OVR Double Regional at mid-Ohio 9/5 & 9/6 (PDX 9/4)

I was sitting on the hill in the esses for the start of the ITS race, and while looking at the grouping of cars go by on the pace lap, I said to the guys I was with "Wow, I'd NEVER race my ITS car in that group.", just knowing it was going to lead to something bad. ITS cars with GT1, GT2, GT3, AS, T1, STO, ITE, and EP. Fuck. That.
 
Wow, that's a bad one... glad to hear all have survived, if not in great shape... not the way you ever want to end a season... best wishes for a clean, speedy recovery...
 
Wow. Looks like Matt didn't even have time to hit the brakes, since it looks like they never came on. Everyone have H&N restraints on?
 
Kevin,
We walked out to the spot of the crash on Saturday during the party. I left about 8 to 10 feet of skid marks before impact. The video does not show the brake lights, my friend said it has something to do with the GoPro in bright light at different angles. I definitely closed my eyes and hit the brake though. I had a HANS (thank God), I think Dan did also but Dr Aziz did not although he owns one.

matt
 
Kevin, I actually stalled the car by locking up the brakes. I can tell because the pulleys were not moving when the radiator went into them and also the impact sheared off the front oil cooler line and there was no oil in the chassis damage. I pulled the motor tonight and hopefully with a pan change and a fitting or 2 it will be fine.

matt
 
Matt, Hopefully there's no major damage to your engine/drivetrain.

Yes, I was wearing a Defender H&N restraint and had recently installed a right-side net. Both did a great job for me.

Dan
 
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This alone tells me we've come a long way in the past couple of years, WRT safety equipment - a big hit happens, and most everyone's got H+N restraints... whether or not they choose to wear? Not intending to get into a rant about shoulda's - not appropriate IMO when the guy goes to the hospital! Just commending the fact that even us at the low end of the budget spectrum are indeed putting our priorities right...
 
Please guys no rants about shouldas. The hans was misplaced and could not be located by Doc. Would you have gone home on Friday night and NOT raced because you could not find it? New used body shell bought in Charlotte last night and drove an all nighter back to shop. Off to Mark Monday. Jim
 
I was sitting on the hill in the esses for the start of the ITS race, and while looking at the grouping of cars go by on the pace lap, I said to the guys I was with "Wow, I'd NEVER race my ITS car in that group.", just knowing it was going to lead to something bad. ITS cars with GT1, GT2, GT3, AS, T1, STO, ITE, and EP. Fuck. That.

Kevin,
Your exactly right about the grouping it sucks and really should be addressed by OVR. DC Region started to do this again this year an I boycotted all their events due to previous incidents with Big Bore cars. On certain tracks you can get away with it, like Watkins Glen, Road America and Road Atlanta....fast tracks. Hell I got hit again last weekend @ Mid O and last Oct a GT1 knocked me into the tire wall in the carousal, that was over 2K in damage.
 
No offense to any AS racers reading this, but we (ITR and especially ITS) do not race well with regional level AS cars. If McDermid or Sloe were there it would not be an issue because they are so much faster and would be gone. Regional AS cars run very similar lap times as ITS but they do it much differently. They have engine and we have cornering speed, this does not work well. I do not mind the GTs because again they are so much faster it is not a problem.
The last 2 years OVR has not put ITR in the restricted regional with the national because of closing speed difference with ITC, but they put ITS with GT1? This has never made sense to me. I understand the scheduling difficulty with turnouts being lower and the need for enduros and handicaps to pay the bill at Mid Ohio, but would 1 more closed wheel group ruin the timeline?

matt
 
Matt,
I had this exact conversation with Bill Niemyer, whom I just met @ Mid O. Both of our opinion's are were almost exactly as you have stated.
 
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