Had a close one on the race track recently. Scared the hell out of myself. For a moment, I thought it was going to be a big crash. Scary big. As luck would have it, it turned out to be minor, and I didn't barrel roll the car. I've had my crashes before. This one scared the hell out of me though. There was potential for this one to become a real disaster.

So what goes through my head during those agonizingly slow moments as the car is nearly out of control? Mostly four letter words at an incredible rate of speed. Still, there's a part of me that doesn't give up. Maybe it's just muscle memory. I'm operating the controls trying to get the situation back under control.

And just before that last moment? The moment before the impact? What goes through my head? Hang on. That's it. This is when the driver becomes a passenger. What a horrid feeling for someone so used to being in control.

Just after the crash, my senses are wildly alert. Questions rush through my head, in an attempt to analyze the situation. Am I okay? Is the car okay? Am I out of the way of other cars? It's always like this. There's no panic. It's oddly serene.

It isn't until days afterwards, when I'm recounting my memories, perhaps trying to fall asleep like tonight, when it really bothers me. Bits of the crash go through my mind.

I'm cursed with a good memory, and yet, every time, I gather it up for that next time out. I suit up, and get behind the wheel. The doubts are gone; I know how to do this. The fear subsides; I put it behind. And the love for the sport comes back like a rush of blood to the head.

Warren

 

ah Warren, if you are speaking of the other weekend, I cannot imagine how scary it was, but I know how scary it was spinning into the tire wall in South Bend wihtout even being in any type of control of the car

I will say that the car was not that badly damaged at all, more an overreaction on our part becasue it was cold and wet, the most critical damage was due to malfunctioning products, better it do that there than at 10/10ths in traffic

cars are disposable, people are not, if you had rolled the car per-say I would have probably cared less just so you walked away OK. (then I would get upset )

No need to lose sleep I think, just be ready to run the enduro next year

 

It's partially truth, partially artistic liberty.

Definately scary though.

Warren

 

i know that feeling, it really does suck, i have never thought about it since I had a bad accident sliding off the road, but you hit the nail on the head "helplessness"
glad to hear youre ok

 

Qualifying at Road Atlanta last weekend. Cold and wet.

Exiting turn 3 I see a Spec Miata lose it up in turn 4 and start to slide down towards the wall at drivers right. I process it and go back to the task at hand. Then, I hit whatever it was on the track that he (the SM) hit (dunno, never saw it) and completely lost the car. At this point I am a passenger but still trying to gain control. I'm also noticing that I'm headed straight for the SM that just planted itself in the wall. Wonderful.
But I never gave up. I kept steering into it and playing with the throttle. Almost completely perpendicular to the track (I'm looking at the SM through my passenger side window as I'm still targeted on it) I finally gain traction and get the car back under control. It was close. Really close.

Thing is that I immediately went back to focusing on qualifying and put it out of my mind. I didn't really think about it again until after I was parked and out of the car. Then that "Oh ****. That was a little too close." feeling hit me.

We all really are kind of nuts.

 

I whacked the tire wall pretty hard to driver's right at the exit of Road ATL's turn #3 back in 1995. Took me about a year to get fast in #3 again! I kept wanting to stare at the barrier every time I went through there, which is NOT the thing to do.

 

Excursions beyond the paved surface of a race track are a reality that is faced everytime you you go out. It's wether or not you use those experiences to learn that makes all the difference. After Warren went off in Corey's car i had no problem busting my *** fixing it and saying "Warren get your suit on so you can take it out for the rest of this session" because I know, although it might have freaked him out, he knew what he did wrong and would learn from it.

 

Thanks Morgan. Many times over. I think I still owe you beer It turned out to be a great weekend in the end.

Warren