Big Turnout for Turkey this weekend

[raceit]

Sudden heavy downpour, made the front straight like ice. THe first car, #85 ITA slid head on into the tire wall, became buried in the tires. The second car, #44 ITA, also slide head on into the tire wall, came to rest just to the right of the first car. All was well, until the third car, ITA #121 lost control and slammed straight into the back of the 85 car. Fire trucks and ambulances were responding to the scene, when #27 ITS started to slide, came close to the ambulance and tagged the tire wall, this car was not badly damaged and drove away from the scene. The fire started immediately after 121 hit 85, believe the fuel cell/tank??? possibly ruptured. There was nothing but a shell left of the 85 car. 44 and 121 sustained heavy damage from the impact, but may be repairable.

All drivers were OK, although we believe one suffered from minor smoke inhalation. Due to the extreme heat of the fire, the concrete walls actually caught fire and started to blow apart. It took over an hour to get the fire under control. Sebring staff indicated it would take a few days to replace the damaged wall, fencing and tires. Subsequently, all remaining sessions were cancelled.

[mattbatson4570]

Holy cow!
That means groups 4 thru 7 never got to race even once (there were two races scheduled that weekend for each group)!?
Sat. was practice and qualifying for all groups, and then group 1 (my group of ITB, ITC, GTL, etc) and group 2 had time for their first race before end of day.
So, group 3 race would have been the first race of the day!

Unless this was the second Group 3 race?

goodness I hope so, or there would be some angry racers

I went home sat. so missed the accident...

[dickita15]

Holy cow is right. Do you know what kind of car the 85 was that was the one that apparently burned.

[Mazmarc63]

Sudden heavy downpour, made the front straight like ice. THe first car, #85 ITA slid head on into the tire wall, became buried in the tires. The second car, #44 ITA, also slide head on into the tire wall, came to rest just to the right of the first car. All was well, until the third car, ITA #121 lost control and slammed straight into the back of the 85 car. Fire trucks and ambulances were responding to the scene, when #27 ITS started to slide, came close to the ambulance and tagged the tire wall, this car was not badly damaged and drove away from the scene. The fire started immediately after 121 hit 85, believe the fuel cell/tank??? possibly ruptured. There was nothing but a shell left of the 85 car. 44 and 121 sustained heavy damage from the impact, but may be repairable.

All drivers were OK, although we believe one suffered from minor smoke inhalation. Due to the extreme heat of the fire, the concrete walls actually caught fire and started to blow apart. It took over an hour to get the fire under control. Sebring staff indicated it would take a few days to replace the damaged wall, fencing and tires. Subsequently, all remaining sessions were cancelled.

Raceit has it right. The race was a multitude of conditions. Dry from T5 to T14 but damp at first in T15, T16, T1 and T3. A dry line began to appear and all was good. I was running 2nd in ITS 4th OA when it started to rain again. I backed way off and let Paul Ronie (#44 ITA Integra) and John Jackson (#85 ITA BMW 325E) go by. They were having a great race and I wasn't interested in throwing it off the track to stay in front of them. It began to dump buckets at T13. The whiteout down the backstraight was insane. The front stretch was worse. I lifted across the paint (start finish) and got back on it. Just then our crew (thanks again Julia) got on the radio that there was a huge crash in T1. I lifted and touched the brakes. Nothing. ZERO grip!! Again...nothing. I started to try to turn left but the car kept going straight. I was heading toward the cars in the wall and somehow I got enough grip to move the car left. It swapped ends and I locked up. I barely nudged the wall (no damage), grabbed a gear and drove off. As I turned toward T3, I saw Wayne Yetto (#121 ITA Nissan Sentra) go straight in at a high rate of speed. He contacted the BMW in the rear and the car exploded. There was a 30 ft ball of flame. Then Steve Goldin (#29 ITS Mazda Rx-7) lost control under braking at the bridge and slid into it all. It was an immediate red flag. The tire wall was on fire and seemingly out of control. It burned for at least an hour in a driving rain before it was under control.

How no one, including the corner workers and fire personal were not injured is a miracle. I saw Pauls car afterwards. It's pretty bad. LF pushed back, right side crushed from the fender to the back of the door.

It is unfortunate that we had such a terrible incident to end an otherwise fantastic weekend of racing.

I am just glad everyone is okay.

[JeffYoung]

Holy crap. Glad everyone is ok. Marc, thanks for the writeup. Good reminder to all of us about what can happen, even in "just" an IT race.

[mattbatson4570]

Raceit has it right. The race was a multitude of conditions. Dry from T5 to T14 but damp at first in T15, T16, T1 and T3. A dry line began to appear and all was good. I was running 2nd in ITS 4th OA when it started to rain again. I backed way off and let Paul Ronie (#44 ITA Integra) and John Jackson (#85 ITA BMW 325E) go by. They were having a great race and I wasn't interested in throwing it off the track to stay in front of them. It began to dump buckets at T13. The whiteout down the backstraight was insane. The front stretch was worse. I lifted across the paint (start finish) and got back on it. Just then our crew (thanks again Julia) got on the radio that there was a huge crash in T1. I lifted and touched the brakes. Nothing. ZERO grip!! Again...nothing. I started to try to turn left but the car kept going straight. I was heading toward the cars in the wall and somehow I got enough grip to move the car left. It swapped ends and I locked up. I barely nudged the wall (no damage), grabbed a gear and drove off. As I turned toward T3, I saw Wayne Yetto (#121 ITA Nissan Sentra) go straight in at a high rate of speed. He contacted the BMW in the rear and the car exploded. There was a 30 ft ball of flame. Then Steve Goldin (#29 ITS Mazda Rx-7) lost control under braking at the bridge and slid into it all. It was an immediate red flag. The tire wall was on fire and seemingly out of control. It burned for at least an hour in a driving rain before it was under control.

How no one, including the corner workers and fire personal were not injured is a miracle. I saw Pauls car afterwards. It's pretty bad. LF pushed back, right side crushed from the fender to the back of the door.

It is unfortunate that we had such a terrible incident to end an otherwise fantastic weekend of racing.

I am just glad everyone is okay.

my god, I've never heard anything like that. I guess it is the concrete...
If this is a known condition at sebring (it was my first time there), then why wouldnt they black flag the race as soon as the front straight got wet?
Thank goodness everyone got out safe.

[Knestis]

>> Caused by sudden, heavy downpour.

It was pre-YouTube but a similar - but even more horrific - thing happened in the GT1 race at the RubOffs (Rd Atl), back in the late '70s or early '80s(?). They actually caught the woods on fire.

K

[Monkeywrench]

>> Caused by sudden, heavy downpour.

It was pre-YouTube but a similar - but even more horrific - thing happened in the GT1 race at the RubOffs (Rd Atl), back in the late '70s or early '80s(?). They actually caught the woods on fire. K

Everything is on youtube.. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlNlODBzeo[/ame]

Glad to hear everyone made it out okay.

[Knestis]

Everything is on youtube.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlNlODBzeo

Glad to hear everyone made it out okay.

EDIT - Ooops. That was it. It stuck and I missed the middle piece when I clicked on it the first time.

K

[lateapex911]

I think that video is it Kirk, but it's not exactly Speedtv quality. lots of fire in the woods though, and yea, there were at least 5 cars piling into the rest in that video.

It must suck to have to take that BMW home. sheeesh.

I have a question. That's a huge field..EIGHT ITR cars?? 34 ITA cars? Where were all those guys in Atlanta? I don't recognize any of the names from the ARRCs. Why don't they attend? It's not THAT far of a tow, is it? (Mines 16 or so hours)

[Richy Gonzalez]

It's really a shame that we had so many racecars lost/damage this past weekend but I'm glad everyone was okay. I even spoke with Ronnie after the crash and he said that he was hurting a little but other than that, he was fine.

Unfortunately, I lost a tranny during Saturday's practice. Drove home to pick up a spare tranny. Drove back and we had it in car by Saturday's race. I started last, 65th, but had a really good time coming up thru the pack. Same was for Sunday. Car really felt good and kept my head cool even during the rain. I really have to thank the guys that help take the tranny out and put back in.

Jason, Chip, Dave, Scott, Andrew and I'm forgetting one more, but thanks for making my weekend a good one!

[Mazmarc63]

Hee hee hee Matt, you have alot to learn about Sebring. Admittedly, there was less grip (none) it T1 than I can ever remember. My buddy Elliott thought there was more than just water on the track. Not sure though. If I touched the brakes, the car accelerated.I was fortunate to find a small amount of grip and steer away.

Hey Racit, were you working T1??

[waynehussey]

Hey Guys - Saturday was great, had lots of fun on the track and the weather was wonderful. However, I was a little disappointed on Sunday that we did not push through the lunch break and get a few more races in before the rain started, and then take a lunch break once the track was wet. I actually was having car trouble on Sunday and waived quite a few cars by on the warm up lap. By the time I got to turn 5, there were 3 first gen RX7s tangled up off to the right of the track. I ended up coming off by lap 3 with car trouble and saw the accidents in turn 1 from my trailer. I am just glad that everyone is okay, because it looked REALLY BAD once the BMW caught on fire.

Here is a pic of the fire and of the BMW once they brought it back to the paddock.

[flaboy]

Does anyone know how the drivers are doing that were involved in the turn 17 accident??Group 1 looked like Mike Horn's itb mustang was upside down with another car.This was during sundays race.

[Mazmarc63]

Does anyone know how the drivers are doing that were involved in the turn 17 accident??Group 1 looked like Mike Horn's itb mustang was upside down with another car.This was during sundays race.

Tim, I don't know about Mike or anybody else involved in that incident. I saw two ambulances heading that way. The story was that Mike's car lost the left rear wheel into T17 and contacted the wall hard enough to launch the car on its nose and then over on its roof. If you looked at it on the trailer, its gone. I didn't notice Mike in the group of people standing around, but I believe he wasn't seriously hurt.

What a weekend.

Did you see the T1 mess from your camp? You must have had quite a view.

[flaboy]

Mark i wish we did we left right after my race so i was about 1:15 or so...We wanted to beat the storm home since we would be driving in it all the way home.

[John Jackson]

Marc has most of the story correct. I have a few corrections though. Paul had gotten back around me and was leading again. I lost track but I think we traded the lead 6 times up until that point. When we approached Bishop Bend the rain got heavier. Down the back straight it was coming down. Coming out of 17 it was not too bad. Paul had pulled a gap coming out of 17. When I got to the start/finish I still had grip. I noticed Pauls brake lights flashing. I let of the gas and total silence. None of my wheels still touched pavement. I tried to feed just enough left input to miss Paul who was now in the tire wall. I slammed in just to his left. After telling my crew that our amazing race was over. WAM!!! I was hit from behind. I was hit so hard that the rear bumper was pushed to the back seat. This exploded the ATL bladder and crushed the battery. I was instantly on fire. The rest is charcoal...

[Mazmarc63]

Marc has most of the story correct. I have a few corrections though. Paul had gotten back around me and was leading again. I lost track but I think we traded the lead 6 times up until that point. When we approached Bishop Bend the rain got heavier. Down the back straight it was coming down. Coming out of 17 it was not too bad. Paul had pulled a gap coming out of 17. When I got to the start/finish I still had grip. I noticed Pauls brake lights flashing. I let of the gas and total silence. None of my wheels still touched pavement. I tried to feed just enough left input to miss Paul who was now in the tire wall. I slammed in just to his left. After telling my crew that our amazing race was over. WAM!!! I was hit from behind. I was hit so hard that the rear bumper was pushed to the back seat. This exploded the ATL bladder and crushed the battery. I was instantly on fire. The rest is charcoal...

John, I am so glad you and everyone else involved were uninjured. How the hell did you and Wayne escape getting burned?

[titanium]

Here is a short video of the fire taken from my motor home
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ksuCDniMfY[/ame]

[Duc]

Wow, glad everyone was alright. After watching that Road Atlanta video's my wife said, there is no way I can run there .

Thank goodness we have great workers now, and better equipment.

Here is some pics of the beginning of Saturdays race:





The carnage from that race was pretty rough. But again I am glad that everyone is alright.

D