http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqM9KXkkRnQ&eurl= http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6724
Wow, luckily it looked like the car didn't really land on it's roof till the very end. Still that's a lucky driver.
Yep, quite a bit of chatter on other boards. Joey Hand gave his side of the story in an interview available on Speed.com. Talk about scary! I feel really bad for Matt Connolly. Here is this BMW-enthusiast privateer's car, with a factory driver at the wheel, on the pole and leading the Grand Am GT race (not the lesser Grand Am Cup race) in front of the factory supported Pontiac team. Paul Edwards just stuck his nose in where it didn't belong and pressed the issue in a bad place on the race track. Now, Joey's ok but the car is toast and Motorsports-built chassis don't grow on trees... What a waste...
I don't think the screen even broke.... was ok right until near the end anyway... Dirty move by the following driver to tip him sideways like that, but the circuit is to blame for the extent of damage.
I saw that live as it happened, I'm surprised he's not more hurt than he is. One of the worst crashes i've seen in a while.
Edwards is not known as a clean driver...he's not very capable either. Certainly shows a lack of judgement more often than not. What is interesting, though not shown on Speed coverage, is that they were about to lap a TRG Porsche as they entered the keyhole, prior to entering the back straight. In the post race interview Edwards, who behaved as if he was hiding something, said that the BMW was held up by a slower car exiting onto the straight and he (Edwards) got a good run. What he didn't say is that slower car, the TRG Porsche, is run by the same team that he drives a TRG Pontiac for! Amazing what those team radios can do!!! Really poor racing.
I looked over the car in the garage in person and was amazed on how well the car held up. For what it is worth, if I ever had such an accident I hope that the car I am in will hold up the same. There was not a wrinkle in the cage. It almost looked like they can rebuilt the car. The seat was most amazing. The crotch belt ripped into the carbon seat almost a foot by the force. Some years ago this would have been a sad day for racing.
Any idea why they have a dirt berm in the infield? You don't have to be psychic to see where putting what amounts to a ramp, anywhere along a track, is going to eventually lead to...
I heard they added some access roads in the infield, which were built up from the existing grade, forming the "ramp" Joey was launched from. Gary
That is correct. They increased the turn one runoff area and added a new piece of track to shortcut the keyhole for track days. Track improvements?? I wonder if they left the ramp there for the Grand Am Cup cars the next day. I heard there was some cars in the air in that race that airs on Speed, I think, July 9th.
This might be a shot in the dark, but did anyone make a copy of this race (won by the Fernandez Lowe's team) which was broadcast on the Speed Channel this past weekend, and can make a VHS or DVD copy for me? My son and I attended this race, and we would very much like to be able to view the entire race again so as to see what we missed. It appeared that most of the overtaking was going on at another section of the track or else in the pits, out of our line of sight. I will gladly reimburse for any costs involved. Thanks and Cheers - DM, Ohio
Is that a good thing?? In my viewing experience, the more force that is absorbed into a deforming cage and parts flinging off the car, the better it is for the driver. It is always the accidents that look the least spectacular that seem to be the most dangerous. I recall the huge crash Petter Solberg and Phil Mills had a few years back in Germany where the cage took several big hits, crushing a little each time, thus soaking up the impact. Otherwise I totally agree that berm should not been there on the side of the track and I love to hear the reasoning behind it. The nudge by the other car did not look that bad, and I can't really say it was intentional either since there were three cars all fighting for the same bit of race track. Bottom line is this should not have been anywhere near as big of a shunt as it was and the berm is to blame for that. They better be bulldozing that as we speak....
Yes. The cage should never deform. The whole point of the cage is to remain intact to preserve the survival space of the driver. Everything else around the cage though is expendable, except the fuel tank which should also remain intact.
Isn't Mid-Ohio where Jeremy Dale got slammed ? Anyway, I looked at this crash on the link provided, and I was wondering if maybe Rusty Wallace was driving, he seems to do a lot of those kinds of things. Glad the driver was Ok...
Joey Hand teamed with Bill Auberlen in the AMLS GT2 at Lime Rock Saturday and finished 9th overall in another BMW M3. No worse for the wear I guess.
That was the first question that came to mind when I saw the crash footage. The second question was who was the slob that smacked him, but that was answered pretty quickly.
