Bad wreck at Road Atlanta - anyone know status?

[RacingmySi]

Anyone know the status of the 2 drivers at Road Atlanta in that bad wreck in the last race?

I was standing at the fence and saw the entire event unfold, very scary. Has anyone heard how the driver is that was life flighted out?

[JeffYoung]

I had a friend down there -- Robert Mitchell -- #28, IT7. Was he involved? Anyone know? Have not been able to get a hold of him.

[Zahniser1970]

The rumor is that the driver of the RX-7 recently had heart surgery and they took him in because of that and that he is stable, like I said, just a rumor as of right now.

[RacingmySi]

Driver of RX-7 was Henderson
Driver of BMW was Burdett

[fasttrs]

I talked to a friend who was at the hospital last night to see Sam(IT7 Driver who was life flighted).
Sam had a few broken ribs and was supposed to be released sometime late Sunday evening.
I'm sure a few more bruises will show in the next couple of days.
Glad he will be OK, Nice guy.

#28 EP

[Greg Amy]

Some updates at:

http://www.roadrace-autox.com/bbs/forums/t...ew.asp?tid=1144

Seems everyone is reasonably OK.

[tom_sprecher]

I had a friend down there -- Robert Mitchell -- #28, IT7. Was he involved? Anyone know? Have not been able to get a hold of him.
[/b]

I met and talked to Robert Saturday night and he said he was only running the SARRC that day so I don't think he was involved in the ProIT wreck. He was not registered for it either.

He seems like a good guy and once I get my IT7 back together will enjoy racing with him. Sounds like VIR is home to him so either there or here.

[lateapex911]

Glad to hear Sam in the IT 7 is beeter than the helicopter would indicate.

Here are a few pictures, more at the link Greg posted.[attachmentid=528]

[JeffYoung]

Thanks Tom. I spoke with Robert a few hours ago and he is fine. His car got Miataed near the end of the Enduro, but is generally ok and he is personally fine.

I know Sam Henderson only from waving at him on the grid and racing with him. A good racer, have had some nice battles with him at Roebling and CMP. I hate that happened and am glad he is ok. I'm surprised by the description of what happened since I've seen Sam on track many times and have always thought he was a safe and fast racer. In any event, I'm glad everyone is ok (or getting there).

Tom, see link above for link to a description of the accident.

[Toni]

Sam Henderson is in Gwinnett Medical Center until at least Tuesday. He's doing as well as can be expected for such a hard hit. Steve Hamption is with him.
The remains of the car were taken back to Greenville last night. The bars and belts did what bars and belts are to do.
Toni Creighton

[Xian]

The bars and belts did what bars and belts are to do.

[/b]

Anyone know if has he wearing an Isaac or Hans?

Christian, who drive past the wreck for a couple of laps behind the pace car and couldn't tell...

[gsbaker]

No one named Sam Henderson on our user list.

[Ron]

I spoke with Tony's wife Janna this morning and he went home from the hospital Sunday evening after being checked out. He is sore everywhere, but not in great pain in any one area.

Ron Sattele

[pgipson]

No one named Sam Henderson on our user list[/b]

Don't know if it's the same guy, but when I was in SE Division 20 yrs ago, there was an ITB Volvo racer named John Henderson. But nobody called him John, everyone called him Sam.

[Harvey]

I don't know of anyone here in the SE that ever drove a ITB Volvo by the name of Henderson. I think that you are probably thinking of Sam Moore. I like all wish Sam Henderson a speedy recovery.

[tlyttle43]

Sam Henderson and John Henderson are the same guy. Most everyone knows him as Sam. He told me he always went by Sam in his short track days and when he used to run this great, honkin' GT1 Camaro. When he started running the Mazda, he decided he would go by John on the entry list. Don't ask me why.

An odd thing that no one has mentioned yet is that Sam's teammate, Brian Dobson, has a very similar accident two or three years ago in almost exactly the same place. Brian was on the second row (an IT7 car in the ITS, ITA, IT7 group, which tells you how fast he is) at the start. He got turned sideways just before Turn 1 and was drilled right in the passenger door by an onrushing ITS RX7. It wasn't quite as bad as this weekend's accident, but it was close. I think the ITS driver had to go to the hospital, but no lasting injuries to my knowledge. The damage to Brian's car was nearly identical to what Sam's received, and it ended up about 100 feet from where Sam's did.

One point I'd like everyone's opinion on. I had a discussion with Sam's crew after the Dobson accident and was told that they built their cages inset by about 3 inches on the passenger side. The logic was that the factory door bars, rocker panel, etc., would be an effective impact absorber/crush space before the impact reached the cage proper. I thought this was somewhat dubious, but after seeing two guys get out of major side impacts with relatively minor injuries, I'm reconsidering. Any thoughts?

[lateapex911]

In a crash, the more you attenuate the actual loads, the better off you are. Without actual testing it's impossible to say what the results would be, and i would think they would be highly dependent on angle, velocity, and the shape of the ntruding object, but the seat of th pants engineer in me thinks that the basic reasoning is sound. My new cars passenger side door bars will intrude into the cavity, but not entirely.

I'd love to read actual test reprts on the subject.

Glad to hear Sams OK. I've followed that car..he's pretty quick.

[instigator]

As an update for those wondering Sam is still in the hospital tonight ,but expects to be able to go home tomorrow. wednesday .He seems to be in good spirts.


Kurt IT7 #00 & #59

[gpbmw]

I was racing with Tony at the time (yellow Bimmerworld #51). Can someone please tell me why Sam decided to dart across the track and into our path while I was chasing Tony into turn 1 at 90+ mph. What was he thinking...? When I saw the car enter the track I started to swing wide...had he delayed a fraction I would have t-bone him instead of Tony. I fully expected to be collected and barely escaped. This was senseless...Where's the logic here...?

I glad both are recovering. Tony is good friend and competitor and was was my first race instructor five years ago.

Gerald E. Potts
www.myriadracing.com
Atlanta, GA.

[dobsontowing]

Sam is still in the hospital at Gwinnett Medical Center with broken ribs and a bruised kidney. He's not sure why they're continuing to keep him other than watching the kidney. Does anyone know how long he was unconscious after the wreck?? There appear to be a couple of corner workers at the scene (from the pics posted) who might be able to answer this question. Thanks for everyone's concern.





Brian Dobson
IT-7 #6