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Everyone survived, life flight for one ,broken arms for one broken ribs and bruised windpipe in one, several twists and tears, some very close calls on a couple of others. I'm still dealing with one of the issues. 17 cars directly involved . I think 4 had to be written off. in my case it took a year to get the car race worthy again.
Looked like you got checked before turning onto the SF straight, and then suffered the consequences of being tapped into the wall by Ray Mulacek.- Must've been ropeable.
That was hard to watch, although I have to say I was really enjoying all the cars and sounds just before the wreck. That has to be a real kick to do in person. Amazing that all were alive after that free for all.
I have worked for 20 years as a volunteer first responder but never have had an incident even close to that one. Wow.
So many beautiful cars wasted. Dang.
Mark
Purely curious and I don't vintage race, but, do the sponsors/safety officials/track owners do any forensics after an incident like this ?
To wit, is there an official report on the cause of the crash ?
And what sort of waivers do the drivers sign up for ?
I've autocrossed in first gen Mustangs and also done a touring lap around Sebring in my stock 61 C1 and hit triple digits twice far away from other cars, even then it was pretty thrilling and the car was a handful.. I know there's no comparison to competitive racing, before anybody remarks on that.
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Apr 29, 2020 at 10:33 AM.
In Vintage Racing they take a very dim view of recalcitrant behaviours, both on and off track.
The expectation is, people will behave in the right fashion and recidivists end up being banned from the sport, It's not Pro-Racing.
From what I can tell, the Yellow Comaro coming up on the outside was already racing prior to the green flag being dropped, tried to force his way through a non-existent gap, swerved and clipped the front of the vette to his right, which spun it into the wall and set of a chain of unintended consequences.
Looking at some of the still photo's I think there were about 7 vettes all up trashed, 4 C2's & 3 C3's - tragedy the CF members car was one of them. One of the most frightening aspects of motor racing is being stranded mid track with a posse of car bearing down on you.
Here's what on of the Stewards had to say of the incident ….I was the operating steward for this race. The pace car did what was the right thing to do. We gave them instructions for each group. The two pole guys admitted to running up the hill at 5000 rpm in 3rd gear. The fifth place guy was racing well before the green flag and tried to force his way between the wall and the car in front of him. He started scraping the wall and the guy behind him checked up and the car that hit him started to spin and then it was one after another into them. I am amazed that no one was killed. All the drivers except two had hans devices.
The green flag was in deed thrown. I red flagged the race with in 3 seconds of the green. Even with the red flag the drivers in the back just keep driving into the rear. The red was shown at corner 15(the walk over bridge). The drivers just did not pay attention. All drivers were forced to attend a meeting right after the incident. They were all yelled at. Interesting that in a few classes they are not allowed to pass until after turn 1 (Historic Gran Prix) and turn 3 for Can Am. One historic Gran Prix driver was banned from their series for life due to an incident in the kink.
I have to agree that the drivers in this group are some of the most agressive drivers I have ever seen. More distrubing to me were how many fist fights started after drivers started getting out of there cars. I feel that if they were able to get out they should have been happy they
could even move after a incident like this.
I was very happy with how all of our crews came together to work in the heat. We had a steady flow of water for all the rescue crews, ambulance crews and wrecker crews while they were working in over 90 degree heat. - What a great team.
Racing's not much different from Highway driving; in that, you still have to be alert to the "Idiot" ….
Nothing like an keyboard king who was not there to bring up this issue 15 years after it happened and repeat and perpetuate all the incorrect comments that were said about this incident at the time. Then to look at the video which also does not tell the complete story and place all the blame on one person is typical of people who don't know what actually happened and were not there and the factors that lead to the accident. As far as those "idiot" drivers, while Grp 6 is one of the most aggressive groups in vintage, it is also one of the most experienced group of drivers and the number of SCCA National, Trans-am, IMSA, and Can-Am starts among the drivers that were involved prob number in the hundreds.
There were ZERO fights afterwards.
The red flag was not out 3 seconds after it started and no one that saw a red flag at 14 were involved bc they were so far back and the only people that kept piling into the pile were drivers already at speed and who could not stop. Since only a few people on this board actual have raced at RA they will know its uphill with a blind S/F line, the pace car driver did a horrible job keeping the 60+ car field tight and there was a large gap at about 16th place. Once the flag drops you go, since most in the back could not see the flag and bc in vintage you always drop the flag and even better early (this is not the SCCA) you can sort the field out after with a yellow or black flag, so the second group of cars was on the gas and just could not stop fast enough.
I am not even getting into the track President's involvement before the race.
And anyone who wants to race anything should be prepared to walk home with nothing or scrap if they race. Everyone who isn't prepared to, should not race.
The Steward of the race comments was CYA and almost 100% incorrect, there is plenty of blame to go around for this accident; track officials, starter, driver(s), sanctioning body, rules enforcement (lack there of), pace car driver, etc. It was a perfect storm that caused this. And I only count 2 cars, maybe 3 cars that did not make it back to racing or fully repaired but maybe I am missing one.
It could have been a lot worse and thank God it was not, but there is way more as to why this happened than what is being laid out in the comments and old inaccurate comments being copied and posted.
This incident occured about the time I was getting heavily into track day events with my Shelby Cobra replica. Track days involve some risk but nothing close to that in vintage racing. Still, I understood that I was risking my life and property to pursue this hobby. I experienced several expensive mechanical problems and saw one guy lose control in a high speed corner at Roebling Road and slide through a grove of pine trees in his Cobra. The fact that normal insurance companies do not cover this stuff tempered the speed demon that lives in each of us when we're on the track with other cars. Death, injury and totaled cars are unlikely but possible in this hobby. For some it is part of the allure. But no one who does vintage racing can claim they didn't know what MIGHT happen.
BTW, the "brake check" caused the ripple your saw shortly before the collisions, not the collisions. According to Wikipedia, the collision came when one driver tried to jump the start and force his car between the wall and the car ahead of him. When contact was made the chain reaction began.
The info from Wiki is of course incorrect and was not the cause of the accident. Wikipedia is imo useless as a source of accurate info.
Everyone survivied, life flight for one ,broken arms for one broken ribs and bruised windpipe in one, several twists and tears, some very close calls on a couple of others. I'm still dealing with one of the isuues. 17 cars directly involved . I think 4 had to be written off. in my case it took a year to get the car race worthy again.
Luckily, Jim nor anyone else, got to go for a helicopter ride that day Jerry. Hope you are well. I only think 2 cars didn't make it back on track or repaired. Bruce's Corvette and I heard the Blue Camaro didn't, but it didn't look that bad. Fritz's Cobra is i think almost done and we know Jim's car was repaired! :-) Everything else is fixed and racing again.
Purely curious and I don't vintage race, but, do the sponsors/safety officials/track owners do any forensics after an incident like this ?
To wit, is there an official report on the cause of the crash ?
And what sort of waivers do the drivers sign up for ?
I've autocrossed in first gen Mustangs and also done a touring lap around Sebring in my stock 61 C1 and hit triple digits twice far away from other cars, even then it was pretty thrilling and the car was a handful.. I know there's no comparison to competitive racing, before anybody remarks on that.
Yeah, they do Frank. The sanctioning body goes ballistic over this sort of stuff and goes through everything with a fine tooth comb
Drivers are summoned and interviewed, in car camera footage is reviewed extensively, and testimony is called from Marshalls in attendance, Its a BIG deal, especially with insurance underwritten for liability in the event of serious injury and death, there is still a Duty of Care that must be addressed by the organiser and sanction body.
In this case, it caused an extensive review of regulations and start procedure and recommendations to be implemented forthwith, which happened.
Originally Posted by bjm
The info from Wiki is of course incorrect and was not the cause of the accident. Wikipedia is imo useless as a source of accurate info.
Well before you slag off again "Keyboard Princess" - the information posted was verified as correct from multiple sources.
The simple fact is: the accident was caused by Ray Mulacek going for a gap that wasn't there and tapped Jerry Gollnick into the wall;
Three into two doesn't go; even blind Freddie could see that.
The fact is, the information you posted is not fully correct (or correct at all) plain and simple. Plus, there are several other people on CF besides Jerry that were also actually in the race and not just "there" or that heard what happened from a friend who heard it from another that it was such and such that happened and "verified as correct". I can also assure you that no one has watched the videos more than myself and knows exactly what all the factors are that played into the wreck, and it was certainly not just one factor or driver. The video does not tell the entire story.
For a little perspective this is a photo of me on the front row the following year at Road America. After a year of work and learning it came back together.
On the front row, feature race Road America 2006. Thats an AP aluminum L-88 of my buddy Dick Mooney next to me. Finished first in class and third overall. A good day.
From: Middle TN by way of KY, OH, VA, IL, CA, FL, NY, SC, HI
Originally Posted by jerry gollnick
For a little perspective this is a photo of me on the front row the following year at Road America. After a year of work and learning it came back together.
On the front row, feature race Road America 2006. Thats an AP aluminum L-88 of my buddy Dick Mooney next to me. Finished first in class and third overall. A good day.
Looks like the same stretch of track in the OP video? But without anybody diving into non-existent spaces.
Congrats on getting your car back together quickly and your success on track!
