Chris Albin injured at HPT

[brprok81]

Chris was injured in an accident in his HP car in Monday's race. He apparently had a left front wheel bearing fail which caused him to go straight off at turn 3, impacting the concrete wall at a high rate of speed. Chris was alert when the safety crew arrived but complaining of neck pain. The latest info I got was that he cracked the C2 vertabrae. He will be in the hospital for a couple of days, but he should make a full recovery. Please keep Chris in your thoughts. Get well soon Chris!

[shwah]

Wow. That is sobering news. Glad to hear that he is expecting a full recovery.

Get well soon Chris.

[924Guy]

Oh dear...

Best wishes Chris, we'll be thinkin' about ya...

[Greg Amy]

Ugh. I hate to hear about stuff like this.

Curiosity asks: Head restraint? If so, which one? What kind of seat/restraints? - GA

[gsbaker]

Hang in there, Chris! We're all pulling for you.

[lateapex911]

Sorry it's ANY injury, but glad it's not worse. I cross posted this on the ITAC site as well. Get better quick Chris, IT needs you back at the CRB table!

[R2 Racing]

I wonder if he needed a fusion. I got one back in '01 when I broke my C7 vertebrae during a roll over at Nelson Ledges. Four days in the hospital, three months in a neck brace, one titanium plate, and four screws. Couldn't race for a year after that, and it took two years before everything started feeling normal again. But, everything turned out just fine; I have no lingering problems with it at all. It's pretty amazing what they can do nowadays with injuries like this. Unfortunately that was my way of learning the hard way to take your safety gear seriously. Now my stuffs about a million times better.

I wish him luck on his recovery.

[shwah]

He was wearing a HANS. Vertabrae is cracked, no fusing required.

Broke a kneecap also.

Doctors say he is fine, but they saw something funny in his heartbeat, so they want to do a few more tests - likely not related the 'crashing his brains out' as he put it. Should be going home tomorrow.

[gsbaker]

Is there any crash data? Approximate speed, approximate angle of impact, etc?

For all the safety mandates these days, I wish very simple mechanical crash recorders were mandated. You could build one for $50.

[IPRESS]

WOW, you don't expect to hear this. Chris is probably the top wheel in MWDIV. Just goes to show anything can happen.
Get well quick FastGuy!

[tnord]

take it easy chris, we're all thinking of you.

[RSTPerformance]

Get well soon, I hope your recovery is as fast as you are on the track!!!

Raymond and the rest of the RST gang :)

[OTLimit]

Thanks for everyone's good wishes. Chris is in much better spirits tonight. The neurosurgeon came by before 8am this morning and told him that he would get a new collar (which he now has) to wear for 12 weeks. Along with follow-up x-rays, he believes that the C2 fracture will heal as long as Chris takes care of himself. The leg is actually going to be a bigger deal. He fractured the kneecap in a couple of places, so his whole left leg is immobilized in a splint which will have to stay on for a yet to be determined amount of time. He has various bruises and muscle strains, but those are to be expected. They had him up and walking with crutches this afternoon, and he is going to try to take a shower tonight (finally). We do not know how long he will be off work because we don't know who well he is going to be able to drive, even an automatic.
The cardiologist has ordered a medical (medicine?) stress test.....no exercise, just making the heart think it is working....just to make sure that the heart was not hurt/bruised in the incident. This will be done in the morning, and he will probably be released after that.
He will not be racing at the Runoffs or at the ARRC. The car is a write-off. We will post pictures as soon as we get a chance.
We would like to thank everyone for their visits, calls, emails, and posts today. They mean a lot to us. We think he is going home tomorrow, so at least he will be able to rest at home.
Thanks again.

[mustanghammer]

Thanks for the update Lesley. Chris has been in our thoughts and conversations all day.

[Sandro]

Wow ! ! was just talking to Gary of 247 parts on Sunday about Chris running at the runoffs.

Hope he has a speedy recovery and all goes well !

[planet6racing]

Get well soon, Chris!

[JamesB]

Glad to hear he is ok. Recaps I got through some flaggers was it was a hard hit and a the car bent quite a bit.

[gsbaker]

Glad to hear the neck fracture is about as trivial as those things can be, and that surgery can be avoided. Hang in there, Chris!

[IPRESS]

Everybody CHECK your WHEELS. I had that same thing happen to me in the Enduro at ARRC two years ago. I kept saying over the radio that the car didn't want to turn left and finally in T5.... straight into the tire / cement wall. The gravel trap probably saved me some pain, but the hit was still pretty hard. Nothing like what Chris probably had. Those bearings can cause you problems.

[Yellowhammer]

Get well soon Chris! glad you are ok...

[masterracer13]

Chris,

best wishes for a speedy recovery from the guys here at stlvw. Hope all goes as well as can be expected.

Sorry to hear about the incident.

Marty Montagno

[BlueStreak]

Hope your recovery is as painless as possible! Get well soon, we're all keeping you in our prayers.

[m glassburner]

Wow !!:( Get well soon !!! ....mike glassburner

[SLUF]

Here's hoping for a speedy recvovery for the finest FWD driver in North America! Get back on track soon oh Master!

[OTLimit]

Chris is at home in his own bed tonight. It was a long drive (at least it seemed that way). Who would have thought that we would have to drive through a hurricane all through the middle of Missouri?

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We see our primary care doctor tomorrow to get things rolling, and have referrals to see specialists.

[gsbaker]

Is there any crash data? Approximate speed, approximate angle of impact, etc?

For all the safety mandates these days, I wish very simple mechanical crash recorders were mandated. You could build one for $50.
Anyone?

[fixrim]

Terrible to hear this sort of news, glad that everything is okay (sort of). I truly hope Chris has a full, fast recovery. I have to say it plain SUCKS not to see him at the ARRC this year. I hope he reconsiders and comes down to party with us at the least. He's most of the reason I go!

Most of you haven't known Chris as long as I have. In my business, and with racing, I know literally hundreds of people, and Chris is a very rare breed of person. Without question one of the most high quality people I have ever known. I have been lucky to race with such a great guy.

Chris was the one who told me one time "Most people think of a track as the paved surface, but it's not! It's all the area outside the paved part too, and that can be used as the racing surface when you need to!"

He demonstrated this by pulling an outside pass in turn one at Hallett, on the exit. At the time I didnt know him, so he went out into the dirt, and I expected him to lift and tuck in behind. He didn't do that, instead, kept his foot in it, and was running beside me, him on dirt and bumps, car jumping in the air, and me on smooth pavement. No one has ever attempted such a thing since. He came over to me later and explained simply that he didn't know me and wanted to find out if I could be passed in that way. Since that day, I have always admired and respected Chris. A real racer's racer.

Simply stated, Chris is no candy ass so I am sure he will be defying doctors and doing things he shouldn't real soon!

[Gary L]

Simply stated, Chris is no candy ass so I am sure he will be defying doctors and doing things he shouldn't real soon!

Well said... :happy204:

I always look forward to racing with Chris, he has to be considered THE benchmark in ITB around these parts (and others).

[Tom Donnelly]

Chris,
Get well soon.
Tom

[Bildon]

Chris,
Very sorry to read this :(
Get well soon. We need your caliber of driving behind the VW wheel !
:eclipsee_steering:


MID-AM DRIVER OF THE YEAR
The Mid-Am Driver of the Year is the driver who accumulates the highest points total of all drivers competing in the Mid-Am Championship.


2006 Chris Albin SIll Volkswagen Golf (ITB
2005 Loren Moore OzMt Corvette & Viper (ITE)
2004 Chris Albin SIll Volkswagen Golf (ITB
2003 Chris Albin SIll Volkswagen Golf (ITB
2002 Chris Albin SIll Volkswagen Golf (ITB
2001 Chris Albin SIll Volkswagen Golf (ITB
2000 Chris Albin StL Volkswagen Golf (ITB
1999 Chris Albin StL Volkswagen Golf (ITB
1998 Chris Albin StL Volkswagen Golf (ITB
1997 Dustin Hodges StL Caracal C (FV)
1996 Chris Albin StL Volkswagen GTI (ITB
1995 Chris Albin StL Volkswagen GTI (ITB

PS - Keep those hub nuts tight guys (very tight and use a high temp synth grease!)

[m glassburner]

Any updates ??:shrug:

[Sandro]

From the prod forum:

I just got back from Chris' house. He is doing great, other than busted knee and broken neck. He's in good spirits and thanks everyone for their well wishes. We went out to look at the car,it's the first time he got to look at it. Looks like the left front wheel bearing gave up and cooked the CV joint causing it to seize and straighten the steering wheel up in the turn. The chasis is DONE. The engine and gearbox seem to be ok. The cage seems to have done it's job well. Right side wheelbase is about a foot shorter and big wrinkles in the roof and floor. He now has a one foot riser on his Lazy-boy, kinda like a throne now. He also has some new racecar coloring books and Lego car kits so he can stay active in racing. Great to see he is home and safe.
Chuck Mathis

[m glassburner]

Any new updates ?? Any chance you will come out to the track this weekend ?:cool:

[lateapex911]

Rumour has it that he's been spotted at certain events, just not driving.

[shwah]

Chris was at the runoffs, and should be at Gateway this weekend. Patrick will be running at least one of his cars.

[BruceG]

Great news, Lesley. The most important thing is Chris's complete recovery. All the rest of the data can be reviewed later. It's a nightmare for us all, as I'm sure his car was very well prepped. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Bruce

[mattbatson4570]

So, if he was wearing a Hans device, I guess you could assume his neck/spine injuries would have been much worse without one...

I've thought about getting one, but am a racer on a budget. Plus I always figured it could never happen to me:rolleyes:

So, I assume the knee bar of the cage was crumpled in? Or did his seat shift forward? Just curious with regards to the knee injuries.
I know we have padding on that bar, but I guess with enough force it wouldnt matter?

[924Guy]

Chris was at the runoffs, and should be at Gateway this weekend. Patrick will be running at least one of his cars.

Good to hear... best wishes again...

[shwah]

Knee bar and seat were intact, but when Chris was able to climb back in the car recently, he belted in and had a hard time figuring out what he hit his knee on. When he tried to slump/submarine down as far as possible he was able to get the knee within a few inches of the knee bar. Add belt stretch and that is probably what happened.

Definitely has me re-thinking my similar cage, and at minimum adding SFI padding to that area.

[CDS]

Best wishes Chris, get better soon! Memphis Motorsports Park won't seem the same without you lapping me. :D