. They may also drop you after the fact. Seems that is still legal. Or was.

I have decided that as much as it costs-I am going to get supplimentary insurance from AFLAC or somebody that will cover me for my racing medical insurance.

Be very careful with all of this. I learned (wrong time and way) all about the insurance industry from my racing accident.

Luckily NASA did what they promised. So they are a proper race sanctioning body. Here SCCA is also stand up on this.

FYI-As an example of costs-the 20 minute lifeflight helicopter run from track to trauma center was a little under $100K when done.

 

Yep, words like "secondary" and "excess" coverage come to mind...

So glad you emerged ok on that bad, bad accident.

 

$100k helicopter ride?!?

damn.

 

Some random costs:

1.) 1.2 mm drill bit, stainless, Qty: One - Price $780.00

2.) Eye patch, cotton, white, Qty: Two - Price: $540.00

3.) Marker, Black, Permanent, Chisel Tip, Qty: One - Price: $65.00

 

insanity.

or, we're in the wrong business.

 

But the morphine is included FTW!

 

I remember that day Brian... you were a lucky duck! Basically a Ford Mustang drove over top of Brian in his Norma... when you saw the car and that Brian is alive = AMAZING!!! That experience has made me really think hard about Racing - HPDE etc...

a couple of years ago Rob Dyson was talking to me and a friend about one of his good buddies who got killed in a HPDE event he was coaching for... Rob said that he will not do that ever again!

 

so I talked to a friend who is not only an ICU neurologist, but also does transport (i.e. helicopter) work from time to time.

in her opinion, a helo ride similar to yours should have been billed at $25-30k.

theories on why it was significantly higher:

- the chopper was on standby at the track and you got to pay for their downtime (so effectively it was an 8 hour helicopter ride, not a 20 minute one )

- your condition was critical enough to change their "status" (effectively a billing/coding type deal) to raise the rates they charge to the insurance company.

- the hospital knew you had this $1mm limit and used it all up by charging their standard/book rates for everything (i.e. the list of excessively expensive medical supplies) to cover the cost of reduced rate/no pay patients. so effectively you/your insurance company subsidized a number of other people's bills.

probably not important in the big picture but some interesting perspective.

 

yep, exactly.

 

Ferrari drivers as a whole tend to be the WORST drivers at most track events. Big egos, little experience and too much power. Chin Motorsports does a great job running events in a properly controlled way and would be my recommendation.

 

You paint with an awfully broad brush, friend.

Yes, Mark and Maria are great!

 

As a Ferrari driver with two challenge cars I don't like being in the same category but as a tendency the truth hurts. I'd much rather be out in the track with the average Bmw and Miata guy who is far more likely to give a point by

 

sooo true though. fca driver eds have the worst point by etiquette of all. and forget about it if there are lambo drivers too.

the advanced group is somewhat better with challenge cars but most of those cars are still driven about 50% performance envelope

 

My ride was a bit special. The usual procedure (from what I was told) is to stabilize the accident victim-take him via an ambulance to where the helo is waiting and then take you to trauma center.

In my case the helo took off from it's landing pad and flew to where I was on track and landed 20 ft from my wreck. They took me from the wreck straight into the helo and then took off. I flat lined on the flight to the trauma center and the EMT's where working hard to get me back.

Talked to pilot 3 years later (meet by chance) and he said he remembered that one well. Said my circumstances were very grime/grave. Assumption around track was that I was dead when the corner workers got to me. Truth was I was pretty close-didn't actually die until on helo. Then again on operating table. (OK-Technically just heart stoppage-not brain flatline.)

After surgery (twice that night-first time was not enough) I was put in IC ward. My brother was allowed in to see me-first time since accident. Nurse pulled back curtain and my brother got his first look at me. As I was told later-he promptly fainted at seeing me! must not have looked too good.

Spent 3 months flat on my back-
1st month I had no idea about anything. All 100% fog to me.

2nd month I remember a little-could get out of bed-walk to kitchen-sit down and eat some applesauce. Then I was done in-Had used up 100% of any energy I had for the day. Would walk/crawl back to bed and sleep for another 24 hours straight.

3rd month I was able to get up and wonder around a bit. Stay up for 4-5 hours. But I was not very able to communicate with anyone. I would here people talking to me and asking questions and I was able to understand them but I evidentily was not able to answer or speak intelligently to anyone. Friends and family thought I was brain injured. As did docs. Conclusion was I had suffered sever brain damage from accident. (Had massive brain swelling and hemmoraging from accident. Left side of skull has swelled to twice normal size. Skull fractures were so bad docs had worried about my brain oozing out of skull at first)

4th month: Better-I was able to -internally- understand what was going on and I knew what to say when people talked to me-and was getting better at verbalizing that. But not great. Then one morning I woke up and somehow I knew all of my mental issues had cleared up. Got out of bed and walked into kitchen and said hello and just started talking like normal. Blew my brother away! Called G/F at time to let her know and she started crying over phone call.

So I thought all was good. Went back to work-but a week later I was having trouble walking. No feeling in one leg and very little in another. So back to docs--who were confused by this all but also very worried. I had temporary paralysis in my left and right arms after the accident-enough the arms were useless-but that went away. Why legs were acting up 3-4 months later was a bit bizzare. So test, more tests, etc. In the end a full body MRI/Catscan picked up on a minor issue. Seems I had broken my back in the accident-hairline fracture of vertebra near tail bone. Was missed initially as all the focus was on my head and "keeping guy alive". And I was so drugged up I had no idea. In the end nothing was done as the fracture was healing well-due to me sleeping/not moving for 3 months after accident!. But there was some inflammation around the vertebra which was causing leg nerve damage. Which went away.

In the end however I am pretty much okay. Still have (and will always have) a bunch of Ti plates holding my head together. Also have permanent nerve damage to my main nerve bundle in the left side of my face. Nothing visual, no ticks or droop mouth. Just pain that will not stop. This damage was caused by a piece of my car (a metal rod 5 mm dia and 50mm long) piercing lower left side of my helmet-going through lower jaw (fracturing jaw) and then turning upward and traveling under my flesh but above (and thru) my LHS cheekbone-shattering it into 50 pieces. Metal rod damaged the main nerve bundle while doing this. Rod stopped just under my LHS eye socket. Docs said truly a miracle that my eye is fine, that the rod did not blast thru bone and lodge in brain. That would have been 100% "you would have been dead" outcome.

Car is still apart 4 year later but going back together slowly. Have repaired chassis damage and ordered all new bits (well 85%) and intend to get it running and race again. Just not in NASA. Nothing against NASA (Good people) but their format for my car means I run against 3000+ lb Vettes and Mustangs in my 1300 lb open topped sports racer. Not a good idea.

Frienda think I am nuts-why would I want to get back in an activity that just about killed me? Don't I have any bad memories about accident?

Answer is I remember absolutely nothing about accident. Happened Sat afternoon and last thing I remember is dropping trailer off at track that previous Thursday. All of Friday and Saturday are "lost days" in my life.

 

I've run a number for FCA track days. I have not run other Marque days, but from my personal experience I've parked a number of FCA guys for not following the rules... with me 2 strikes you are out no matter how rich you are.

we would routienly have several black flags within the first 30 min. for excessive / aggressive driving. usually the guys in the "Red" - fully prepped race cars or heavy experience - were / are the best behaved.

From my experience its usually the guys in the latest cars - and on their 2nd or 3rd track day that have the worst habbits.... and highest accident records.

 

that's a wild story.

and your flat lining on the helo did probably significantly impact what they charged you

glad you're (mostly) OK and back to creating kick ass racing cars!

 

I don't think it's done on purpose, but rather due to inexperience and drivers with 2 or 3 track day experiences are still learning and their attention to their surroundings is poor. After racing formula cars in the SCCA for the past 20 years, I've seen it all and sometimes it's the experienced drivers who make you shake your head. Another problem I've encountered is the driver who is getting up there in age and don't have the skills of their youth, but won't admit it. They overdrive the car in an attempt to stay competitive and the end result is recklessness that's becoming dangerous. As the SCCA members age, it's becoming more common.

 

haven't seen so much aggression in fca. mostly refusal to give point bys. ive been held up by Enzo, 333sp (!), etc. guys driving at street speed in super cars refuse to let others pass. fca wont say anything to them either since these are the high roller guys. frustrating but learned to deal by pitting in and going out with open space

 

+1,000,000

We were all praying for Brian that weekend, and much of the time he was in the hospital!

Thanks for posting...