Conference oass::racers

    I was going to start a note too, since it was in reference to
    "road atlanta", or IMSA or World Sports cars which doesn't have a
    topic... but since you started one...
    
    I guess the hitter (Jeremy Dale?) is in serious or stable condition.
    The hittee, Fabritizio Farboza (boy did I spell his name wrong I'm
    sure) got t-boned.  He was air lifted out to a local hospital and
    was in serious (or critical) condition as of last night.  The local
    media had a field day with the video, since the guy that hit the
    other car had an in car camera and the impact was quite graphic.
    
    My comment on the deal was that the cars seem to be less than "safe".
    I'm not up on the WSC, so I'm not sure if the accident was just a
    bad deal, and/or if the cars fly apart (to shed energy) like that
    regularly, or what.  The footage seemed to show a lot of crap
    coming into the cockit of the race car, almost like the car folded up.
    
    Did IMSA create these cars out of safty or cost?  The prototypes seemed
    to be more structurally sound.  What type of rap does the WSC have?
    Is it common for these cars to fly apart when they wreck?
    
    MadMike
                                                                 

    Re: last

    The hittee was Fabrizio Barbazza, the ex-Indycar and F1 guy.  USA Today
    reported them both in critical condition.  Haven't seen the video yet.
    The race is on ESPN Wednesday, 5/3, at 1 pm EDT.

    To answer Mike's question, the WSC cars don't have a specific
    construction method.  the Riley & Scott Ford Mk. III is a tube-frame
    car with composite skins, while the Ferrari 333SP is a combination of
    composite and aluminum honeycomb construction.  Certainly in these
    types of cars, there is some level of designed in crushability to
    absorb energy, which makes the wrecks look pretty gruesome.  There is a
    point, of course, where the survival cell is subjected to an overload
    and the driver is in trouble.  

    Car-to-car impacts always involve more energy and the potential for
    serious injury is higher than in car-to-wall impacts. Those who saw the
    Villenuve-Tracy-Mashushita wreck at Phoenix last year will remember the
    energies and level of destruction involved.  The other problem with
    car-to-car impacts is the potential for the drivers to be struck by
    protruding items (suspension pieces or whatever) from the other car.

    Was Dale in a WSC car or a GT-1 car?  If the latter, those Porsches are
    993 bodies-in-white with lots of internal bracing.  They probably
    wouldn't stand up to impacts as well as a pure tube-frame car.
    
    George

    To more fully answer Mike's questions in .1:
    
    The GTPs, in the later years, were almost totally composite
    construction.  They were pretty tough, although John Morton took apart
    one of the Nissans big time at Lime Rock in one of the worst accidents
    in memory.  Generally one could take a good hit in a GTP and 
    survive it.  (Tom Kendall also had the big wreck in 90-91 in the
    Intrepid at the Glen.  He was AFU for a long time after that.)
    
    The WSC's were created to address cost considerations and allow
    privateers to be competitive with factory teams.  The original
    design-to-cost objective was a $250K roller.  Of course, along came
    Ferrari with a $1M car (with two engines included) and blew that away. 
    I'd bet a good purpose-built WSC might set you back several hundred
    thousand.
    
    I don't think there is enough experience with WSC wrecks to fully
    understand where the areas of improvement should be.  It's only Year 2
    for the series.  Again, the varying construction methods complicate the
    issue.
    
    George

    Saw in USA Today that Steve Millen fractured his skull at RA.  Anyone
    know how that came about?  (I'm assuming it was in the GT race, where
    he's the lead driver for the Nissan 300ZX V-8.)

    George

    Thanks George.
    
    Dale was driving a WSC.
    Dale is in Serious but stable condition.
    Barbazza is in Critical condition.  Brain swelling, on a ventilator
    and in a coma.  (IMO) not too good.
    
    Team owner (Mr. Ferrari) is HIGHLY CRITICAL of events at Road Atlanta.
    He's pissed because:
    #1. Too many cars on track
    #2. Too many "drivers who don't know what they're doing".
    #3. Road Atlanta meat wagon not up to proper standards.
    
    I saw the accident, and I somewhat agree with Ferrari that there was
    3.5 seconds for Dale to react to the ferrari once it spun out.  From
    the in car camera there's a different perspective.  In car the
    situation unfolds real fast, right in front of the driver.  From the
    track angle, the situation looks different, like there was more time
    to react.  My guess is Dale kept on the gas and guessed where the
    ferrari would end up stopping. He guessed wrong and plowed into it at
    speed.  I wasn't there and I wasn't driving the car so I can't pass
    judgement, but this looks like an unfortunant race accident.  Of
    course, hindsight is 20/20.  Dale *could* have stopped, *could* have 
    went into the grass and drove around....  but he didn't.  That's
    unfortunant, but that's also life. 
    
    MadMike

    Good point, Mike, on looking at it from the driver's perspective.
    It's a lot different than on TV.  :-(
    
    George

    thanks for all the replies.  I've got the VCR programmed for this
    afternoon. Relative to brain swelling, coma, etc. being "not very
    good", no it's not but let's remember Ernie Irvan and Karl Wendlinger
    (?)  Same injuries are both are up and around and racing.
    
    	Barb
    

    From ESPNNet:
    
> Italian driver still unconscious
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> BRASELTON, Ga. -- IMSA driver Fabrizzio Barbazza of Italy remained
> unconscious Tuesday, more than 48 hours after an accident during the
> Grand Prix of Atlanta in which his car was virtually sheared in half
> by another car.
> 
> Barbazza was in critical but stable condition and was on a ventilator
> at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. He had a head
> injury, a fractured right arm and chest bruises, hospital spokeswoman
> Jennifer Lomas said.
> 
> The other driver involved in the crash, Jeremy Dale of Canada,
> remained in intensive care at Georgia Baptist Medical Center in
> Atlanta after surgery for multiple fractures of his lower legs.
> 
> Dale's Porsche crashed into Barbazza's Ferrari, which had spun out and
> was resting sideways on the Road Atlanta track Sunday. Barbazza was
> unconscious at the scene.
> 
> Steve Millen of Newport Beach, Calif., who was injured in another
> accident during the race, was in intensive care at Northeast Georgia
> Medical Center with a broken vertebra in his neck and a skull
> fracture. He was listed in serious condition.
> 
> Millen's Nissan collided with the Ferrari of Freddy Lienhard, who was
> unhurt. Joe Cogbill of Atlanta and Ray Hendricks of Watchung, N.J.,
> also were involved in the crash. Both were treated at the track
> medical center.
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ESPNET SportsZone |
> 
> Send comments about ESPNET SportsZone to:
> espnet.sportszone@starwave.com
> Copyright ) 1995 Starwave Corporation. All rights reserved. 
> 

     I was at the end of the pit straight when the incident occurred, and
    could'nt see the actual impact because the two cars that created the
    situation had stirred up a big dust storm. Then out of the dust came
    the Olds Spice driven by Jeremy Dale pushing the Ferrari driven by
    Fabrizio Barbazza down the straight. The Ferrari broke in half and
    the front went into the grass to the inside of the track and the
    engine/rear-end came to rest in the middle of the track. The Spice
    rolled on a few hundred feet into the grass with massive front end
    damage. I walked around to the inside of the straight over to the area
    where the Spice came to rest. It took at least fifteen minutes to
    extract Dale from the wreakage. They placed him in one of the ambulances
    until the LifeSaver helicopter air-lifted him to Atlanta. They got
    Barbazza out of his car much faster. There appeared to be less damage
    to the side of the Ferrari where Dale t-boned it, but it was on the
    driver's side. After watching the incident on tape today, it was a
    miracle that they both were'nt killed instantly.
    
    The incident was brought about by a couple of cars that had spun into
    the tire wall coming out of the right-hander that leads to the pit
    straight. Barbazza was coming around the curve just behind them, and
    had to let off in mid-corner creating his spin. The Ferrari then rolled
    backwards and towards the outside of the track. Dale then came around 
    the corner and probably focused on the two cars plowing through the
    tire wall on the outside of the track. The two cars were strowing debris
    back out onto the track and Dale swerved to the right to miss the two
    cars. Unfortunately, Dale swerved right into the Ferrari which he
    probably did not see until much too late and with no where else to go.
    If you saw the tape of the in-car camera you could see that Dale was
    going very fast at impact as he was coming off the down-hill run from
    under the bridge and did'nt get on the brakes until he was about fifty
    feet or so from the Ferrari. It was a very frightening experince to
    have seen this in person. I prayed silenty for all involved as the
    medical teams worked to attend to the drivers. 
    
    The  race was red-flagged for about an hour and a half, the restarted. I
    moved around the track a bit to get some photos and eventually ended up
    on the back straight before the downhill esses leading up to the bridge.
    A couple of laps later the Nissan driven by Millen and the LISTA Ferrari
    333SP driven, I think, by Didier Theys got together at the end of the 
    straight setting up for the right-hander leading to the down-hill esses.
    The Nissan slid hard into the guard-rail and most of the front body
    work end up over the fence. I was standing against the fence about 200
    feet away and saw spectators scrambling from the flying debris. I ran
    down to the area and saw several stunned people and one guy laying of
     the ground with injuries to both arms and abdomen. Their was also a
    young boy possibly three of four years old crying with some minor cuts
    on his cheeks. I then noticed a wheel/tire/partial front suspension 
    laying on the ground a few feet away. The wheel/tire had come over the 
    fence at a tremendous rate of speed and glanced off the front of a
    small flat-bed truck parked parallel to the fence, then on about fifty
    feet into the passenger side door of another truck where the above
    mentioned boy was sitting. It was another miracle that more people were
    not involved. The wheel/tire would have killed someone had it hit them.
    The downed man was seriously injured, but it didn't look life-threatening.
    The small boy appeared to be physically ok aside from a few facial
    scratches from the shattered truck window but was emotionally shaken
    up pretty bad. The ESPN broadcaster said that the injured man had a 
    broken arm. Steve Millen was taken off by ambulance. I can only assume
    Didier was not seriously injured.
    
    The race was pre-maturely ended as the clock was down to only a few
    minutes and there were lots of emergency vehicles on the track. There
    was some exciting racing though the actual racing only amounted to  a
    little over an hour out of the three hours timed. 
    
    It was not good day at Road Atlanta. I was reminded of a year ago
    almost to the day of the tragic events at Imola and hoping that as
    I watched the San Marino GP later that evening on tape that things
    had gone well there (I also bought a Senna t-shirt in rememberance
    after the race). I fought through the one hundred thousand or so
    cars leaving the Talledega race on the way home half wishing I had
    stopped off there instead. I pray for a speedy recovery for all those
    injured.
    
    CERASO

    The footage from Dale's in-car camera was chilling.  I agree, it is
    amazing that no one was killed.  Once you saw the whole sequence,
    including Dale's very fast passage through the corner, you could see
    that he would have been preoccupied with (a) getting through he corner
    and (b) missing the accident on his left.  It must have scared the hell
    out of him to see the yellow Ferrari suddenly appear dead ahead. 
    Jeremy's head hit the dashboard while he was *fully belted in*, so the
    energies involved were enormous.  

    They were also lucky that the Ferrari's fuel cell wasn't punctured. 
    Could you imagine having to deal with a fire amidst all that carnage?

    The Millen accident didn't look like a walk in the park either.  One
    wonders if some of the debris came in through the side window and
    caused his head and neck injuries.  From the blimp shot, you could see
    a man laying on the ground right near a black van on the access road.
    As mentioned by the last noter, a flying wheel can do a significant
    amount of damage, especially among spectators out in the open.

    Does anyone know if any of the drivers involved used Jim Downing's
    HANS head and neck support system?
    
    This morning's USA Today reports that Barbazza is out of the coma, and
    Millen is scheduled to go home at the end of the week.  (He had a
    broken vertebra as well as the fractUred skull.)  Both Dale and
    Barbazza are on respirators.  Generally good news, although they all
    have extensive periods of recovery ahead.

    George

Did they use the chicane at the start of the back straight for this race?  That
was supposed to cut down the top speed coming into the dip before the bridge
turn.

Dale would have been pretty busy coming down after the bridge.  Doing anything
dramatic at that point will surely upset the car and send it spinning to the
outside.

Dave

    Dave,
    
    I'm not very familiar with RA, but it did look like there was a chicane
    and it was unused for the race.
    
    George

    I haven't finished seeing the whole race, but I did get to the two
    major crashes. Jeremy didn't have much time to react, but after seeing
    the tape, it _appears_ he did have time to make a movement in the
    steering wheel one way or the other. Although I doubt if it would have
    changed the outcome.
    
    jim
    

    Haven't been out to Road Atlanta since I last worked a race, but
    the track has always made for interesting racing.  We never had
    to deal with anything this serious; most serious injury I ever
    saw occurred during a bike event.
    
    While working turn 4 during a Can-Am race years ago I had to
    dodge a flying tire after Emerson Fittipaldi smacked the bank
    (wall) below me.  The dirt banks might look innocent to some,
    but our Georgia red clay makes wonderful bricks.  We used to spend
    more time hauling cars out of the woods inside the tracks; drivers
    definitely preferred that to smacking the dirt.
    
    Most of the best spots for spectators used to be at least 5-6" 
    above the track; are they allowing the fans to get closer?  Emo's
    tire went over my head, but it fell inside the fence and didn't
    get near a spectator.
    
    Did I understand correctly that there wasn't a chopper present
    when the crash occurred?  Reason I ask, is we always used to have
    one parked next to the track hospital for most races.  At the time
    I was active in SCCA Can-Am was the biggest event; but we had the
    chopper for all but the smallest of club sponsored events.
    
    I'm not sure why folks are blaming RA for the crash though.  Having
    mixed series cars on the track at the same time has always been a
    problem and not just for RA.  Saw same thing happen at Riverside
    and that course is as flat as they get.
    
     

     
    The chicane was not in use.
    
    The side left front side of the Millen Nissan was pretty thoroughly
    trashed and the driver's area was fully exposed on the side. Could'nt
    tell what, if anything hit Millen during the crash, but a good guess
    would be the impact into the guard rail as it was on the driver's side.
    I should have my photos back in a few days and maybe able to get a
    little more insight. The man laying down on the side of the track over
    the fence was the spectator I mentioned earlier.
    
    There was not medical evac chopper on site. It took what seemed like an
    amazingly long time for the LifeSaver to arrive from Atlanta. 
    
    CERASO
    

    -1
    
    No chopper, that is truely sad for a track that has been struggling
    to attract additional racing events.
    
    Mr. Penske may have dropped a few pennies to guarantee it, but we
    even had the chopper when Mark Donohue was doing tire tests one
    year.  It was a good thing too; the spoiler came off the Can-Am
    car on the back straight.  The car and Donohue went airborne; we
    didn't have many SCCA club members working, but we called for the
    chopper.  It landed on the track near the accident; because MD
    had an obvious leg fracture it decided to transport him to Piedmont
    Hospital.  He was in surgery less than an hour after the accident.
    
    Road Atlanta has certainly struggled through the years with so many
    owners etc.  I saw the TV ads for the race and thought things must
    be looking up; but if the track can't provide a chopper today when
    it was SOP almost 20 years ago, then I have to question how serious
    the commitment is to keep this track going.
    
    In almost 10 years of working racing at RA, we had some exciting
    times when weather would send cars floating off the track and workers
    rushing to get back behind the guard rails.  Lots of incidents, but
    I never saw anything to match the TV clips I saw of last weekend's
    race.