http://www.your4state.com/story/d/story/update-instructor-killed-in-accident-summit-point/39462/rjWFfbKgt0W3CDbMCgcDbA
Not much detail, but this is why I've always thought instructors have big brass ones. I rode shotgun in our fully caged chump e30, with all my gear on (during a practice day, with one of our other drivers going 80%....and I still was uncomfortable the whole time. I'd never get in the passenger seat with some unknown driver in a street car on the track.
Leaving the usual platitudes aside, that has got to be really freakin' awkward.
I didn't need to read this. I'm sure details will emerge over the next day or two on whom/what/where/how/why but I know a good many volunteers and racers attending Hyperfest and now I've got to call them all and make sure everyone is OK before I can do anything else.
RIP & Condolences to the family.
I'm sorry to hear about this. Hopefully, they can make Hyperfest a little safer.
From what I hear it was at the HPDE during Hyperfest, so probably didn't have much to do with the "other" activities that go on during that weekend. Having run at Summit several times, I'm trying to think of where a car could take a left and hit a tree where there isn't a barrier in the way....unless it was a mechanical failure on a straight or something.
IDK, in my head since I'll be racing at Summit in less than 2 weeks 
In reply to irish44j:
Jefferson circuit. It is all trees. They sometimes do hpde over there because the main track is hot with racing efforts and the logistics of swapping grids at a big event is difficult.
BSR also runs a lot of de stuff there, not sure if NASA has the whole place or what.
ah ok...that's the only course there I haven't run.
They were doing "Hyperdrives" on the (recently lengthened) Jefferson circuit. The instructors were provided by BSR (Bill Scott Racing) the operators of Summit Point. Hyperdrive consists of a classroom session followed by an instructed 15 - 20 minute track session.
As an instructor I've been wary of the Hyperdrive concept, particularly in the context of Hyperfest where your student may well have friends watching, or friends on track in the same session. In addition, with a first-time student the first session is line familiarization and learning to use the brakes. Trying to get up to speed in 15 minutes - safely? No way.
Also - I heard reports of "spectators" lobbing cans of beer off the bridge are cars on track, during a race. I can absolutely guarantee if that was done to me that I'd pit, drive directly to the bridge, get out of the car and beat the living sh1t out of the mindless, mouth breathing quasi-Juggalo who'd thrown the can.
I'm sure Hyperfest is fun for the target demographic (18-25 year old/tuner/wigger/dirtbag/drunk/idiots)but as a motorsports event it's a vortex of suck.
Very sad to hear. Anytime anyone is injured or killed regardless of the circumstances, it's just a very dark day. The older I get the wimpier I get. I do some track days but mostly just auto cross now. The few track days that I do are more about car control than setting a new lap record. Just being smooth as Jackie Stewart would say. Geeeez that's bad news.
Damn I was up there yesterday and we were worried about the miata/crx crash where the miata driver went so far into the woods on the main circuit he couldn't be found easily and had to be hellavaced out. Had no idea about the HPDE accident, my condolences.
It was an '06 GTO, Jefferson Circuit, last session of the day (5:15PM).
http://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/west_virginia/instructor-dies-in-raceway-crash-at-summit-point/article_771e28ee-c00e-50e6-bb80-87ce6d384cd4.html
motomoron wrote: Also - I heard reports of "spectators" lobbing cans of beer off the bridge are cars on track, during a race.
That did actually happen. In fact I was racing my Spec Miata in the group when it happened on the last lap..... We all got red flagged (for a massive accident right at the bridge directly behind me......) right as I passed start/finish and I stopped the car, jumped out and ran to the corner worker bucket in turn 1 to say what happened, they handled it from there.....
Incredibly sad. When I was local, I knew to avoid Hyperfest; I remain amazed that NASA has anything to do with it.
I've had some amazing instructors put up with my thick, slow-learning skull. I even got one of them muddy during a particularly rainy weekend on Shenandoah. I don't know that I'd ever have the guts to get into the passenger side of a street car that's being driven by a novice I've never met before. I'm glad there were instructors who took that risk to teach me.
I was just at Road America a couple weeks ago, as a right seat instructor in a new Viper TA with media at the wheel. This really hits home.
Anytime something like this comes up, I think that it may be time to stop instructing. Super sad and a reminder that what we do isn't to be taken lightly, even if it's your first time on a track.
Terrible news.
I've been to Hyperfest a few times----it was always great to see the driver's expressions when they got out of the car after their first Hyperdrive (and usually first time on track). You could almost see the lightbulb going off in their heads, as they were being converted from "poseur" to "track-day enthusiast". Hyperfest and NASA Mid-Atlantic have been responsible for converting countless "street racers" to genuine track-day guys through the Hyperdrive program.
It's horrible that this happened--- for the families, as well as those who organize / work this event. I've worked with these great people--- and know that they are involved because they love it-- and because they want to grow and improve our hobby.
It's heartbreaking.
johndej wrote: Damn I was up there yesterday and we were worried about the miata/crx crash where the miata driver went so far into the woods on the main circuit he couldn't be found easily and had to be hellavaced out. Had no idea about the HPDE accident, my condolences.
Just to clear this up, it was a Probe, not a Miata that was involved in the incident and ended up in the woods......
Joe Gearin wrote: It's heartbreaking.
Yeah, I agree. This is a terrible thing but, frankly, we all have our eyes open going in.
I sit in that right seat sometimes as much as 8-10x in a single day at a DE. I've been doing that for 10 years and 8-10 schools a year. Lots of us have been in some sort of minor accident in a student's car but by and large the number of instances and especially serious injuries is very low. Even things like broken bones, very rare. My own experience; A concrete barrier, backwards at 80 in a students car in the rain... I got a bad bruise on my elbow and new helmet. I've been hurt worse in my garage by hand tools. The general intensity of injury is atleast consistent with other contact sports like football or basketball - you certainly would not catch me trying a tackle drill, that E36 M3 is rough! The potential for death or serious injury is always there but I don't think of it as an always imminent threat anymore than I expect to be killed on the highway on the way to the grocery later today. It's possible but not probable.
It is a matter of keeping the actual risk in perspective. This incident was unfortunately a case of the exceptional.
johnhammer wrote: I was just at Road America a couple weeks ago, as a right seat instructor in a new Viper TA with media at the wheel. This really hits home.
From a viper owner you have balls of steel. I would not sit right with anybody in a Viper without knowing them and being around them on the track first to see how they react.
Very sad, my prayers for the family, that they might be comforted in some fashion (and I have no idea how...).
I guess I am reminded none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Let us keep short accounts, and love our family and friends today.
HyperDrive has indeed successfully involved car enthusiasts with track driving and to make it safer going forward, I think that NASA should only offer HyperDrives at the more forgiving tracks (ie. NJMP, Pocono Raceway, etc.). It would be safer for everyone to limit these events to tracks with more runoff and safer barriers. Remember, it helps to keep students coming back if they cam drive their car home in one piece! Not knowing any better, I did my first track day at Shenandoah and knowing what I know now, it would have been helpful if there was a rating system for the safety of each track based on runoff area vs. speed and also the type of barriers (trees, concrete or tirewall).
The accident was on the Jefferson Circuit as part of the track's "Hot Laps" feature for Hyperfest. It is believed to have been a 2006 Pontiac GTO. The other accident was on the main track during the Lightning Race. Two cars fighting for position on the last lap got together at turn nine and both left the track. A ford Probe and a Honda CRX. Both cars total losses. There were a host of other incidents during the weekend form people throwing full beer cans over the bridge onto the track during the race (right where the wreck happened) and some knucklehead drove off the side of the bridge and almost made it to the track below.Many incidents causing major car damage in addition to these mentioned.In reply to irish44j:
In reply to johndej:
I just happened to be that corner worker.In reply to skrzastek:
racer99 wrote: The accident was on the Jefferson Circuit as part of the track's "Hot Laps" feature for Hyperfest. It is believed to have been a 2006 Pontiac GTO. The other accident was on the main track during the Lightning Race. Two cars fighting for position on the last lap got together at turn nine and both left the track. A ford Probe and a Honda CRX. Both cars total losses. There were a host of other incidents during the weekend form people throwing full beer cans over the bridge onto the track during the race (right where the wreck happened) and some knucklehead drove off the side of the bridge and almost made it to the track below.Many incidents causing major car damage in addition to these mentioned.In reply to irish44j:
WOW. 
It sounds like this event had a whole host of challenges. Time to step up security?
My wife and I were spectating when this happened. Our son was taking advantage of the instruction time. This was a horrible thing to witness. But here is what we saw: The GTO was the first out of the turn. It sounded like he floored it coming out of the turn and his back end came out from behind him. I never saw his front wheels cut into the slide or heard his foot come off of the gas. The car just arced into trees colliding with a large one, square in the passenger door.
One would think that there would be a barrier to prevent cars from going into the trees. We race the other 2 tracks at Summit Point and they have either berms, sand, or tires.
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