Sunday's Accident

Sunday's qualifying started a little later, as a corvette also oil up the track and had the track crew busy cleaning up.  We got out for qualifying around 11:00AM.  I was on my third lap going into Turn 7 when a yellow and black flag came out.  I made my way back into the pits not realizing it was one of our guys the "black flag all" was for.  When I got back into our paddock space I found out Greg hit a wall between 8b & 9 and was unconscious.

From what I can gather Greg was coming out of the 8b right hander, something happen and he shot across the track.  The corner workers estimated he hit the wall at approximately 90 MPH, the section he hit had no tire barrier in front of it.  The car look like it was about to spin because the left front took the brunt of the impact against a section of concrete, the car bounced and continued backwards and hit a section further down with a tire barrier which pop open the hatch.

The emergency crew were top-notched and got to Greg in a hurry.  I don't know if he was still unconscious when the emergency crew got there but I'm guessing he was because they didn't want to risk pulling Greg out thru the door.   They started to cut the roof off and then the roll cage.

It was a frightening and agonising time for us as we watched helplessly from across the track and waiting for updates.  I thought my heart skipped a couple of beats when they raised a blue screen before they pulled him out.

It was such a relief when they announced the driver in #43 was alright.  Jim and I went to intercept the ambulance at track exit as it made its way out.

When we got to the ambulance and looked inside the open door, Greg was awake and smiling.  He was immobilized with a head/neck brace and strapped all the way down to his feet.  There was no urgency or panic with the paramedics which was a good sign.  I ask where they were taking him.

Jim and I walked back to our paddock space to let the guys know Greg was conscious and alert.  I wanted to call Greg's wife before race control or the hospital calls her.  I'd let her know Greg was involved in a track incident and that he was alert and answering the paramedics questions.  I told her and the 944 team I would be heading out to the hospital and will let everyone know more when I know more.

The drive to hospital took awhile, my GPS said 37 miles which I thought was pretty far away. Wasn't there a closer hospital?   Upon arrival to the hospital the reception desk said it'll be around 15-20 minutes before I can see him.   Well the 15-20 minutes became 50 minutes before security escorted me into the ER.  The scans, x-rays of the head, neck, shoulder, spine came back negative which was good news, the x-rays did show a fracture on the 7th rib on his left but no breakage.  I immediately call his wife to let her know and also held my cell phone over to Greg's ear and mouth so he can talk to her directly.  The ER team was still running a series of test and blood works to make sure he wasn't bleeding internally.  They were taking x-rays of his legs because there was a bruise by his left shin but it also turned out negative.

Considering the impact of the crash, being unconscious and then being discharge from the hospital a couple of hours later with just a fracture rib, a shin bruise and really sore muscles is amazing.

Greg wanted to show pictures of his crashed car to learn and talk about it.

I'm going to start a new forum thread in the "Race Car Build" section from our private emails regarding safety equipment.