I just got back a little while ago from dropping off the car. That weekend pretty much sucked. Lowes is a pretty cool track, and if it weren't for the really hard stuff, it would be even more fun. I'm sure there are stories floating around. Here's my story.

Tom was all over me during the infield of lap 7, and by entrance to T5, I knew he was somewhere on my inside. I couldn't see him though. He had no lights, and I couldn't find him in my mirrors. I got gunshy about pulling the throttle and was understeering over the crest, and the rear end checked out at the bottom of the hill of T5. I floored it to catch it, and it did catch. I saw a flash of yellow and blue and then bam. I think it was basically like a big X pattern. I think. I dunno what it was from the outside. ( Does anyone have video? )

We hit hard. Both of us started spinning like tops and I don't know how, but we managed to spin through the hole in the concrete wall up to the banked surface. I actually closed my eyes w/ both feet in when we started to spin because I thought we were going to hit that first wall. Opened them a little later, saw Tom spinning like a top still, closed them again for a split second, felt the car slowing down, and I figured out which way I was, and went to the bottom asap. I kept both feet in the entire time, so the engine was still running, spewing oil at 80 psi out a tiny hole where the pressure sender once was.

I bailed out of the car unbelievably fast because smoke (not steam) started to billow up from the hood. I didn't even remove my steering wheel, or even think about fighting the fire. I got out and got behind the wall and thought "Wow, this is going to suck watching my car burn down from 15ft away." Turns out that the oil didn't catch fire, but was just vaporizing on the rotors. Thank you Redline.

I am REALLY glad neither of us got hurt. Tom's car needs a new rear quarter I also cut one of his tires in the process My car is pretty hurt. The frame rail on the driver's front is bent in quite a bit. The shock tower moved on the driver's side, I think. No wrinkles near the shock tower. Actually, I haven't seen any wrinkles near structural bits yet. Probably didn't help that the frame was pulled on once.

I'll fix it, but I don't think I'm going to have it ready for VIR. Tom and the rest of OPM are class acts, and even offered repair advice, and was able to joke about it. A HUGE thanks to them. I'm going to have nightmares about a yellow and blue object streaking by.

On the upside. The car moves under it's own power. I was able to drive it up the trailer, and manuver it around. I have some very angry axles and no power steering, but it moves.

Warren

 

I am sorry to hear about your accident. Good Luck on the repair.

 

That can't be good.



JB Weld saves the day.



Crap.



[b]Uh... look where the pulley is compared to the frame rail...[b]



Warren

 

Glad you and Tom were okay, and were able to laugh about it afterward. Sorry to hear about the damage, but it's nothing that can't be fixed or replaced (unlike you and Tom).

Have an extra on me...

 

And another one

You're not sore after your little shunt?

 

No, I'm not sore from that, but the muscles on the left side of my neck are sore from trying to hold up my head on the nascar turn. We were doing something north of 135 mph on that 25 degree banked turn. It was unreal.

Anyhow, I'm awake cuz everytime I try to go to sleep, all I see is a streak of yellow and blue I'm glad I took Monday off.

Warren

 

I'm really sorry for the misfortune, Warren. I'm just glad both you and Tom were okay. Hope to see you again soon, and best of luck with the repairs

 

REALLY glad to hear you and Tom missed the hard stuff. Hope you're up and running very soon.

 

Glad both of you guys were ok. I didnt even know there was an accident till they brought your car back into the paddock (out taking pics of NASCAR 3 and 4). Needless to say my jaw dropped. But its good that both of you are ok and in good spirits.

Brian

 

yeah, that's too bad cause warren you looked like you were moving along good!!!

 

Sorry to hear about the mishap. Glad your okay!

 

Warren - I too am sorry it happened. I developed a massive oversteer problem during qualifying (rear suspension and swaybar issue) and had some narrow miss runoffs...one of which was in your vacinity....SOOOO CLOSE to the tire wall entering the oval. More than anything, glad you and Tom were OK. Wish you the best of luck getting your car fixed!!!

 

I took this shot when Warren's car had just gotten back to the garage:





Hope you can get it back together soon!

 

Yes.....hope to see the car back out on the track soon.

 

That doesn't look bad to me. Easy fix IMO.

 

Hey Warren, are you going to retrieve the piece of marker light that was lodged in Fowler's tire bead?

 

Sorry to hear of the bad luck Warren. Glad you are OK.

 

i take it you saw the frame damage personally.......and must have a frame machine in your garage too.

nick, who likes idiots....for the entertainment value.

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, glad you are all ok.

 

Lets not make it too obvious who the real idiot is, but name calling is not good practice anyway unless you're a 9 yr old.

Don't know to how many races you've been to, but this damage, although it sucks and it is a pain in the *** to fix, is not serious at all. Tim (the guy who you called an idiot) has been racing for a while and has seen what means to have a lot of damage. When your roof bends up from a hard enough head on impact and/or you see the floorboard from inside the car pushed in by a few inches (had one of those), those are pretty good hits. The big hits also require cutting pieces (example first 1/3rd of your car) and welding a whole other front 1/3rd to the remainder of your racecar (had one of those too). And the really really big hits are those not even worth fixing.

I just feel bad for any damage I see, since I know very well the feeling of having to spend money on fixing a racecar, money that could have been otherwise used to be out there racing instead. Best of luck in getting back in action Warren.

 

Hey cool, did you pick it up? Hehe.

Warren

 

 

Glad to hear you guys are both ok.

 

Glad you're okay, and I hope you can get her fixed soon.

 

Looks like it's turning into a true show car!

Glad to hear you both walked away from it, and are able to joke about it.

to Warren, for driving it like it was meant to be.