The car was running well all day and we had a solid top-ten time going with the potential to crack the top five (we wound up 8th on the road course) and I was looking forward to a break from the 100 degree heat to pick things up a bit. I went out on the days sixth session with my Stilo helmet fixed to my HANS device and belted in by my Willans 6-point harness… I came in from that same session in the NASCAR ambulance with the OLC on the back of the same wrecker that had carted some pretty famous racecars around over the years. Not the end of the session that I was anticipating.
So what happened? Long story short – the car got loose, the back end came around, the front end got in the dirt and everything ended with the OLC in a concrete wall. There are plenty of pictures and a couple of videos from the crash and I’m happy to discuss what may or may not have happened before or during the crash but the true story of the USCA and our weekend at Daytona was what happened after the crash.
First off – a note about safety. The USCA splits cars in to three categories – Novice, Intermediate, and Expert. Those categories not only define the experience levels of the drivers (which is always somewhat arbitrary at best) but the level of preparedness as well. I was running in the expert group and my experience notwithstanding the USCA rules call for my car and safety gear to meet an expert level of preparedness. Driving suit, gloves, shoes, neck restraint, helmet, roll bar, fire extinguisher are all mandatory in the Expert run group where drivers are given more freedom and judgment then the other groups. I have been wearing the HANS device for a little bit over a year now along with my lightweight Stilo helmet - I cannot imagine running without either – I now feel uncomfortable in the car without my HANS. There is a reason for all of this gear and I demonstrated it on Saturday night – I spun the car at 120+ and nosed in to the wall at a pretty decent rate of speed and walked away with nothing more than a profound sense of disappointment. I was checked out by the NASCAR paramedic and would have gone to the infield care center (track policy following contact with immovable objects) had it been open. Aside from an accelerated heart rate and elevated BP I was fine.
Buy the right safety gear and use it – stuff happens. Now back to the car…
