Until this past February, none of my own cars had
ever been involved in a significant racing
accident. Sure, I’ve seen a few bad mishaps
in the three decades I’ve been doing this stuff. And
yes, the magazine receives photos on a fairly regular
basis from various events where something tragic
has happened.
As you may have noticed, however, our editorial
doesn’t dwell on this side of racing. The risks are made
abundantly clear to all who participate, and we prefer
to focus on the more positive aspects of the sport.
That said, my experience last weekend is one I’d like
to share.
Our Miata race car was involved in a crash–a bad
one–during the LeMons season opener at beautiful
Barber Motorsports Park. I wasn’t driving when
it happened; my son had just gotten out, and I was
still waiting my turn. Our other driver was running in
fourth place, with a Porsche drafting him at a high
rate of speed, when he came upon a parked car in a
blind corner.
Our driver had nowhere to go, and neither did the
Porsche. Our Miata was pushed into the back of a
heavy old Nash and went underneath it, ripping out
the Nash’s fuel cell and hitting its differential so hard
that it cracked and flipped the car.
Our poor Miata was 100-percent demolished: The
hood was crunched up into the windshield, and the
trunk was pushed all the way up to the fuel tank. There
was not much left.
Thankfully, our driver and the others involved came
away with no more than a few bumps and bruises. Our
safety gear did its job perfectly. Our cage, which we
worked on for more than a month, appeared undamaged,
and the Miata’s doors even opened despite the
car being at least 3 feet shorter than when it started
the race.
Honestly, I had been a little nervous about racing
such a small, seemingly slow car against all the crazy
big old cars you see at LeMons races. I now feel that
my fears were unfounded, as our car had an amazingly
bad shunt and we came out fine, except of course
for the loss of the car.
I think a shout-out is in order–to Mazda in particular
and modern cars in general. It is amazing how effectively
this thing sacrificed itself so that the driver would
not be injured.
Modern safety gear is quite impressive, too: From
HANS devices to well-made cages, window nets and
center nets, there is a reason to install it all. This stuff
works, and works well.
The LeMons staff also deserves some credit here.
They stepped up to the plate and are taking safety
even more seriously, requiring better equipment and
training from all of their competitors. I even saw them
testing drivers to see how quickly they could get out of
their race cars in the event of a mishap.
Still, this crash has affected me. I’m not so much
worried about myself, but I am naturally concerned for
my son, and for my young staff and friends who are
racing with me. I’m not sure I could live with myself if
something serious happened to one of them.
We can’t run a racing magazine without racing,
though. Besides, you can get killed just crossing the
street, and statistically, you’re more likely to be harmed
driving to the race track than driving in the race.
Despite these facts, this was a scary day for me. The
takeaway was to urge every racer to buy and install
the best safety gear they can get. This is not the place
to save money or time. We were cursing at how long it
took to install that cage in our Miata; that time seems
inconsequential now.
You’ll notice that what I’m not talking about here is
the question of fault. When our car crashed, I instantly
had people in my face asking if the corner workers
had thrown a flag in time and if the driver we hit had
done something wrong. My answer to them? “Racing’s
racing. Stuff happens.”
Any time you go out on track, especially at an amateur
event full of wacky older cars, you need to assume
that someone is going to make a mistake. You might
even be the one who screws up. So don’t enter a race
with a car you can’t afford to lose. And never ever go
out in a car that you have not thoroughly prepared for
a crash. That’s the ultimate racing mistake.
As for our poor deceased Miata, we’ll just chalk it up
to experience. No one got hurt, and $500 Miatas are
still easy to come by. In fact, Team NSF, owner of that
car-killing Nash, demonstrated the ultimate in racing
classiness by dropping off another Miata at our office
two days after the race. It was a gracious gesture that
is as appreciated as it was unnecessary.
That’s the reason we love racing. Sure, it has its
risks, but the rewards come in ways that can’t be
counted–like the knowledge that there are
damned good people involved, both on our
team and in the cars racing next to us.
Comments
I'll echo the sediments regarding the safety of modern cars and their safety equipment. I was the misfortune of the PASM on a 981 decide that the left rear brake needed to be engaged while I was setting up for entry to turn 1 at Road America, 141mph into the left STRAIGHT into the wall at 90 degrees I went. You couldnt turn the vehicle so crisply into a 90 degree turn at that speed if you had wanted to. In less then 15 seconds I was out of the car under my own power and was even cleared to go on track again by medical that afternoon (though I declined). 15 years ago I would've thought that such a shunt would've left a better than 50% change of life changing injury, or worse, in a vehicle that was delivered as anything less than a body in white level of preparation.
Be safe out there.
Most of us also need to consider the potential medical costs and what level of medical insurance we have/don't have. An ambulance ride and an over night in a hospital can easily eclipse the cost of a racecar.
This crash and your willingness to talk about it has started some conversations with friends and I about what we want out of racing and when in our lives we should be doing it.
Would you donate those wheels and other parts to my charity?
hhaase
Reader
6/2/16 10:15 p.m.
It's not just the safety gear, but also the safety mindset, that has also improved. I remember being 5-6 years old and sleeping on the back deck of mom's old caprice classic while driving. Only on the interstate did Dad tell us to belt up. Almost lost family members a couple times in rollovers, with other passengers in the vehicles getting ejected. Thank god I was never in one. Always ended up very badly back then.
My own 7 year old daughter? Still in the back seat, in a high back booster, strapped in to go anywhere the car is moving. Came across a real bad rollover a couple months back. End over end 4 times in a Ford Explorer at 80mph. The driver was belted in and had no obvious injuries.
So yeah, the safety gear has improved. Thankfully people have improved in how often they use it. Now if only bikers would start wearing helmets. Buried a few friends because of that.
David S. Wallens
Editorial Director, Grassroots Motorsports & Classic Motorsports
6/2/16 10:25 p.m.
plance1 wrote:
Would you donate those wheels and other parts to my charity?
We'd love to, but they're headed to LeMons Miata v2.0.
First off I'm really glad everyone involved walked away with no issues. Having said that I'm not sure I agree with this paragraph.
Tim Suddard wrote:
I think a shout-out is in order–to Mazda in particular
and modern cars in general. It is amazing how effectively
this thing sacrificed itself so that the driver would
not be injured.
I'm honestly not sure this has anything to do with it being a Miata or a modern car. If this was a road accident everyone walked away from I can see you saying 'Kudos Mazda, we'd have been dead in an MGB' But honestly from the look of the car it was pretty much pancked up to the cage area. I think any small open car would have done just as well with the same thorough safety equipment in it.
mazdeuce wrote:
Most of us also need to consider the potential medical costs and what level of medical insurance we have/don't have. An ambulance ride and an over night in a hospital can easily eclipse the cost of a racecar.
This crash and your willingness to talk about it has started some conversations with friends and I about what we want out of racing and when in our lives we should be doing it.
That's an excellent point. When I used to race in the 90's I took out extra life and injury coverage. I read it very carefully and it excluded 'Drag racing' specifically along with things like sky diving, but it did not exclude track driving. I think back than on track activities were far less common, or at least less common knowledge so they weren't excluded. These days I think all track activity would be excluded.
I'd be interested to know what the outcome of your discussion was and how it may affect you activities, one lap? possible future W2W?
If I ever go W2W again (unlikely without a massive unforeseen infusion of cash) it would be historic with a 13/13 rule that really seems to keep people respectful, certainly not something like spec Pinata. This also links back to the concussion/head injury/Sarah Fisher thread.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
I'd be interested to know what the outcome of your discussion was and how it may affect you activities, one lap? possible future W2W?
Two things that have come out of my One Lap and track driving over the last couple of years.
1. I'm not willing to instruct on track. The consequences of a mistake (either mechanical or driver) that I have no control over are too high for my family. The instructing I've been asked to do pays about $100 a day. There is no way that's worth it.
2. Street car safety gear should be kept close to street speeds. Modern cars (and maybe this has always been true) are too fast to drive on track with stock three point belts and no rollover protection. I have faith that Cadillac designed the V Wagon to go over at 80 and keep me pretty safe. I don't think they meant for it to do the same at 140+.
I'll still do track events, and I might even go against what I said by doing them in the Cadillac, but when I do you'll find me being the classic 80% driver. The One Lap truck discussion is drifting toward using an extended or even crew cab so that proper rollover protection can be more easily integrated. Still in the discussion phase but we're thinking about it.
I'll probably do W2W someday, but it will be when me getting hurt/killed will be an emotional tragedy and not an economic one. If something happens to me now my kids lose their day to day caregiver as well as their dad.
I'd have to agree with Adrian to some extent. I'm sure the car is better built than some 70s jalopy and doubtless helps connect things together better, but the majority of the credit has to go to your safety preparations and equipment.
Safety is paramount in racing and I'm glad that these series have no limit on safety prep for these cars.
Care to post any detailed pictures of the cage?
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