Warning: this is hard to watch. Guy was OK however, but this is a very scary video.
Belly pan flew off race bike, went through trailing rider's visor and knocked him out cold. At full speed on front straight. Video:
I'm still blown away this guy stopped on track, as did the guy in front of him. Which of course lead to blocking the ambulance and more confusion... UGH. Just glad rider was OK.
I saw the pit-out crew keep an instructor in a 911 from going out on the Jefferson Circuit in the wrong direction.
Multiple guys spinning out in the Corkscrew on parade laps. How much of an idiot do you have to be?
I saw two guys racing each other in Intermediate blow by 4 cars on the front stretch without point-bys. Then the went to the organizer and complained people weren't giving point-bys.
The reg then came down to coach the guy whose car I happened to be doing a ride-along with.
Later saw that same car drift between two waving yellows.
They moved him up to Advanced and I saw that same car with the front bumper cover ripped off in the last session.
Tldr: 'regulars' drive like asshats and complain about people following the rules, supported by the hpde organizer, justice ensues.
At the Mitty one year we had a guy slam into the Turn 6 wall---wrecking his car....during a PARADE LAP! 
He wasn't very popular after that, as his shenanigans pushed all the racing back by 45 minutes or so. I don't envy the call he had to make to his wife. "Honey...I wrecked the new car----- it was on track, so it's not insured!"
I am also an idiot, and have run out of gas while running in an HPDE. Be sure you have enough fuel folks!
I can't tell you how many asshats I've seen blow a motor or lose a coolant hose then drive on the racing line halfway around the track trying to get to the pits berkeleying up the next 45 minutes for everyone else. Or worse, having someone waste a perfectly good car sliding in it.
PARK IT IN THE GRASS, PRONTO PEOPLE. It's not just about you.
Oh jeez...I've seen some really stupid E36 M3 in LeMons racing. In my last race a few weeks ago, the car directly behind me spun out on the pace lap. Granted, it was raining, but we were going no more than 30mph.
I think the dumbest thing I ever saw was when there was a "charity" car. There was a car that a team was running that would allow anyone to go take a shift for a sizable donation to charity, I think it was Wounded Warriors. Wonderful thought, wholeheartedly support the idea of raising money. But in practice, well...not such a hot idea. One driver was clearly very overwhelmed by the experience of being on a racetrack with a lot of cars. The car was going incredibly slowly around the racetrack. But then the must have just figured they had enough and wanted to get off the track...right now. They came to a complete dead stop on the race track, with their left turn signal on, waiting for an opening in race traffic to turn off the track...oh, and it wasn't even the designated track off spot. How they didn't get plowed into is by miracle.
Hmm. There was the one where the organizers of the event lined up cars to enter the course right at the track out point in a corner. Someone blows the corner, nearly runs over two pedestrians and crashes into a Suby waiting to get on the track.
Can't find the video on youtube. Unfortunately searching "trackday crash" turns up almost as many hits as "Bad driving in Russia" 
Oh! At Mid-Ohio for the big BMW Ocktoberfest races a few years back... a very seasoned racer and CR officer managed to brake check another car while warming his tires on the pace lap. Both cars were total write-offs. I believe @Rusted_Busted_Spit might have been witness to that little slice of hilarity as well. He came out with his kids to hang.
Keith Tanner wrote: Multiple guys spinning out in the Corkscrew on parade laps. How much of an idiot do you have to be?
Recently did a PDX at Homestead. 2 guys in miatas were playing a bit aggressively on the parade lap. One guy lost it and narrowly missed T-boning his friend. I gave him the bird as he collected himself out in the grass.
Oh! And racing at Summit Point... we had a standing black flag for a tow/clean-up in a bad spot. We all came in to the pits but the racing order got all hosed by the way the marshalls lined us up - and then before all the cars were in they threw a green from the tower right at the end of pit lane.
25 cars drag racing out of pit lane past marshalls standing between them, onto the front straight into other race traffic who got the green before pitting was possibly one of the most ridiculous things I have ever been a party to. The AM briefing on Sunday was pretty lively. No one was hurt but I lost 5 spots and gained a big door swirrly in the shake up.
OH! Turn 1, VIR. This wasn't loss of brakes. He forgot which corner he was in. I was lucky enough not to get caught in this epic schitshow. (not my video)
I think I can actually keep going with this for a while. Apparently... a lot of stupid E36 M3 happened over the past 20 years.
https://niknak.org/archive/trackdays
iQ on track = ridiculous
I watched a rolling start done in NASA DE3-4 just for fun.
One of the guys was in a brand new C7 Z06 on Hoosiers, and had just moved up from 1-2 that day. The only reason there wasn't massive carnage was because the guy next to him missed his shift and fell back a car length. When the Z06 stepped over 10 feet by spinning the tires he fell right into the gap. The whole thing was terrifying.
While watching the motorcycle video I was saying "GRASS GRASS GRASS. GET ON THE GRASS!" as the guy slooowly comes to a stop right on the track.
I mean, he didn't really have to stop at all, but if you must stop, stop on the grass.
Haven't seen a lot of dumb stuff IRL. Worst might be this guy entering the track by driving across the grass instead of using the proper pit exit road (which joins near the end of the 180deg right turn), while the start line worker tries to warn me with the Team America Secret Signal:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/xhIEBbIwKIQ?start=116
Noticed my engine overheating soon afterward.
In the good/bad old days of barely-controlled unofficial track days there was a lot of pretty aggressive passing and balls-out driving going on that could be considered dumb. Once saw a guy lock up all four wheels and ramp a little Opel Corsa off the end of the longest straight and into a cane field. Those things are great at catching air.
In reply to GameboyRMH:
Though I never want to see humans harmed, I greatly wish to see this.
I did nearly spin out my '98 Buick Regal on a Mitty parade lap at the chicane before the last turn at Road Atlanta. Didn't realize just how slippery those tires were in the rain.
The Ohio Ferrari Club guys joined us for a PDX event at Mid Ohio. It was amazing how little they seemed to value their toys or safety. Three different guys in the weeds off turn one as they forgot going fast means slowing down at a similar pace...
I once saw an MR2 spin in front of a 3000GT VR4, which also spun. The trailing VR4 slid backwards into the also backwards MR2, causing significant damage. This was made more noteworthy because it was on a cool down lap.
I saw an unidentified car go so far off track that it ended up submerged up to it's windshield in a recently formed lake at Buttonwillow. The driver was sitting on the roof. The good thing was that it was so far off track- and in a lake- that it was deemed not a threat and was left there for the remainder of the day.
The closest call that I ever had at a race track was actually at a drag strip. Yes, in a race only a 1/4 mile long with no turns, my opponent made a wrong turn. Bracket racing, the other car dialed in a couple seconds slower than me, and red lighted bad. He had an almost 3 second head start. He crossed the line just ahead of me, then immediately turned in front of me as I crossed the line with a good 30mph on him. I found a bit of oil that was missed when the track was shut down due to a breakdown right before our run. I went around him sideways with both of us in my lane, but was able to recover. At least he put on his turn signal before he came into my lane.
In reply to Boost_Crazy:
That must have been the reason that I always used the last return road if I had to cross the other lane to get to it.
In reply to snailmont5oh:
If you're in the 'far' lane from the turnoff, you don't turn unless you can SEE the other guy, i.e. you know he's not in a blind spot or barreling down on you from half-track. That's how I was taught anyway.
Not a track day but I once spun a dirt car under a red flag...on the front stretch...in front of packed grandstands. I could hear the spectators laughing over the sounds of the engines.
The starter had stopped the whole field on the front stretch to get us lined up properly for a restart after a caution. He was standing on the infield side of the inside line next to the front row and waved me around behind him from the third row to the front where I had been running and when I went around him I spun thanks to a combination of the slick wet track below the racing groove, the banking of the track and youthful indiscretion with the throttle.
Fortunately, I was alternating driver and crew chief duties with the car's co-owner and the announcer thought he was in the car and gave him credit/grief for that particular display of stupidity. I fessed up to the starter later because I didn't want my buddy to have an official ticked off at him but I didn't feel that it was necessary to let the fans know who was really driving. Besides, he got credit for my second place finish.
Boost_Crazy wrote: At least he put on his turn signal before he came into my lane.
So, apparently, this was not a BMW then?
1st lap, 1st session of an HPDE at Grattan, a guy in the fastest run group settled after the the jump, entered turn 5 too hot with cold tires, missed 6 and tore his splitter and facia off in a sand trap. This was in a newer Boss 302 mustang. Never entered the track again that day.
I feel that too many drivers are bumped up a group based on how capable their cars are VS how much experience they have.
You'll need to log in to post.
