What's the problem at TMS?

[Bugeater]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

Interesting note: Don painted the General HIMSELF. I think thats pretty cool. (He is not in the trade)

Its a sweet looking car in person too...

 

[Janni]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

Good morning. Ed's post was spot on.

The weather was a major contributing factor in the problems at TMS. There was very little track time on Saturday and none on Friday.

At this time, the Viper Racing League does not run in the rain, so we were shuffling things around to try to get in at least one decent practive, qualifying and race.

Sunday AM, there was an 8 AM practice, then qualifying was at 10. Henry went out and on lap three got the back end loose from a puddle near the rumble strips. It came around and he spun into the tire wall. The hit lifted the back end of the car and turned it over on its roof.

The safety equipment worked. His carbon fiber seat has been reworked with extra high density padding, so he's pretty wedged in there. The TeamTeach harnesses were very tight and held him without any movement. The helmet harness held his head firmly. The shutoff switches killed ALL power. The fuel cell rollover cutoff worked and there was absolutely not a drop of fuel spilled.

He was able to talk to me after the accident and tell me he was "Alright, but upside down in the wall". Then, he killed the power.

The emergency crew was prompt and professional with the one exception of the obsession over confiscating all the video images of the wreck. They worked with Henry to get him out of there quickly without opening the belts and dropping him on his head. I got over there fairly quickly, but couldn't get the gate open - so after waiting as long as I could - I hopped the fence. There was the only injury - I am bruised from the fence....

Henry is still fine - absolutely no residual pain or bruising. I am very happy he was in such a well built and safe car. He'll be back in the VRL next season without reservation.

I continued to crew chief for Don McDaniel in the General Lee, as I have done all year.

OT Challenge was correct about the Foster / McCann incident - it was a racing incident. Foster's car took the impact and Rob was unscathed. Mike's car received only a broken rear upright, I think.

The track is safe, but there were just basically racing incidents as folks were learning the limits of grip on a track that was less than ideal. I don't believe that ANY of the incidents were contributed to the oval, but mostly the proximity of the infield course to a barrier.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

THANKS for the update, Janni...you KNOW that we were worried about Henry, and (to a much lesser extent) the Viper. See Ya next year !!!

 

[DonMc]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

general lee here,
i own the dukes viper, as ed said the track was very cold and damp and of course we currently don't run rain tires...the comp coupe hoosiers take even longer than dot's to come in, i really liked the track considering it was a road course in a bowl, if we would have had some good weather i believe there would have been much less carnage...it was my first time to run a banked oval and while it was a little scary at first it was a blast...fortunately i escaped with no incidents...i would gladly go back to the track and run it in better weather...and no, unfortunately, i can't slide across the hood or jump thru the window but its fun imagining that i could!!!! pictureman, i missed ya after the race to look at the pictures, i will get in touch to see what ya got. the pics above look great!!

 

[GTS Dean]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

The emergency crew was prompt and professional with the one exception of the obsession over confiscating all the video images of the wreck. They worked with Henry to get him out of there quickly without opening the belts and dropping him on his head.

Perhaps it has something to do with insurance in the aftermath of Kenny Brack's IRL crash last month.

 

[Janni]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

Dean - not sure of the reasoning, but I was a tad annoyed that my husband was hanging upside down in a racecar and one safety person was yelling at folks to stop taking pictures and even going so far as to go over to them and either 1) confiscate the video card or 2) stand over them while they erased pictures.

The memory card from our video camera was taken, as well.

Again, that was my only issue - removing Henry from the car was my first priority.

 

[Pictureman]

Re: What\'s the problem at TMS?

Janni
For the people that erased their images I have software that will bring them back. When you format the disk or erase the pictures it really doesn't remove them it just tells your camera or computer that they aren't there.
I think they have that policy because some people taking pictures don't care about the racers or families so when someone gets hurt they take and publish pictures for their own gain. I guess they could also be used in a lawsuit against the track, that's happened with some of mine in the past. My experience is that the racers really want the crash pictures since they always ask for them after they recouperate. One of my friends got cut out of his car and was laying on a stretcher getting put into the ambulance and he asked me if I got any pictures of that.
Don I didn't have much time to show very many people the pictures I took so if you email me your address i'll send you a CD with a slideshow of all the pictures of your car, then you can order prints if you want. Same with the other drivers/owners. [email protected]
Tim Galyean