Pruett bisects car in Grand Am practice crash [Archive]

Accipiter

08-29-08, 02:14 PM

cameraman

08-29-08, 02:21 PM

He is fine (lucky too) and they will be racing this weekend using the car that they ran at the 24 hours of Daytona.

extramundane

08-29-08, 03:30 PM

I'm glad he's OK, but doesn't every other professional series in the world automatically sit a driver who gets knocked unconscious during a race weekend?

miatanut

08-29-08, 03:39 PM

I'm glad he's OK, but doesn't every other professional series in the world automatically sit a driver who gets knocked unconscious during a race weekend?

That's what I was thinking, too.

pchall

08-29-08, 04:27 PM

I'm glad he's OK, but doesn't every other professional series in the world automatically sit a driver who gets knocked unconscious during a race weekend?

That's a really bad decision by Grand Am.

oddlycalm

08-29-08, 05:05 PM

Glad he's OK so far. After Mark Donohue's passing I have been of the opinion that a 24hr period of observation is best when drivers get their bell rung. I know CT and MRI technology takes a lot of the guesswork out, we've seen where swelling can prevent scans from catching everything. Ralph Schumacher, etc., etc.

oc

chop456

08-29-08, 05:39 PM

That's a really bad decision by Grand Am.

Their very existence is a bad decision.

Here's to a speedy recovery for Scott. :thumbup:

cameraman

08-29-08, 06:22 PM

Got to say that the motorsport article does not say much of anything good about the safety crew at the track:shakehead

JoeBob

08-29-08, 07:06 PM

I'm glad he's OK, but doesn't every other professional series in the world automatically sit a driver who gets knocked unconscious during a race weekend?

Not anymore. The major league series require drivers to take the IMPACT test prior to the start of the season, and then retest drivers following an incident to measure brain function. The driver is cleared when the test results are back to the baseline. That could be a day later, a week later, a month later, or never.

I seem to remember A.J. Allmendinger getting his bell rung at Cleveland, and ChampCar still letting him race the next day (part of me wants to say he was knocked out in the morning warmup, and still raced.)

Accipiter

08-29-08, 07:19 PM

Found on the interweb:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/GreenFlag_68/user1716_pic23_1219939889.jpg

Looks like he hit the weak spot precisely. I'm glad he didn't test out the integrity of the safety cell with that one.

chop456

08-29-08, 10:58 PM

Is that a Trans Am Car? :gomer:

Methanolandbrats

08-29-08, 11:02 PM

Is that a Trans Am Car? :gomer: No, it's a Meyers Manx.

emjaya

08-30-08, 04:13 AM

Pruett broadsided the end of the barrier at the pit entrance splitting the car in two just behind the cockpit. He was unconscious after the impact but awoke a few minutes later while being extricated from the car. He wa taken to the hospital where he was found to have no major injuries but is suffering from back pain. The car is done and the team has withdrawn from the race.

An extremely detailed description can be read here:
http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=305429

Scary!

Noting that an eternity seems to pass in such circumstances, those who observed the scene from beginning to end said it took between five and six minutes for the track's emergency medical personnel to arrive on the scene.

"And they didn't know what they were doing when they arrived," more than one observer opined. "The first thing the guy started doing was unbuckling Pruett's helmet straps. Doran and Maddox flat-out put a stop to that," said another.

:shakehead

pchall

08-30-08, 07:55 AM

Found on the interweb:
[snip]
Looks like he hit the weak spot precisely. I'm glad he didn't test out the integrity of the safety cell with that one.

Nice proof of the idiocy of Grand Sham specifying semi-monocoque construction these days.

nissan gtp

08-30-08, 07:58 AM

five and six minutes for the track's emergency medical personnel to arrive on the scene

totally unacceptable.

Don Quixote

08-30-08, 09:49 AM

totally unacceptable. Yeah, but they have a great car count and its affordable to race in the series and the racing is close and the France empire is totally behind it, so that makes everything OK. :shakehead

Andrew Longman

08-30-08, 09:58 AM

I hope that response time had everything to do with Grand Am and nothing to do with my new local track.

Probably not though. Doesn't Grandam do like NASCAR and use local volunteer fire departments and rescue squads? No traveling satefy crew?

nissan gtp

08-30-08, 10:05 AM

08-30-08, 01:35 PM

I hope for a full recovery for Pruett.

Nasty crash.

The thing that strikes me the most, is that the MS article is like, actual reporting and stuff. The reporter talked to people, not PR dweebs (hi, Travis! :)) and got the good, the bad and the Grand A, er, ugly.

Good article.

Indy

08-30-08, 02:14 PM

Die, NASCAR, die. :mad:

Fio1

08-30-08, 10:11 PM

I'm at New Jersey Motorsports park. If someone doesn't get seriously hurt tomorrow it will be a miracle. The dust in unbelievable! When someone goes off a dust cloud crosses the track, sometimes twice, and blinds the uncoming drivers. It's crazy, I've never seen anything like it. Coupled with the narrow track, no-passing zones , 70 car Koni Challenge race and speed differentials between DP & GT you have a serious liability on your hands. To be honest, they should have cancled the race last week. Before, everyone made the trip. The track is not finished!

On the other hand, both tracks look like a lot of fun to drive, and once completed it will be a great place. But, it's too narrow to be a racing track. It's a Motorcycle track, school track, or track-day track. The only thing is that it is in the middle of nowhere....

Again, the dust is insane. In G/A parking there is so much dust that the cars are look like they finished the baja 1000. I drove someone in a golf car to find his car and it looked like a dump truck dumped a ton on sand on it. And, you should see the dust cloud I was leaving. Crazy.

Fio1

09-02-08, 07:25 PM

Well, everyone made it out alive. The Antonio Garcia crash at the start was pretty scarry. The Koni Challenge race was fun to watch; tune in on Sunday for a great race!

Accipiter

09-04-08, 01:03 PM

DVR'd he race and finally got around to watching it last night. It was pretty clear the track wasn't ready to hold an event. Pretty neat layout, but becasue of all the issues it's hard to say how good it is in the end.

Did you guys catch Barbosa almost blowing over following another car too close over that rise? That's something that should be dealt with too before any serious race cars come back.

Trevor Longman

09-04-08, 03:45 PM

There is a rumor that ALMS is going to race here next year. If thats true then the rise you just mentioned will have to be addressed. The ALMS cars are much faster than those fendered crapwagons (I compared lap times at laguna seca and the alms cars are 6.1 seconds faster per lap! :eek:) and I'm sure they would get airborne if they attempted to go over that hill. It would be a repeat of le mans 1999. :\

miatanut

09-04-08, 03:58 PM

cameraman

09-04-08, 04:02 PM

Think about Le Mans this year. They need to keep the cars firmly on the ground.

Gnam

09-04-08, 05:02 PM

I miss jumps. They were always the most dramatic spot on the tracks that had them.
San Jose-mania! ;)

JohnHKart

09-04-08, 07:42 PM

Why can't modern cars jump over humps in a race track, like they did just fine in the '70's? Is it all that downforce on the rear wing and to a lesser degree the rear tunnels (too high off the ground to really work right) drops the back end back down immediately while the front end stays up, making a nice, flat-bottom airplane wing?

I miss jumps. They were always the most dramatic spot on the tracks that had them.

Even the flugplatz at the Nurburgring is shaved down now...just in time for my first visit in 2003...not that I could have jumped it in the focus I had that day anyway (or the golf last year) . damn!

John

miatanut

09-05-08, 07:04 PM

San Jose-mania! ;)

I liked the SJ jumps! When I was a kid, there was an F1 race that crossed railroad tracks. I don't remember which one.

If there was decent rally TV coverage, so I could see more of them, rallies would probably become my favorite. Racing cars that aren't pussies!

miatanut

09-05-08, 07:08 PM

Think about Le Mans this year. They need to keep the cars firmly on the ground.

I think enough tracks have been destroyed. The *$%@ Mercedes screwed-up Le Mans. It's time to start fixing the problems with the cars. The '70's 917 longtails went faster than the current P1's and they stayed on the ground even though front downforce was negligible (and not much more at the rear!).

miatanut

09-05-08, 07:09 PM

Even the flugplatz at the Nurburgring is shaved down now...just in time for my first visit in 2003...not that I could have jumped it in the focus I had that day anyway (or the golf last year) . damn!

John

:irked:

Lauda or somebody mentioned it used to be difficult to keep your foot on the pedal at the tops.

cameraman

09-05-08, 07:22 PM

I think enough tracks have been destroyed. The *$%@ Mercedes screwed-up Le Mans. It's time to start fixing the problems with the cars. The '70's 917 longtails went faster than the current P1's and they stayed on the ground even though front downforce was negligible (and not much more at the rear!).

What are you on about? This is a new club track with pretensions of hosting real races. If a scrubbing bubble has the potential to blow over then it is the track that needs to be fixed.

miatanut

09-05-08, 08:44 PM

What are you on about? This is a new club track with pretensions of hosting real races. If a scrubbing bubble has the potential to blow over then it is the track that needs to be fixed.

We used to have 240 MPH cars that didn't blow over on tracks with humps.

Now we have 230 MPH cars that blow over if they get ten degrees sideways!

Sounds to me like it's the cars that need fixing, not the tracks.

Just more evidence of how aero screwed-up the racing.

cameraman

09-06-08, 06:51 AM

Now we have 230 MPH cars that blow over if they get ten degrees sideways!

The only way a Daytona Prototype could go 230 mph is in the cargo hold of a DC-10. If a dead slow, overweight scrubbing bubble is threatening to launch then the track is what needs fixing.

Accipiter

09-06-08, 10:09 AM

Scrubbing bubble! :rofl::laugh:

Don Quixote

09-06-08, 11:14 AM

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Fio1

09-06-08, 02:31 PM

The only way a Daytona Prototype could go 230 mph is in the cargo hold of a DC-10. If a dead slow, overweight scrubbing bubble is threatening to launch then the track is what needs fixing.

Sorry man, but there is nothing dead slow about a DP car! Anymore!

It's been a couple years since I've seen them in person, but they seem quicker and more like prototypes then before. The teams and manufactures have stepped up their game and these things are real race cars now. What used to be a 2 million a season program is now 5 million plus a year. A lot has changed since 2006. They have a lot of down-force and a lot of power. In places where GT cars lift and brake the DP's are easy flat. Maybe it was the track, but these things were on it. They were scarry fast in some corners. I was impressed!

miatanut

09-06-08, 02:43 PM

The only way a Daytona Prototype could go 230 mph is in the cargo hold of a DC-10. If a dead slow, overweight scrubbing bubble is threatening to launch then the track is what needs fixing.

Maybe I missed something, but I've seen nothing on a DP trying to blow over. I've seen LMP's getting a little sidewise and getting airborne. We had Pruett lose the back end when another car hit him in a dust cloud and he then hit the end of the pit lane wall. A crash which could occur with Formula Fords (though not nearly so fast), but nothing about going airborne.

Is there another recent DP incident I've missed?

Accipiter

09-06-08, 05:45 PM

To quote myself:

Did you guys catch Barbosa almost blowing over following another car too close over that rise? That's something that should be dealt with too before any serious race cars come back.

Speed showed a nice slo-mo of the front wheels achieving liftoff.

cameraman

09-06-08, 08:31 PM

Sorry man, but there is nothing dead slow about a DP car! Anymore!

Ahhh, I watch the ALMS and the DPs at the same track. The DPs do race well, despite what 98% of this board thinks, but they are nowhere near as fast as the ALMS cars. Maybe "dead slow" was a bit of hyperbole but any track that threatens to launch one has serious issues.

miatanut

09-06-08, 11:21 PM

To quote myself:
Speed showed a nice slo-mo of the front wheels achieving liftoff.

Sounds like what a 1970's car would have done, if it didn't get the rear wheels up too, which is not surprising being Crapotypes are 1970's technology. So, you're right, an LMP would shoot for the moon, so they will probably have to dumb it down so defective car designs can handle it. :irked:

extramundane

09-06-08, 11:28 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/GARRA20/New%20Jersey%202009/th_100_6504.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v246/GARRA20/New%20Jersey%202009/?action=view&current=100_6504.flv)

Fio1

09-06-08, 11:56 PM

Ahhh, I watch the ALMS and the DPs at the same track. The DPs do race well, despite what 98% of this board thinks, but they are nowhere near as fast as the ALMS cars. Maybe "dead slow" was a bit of hyperbole but any track that threatens to launch one has serious issues.

Fair enough. But you can't compare LMP cars and DP's. Both are 'sports cars' but aren't trying to compete against each other. The rules have different objectives in mind when they were written. Kind of like DTM and WTCC or F1 and Champcars.

miatanut

09-07-08, 01:42 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/GARRA20/New%20Jersey%202009/th_100_6504.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v246/GARRA20/New%20Jersey%202009/?action=view&current=100_6504.flv)

Thanks!

So we have:
No air on the front.
Air on the back.
Torquey car accelerating hard.

All of which could happen again.

The torque coming from the rear wheels was definitely a factor, because it's clear he backed out of the throttle and that was enough to put the front back down. A LMP would definitely be gone there.

Still a car design issue. No wing on the back and the car would have stayed planted. For reasons unclear to me, racing cars without wings are unacceptable to many, so we will have another race track with some character getting hacked even though any car with no wings or minimalist wings will do fine there.
Lime Rock bumps gone.
Inside curb at Portland T1, which used to put an occasional car on its side, including a prototype at an IMSA race I went to a few years ago, now gone....