Well, we had the car all sorts of hooked up for Beaverun this weekend. We showed up late on friday night as usual. Big surprise. The rain was a total gift though. I love driving in the wet, especially since I have ABS. The only problem we were having was serious fogging of the windshield due to no HVAC, but we fixed that with some Fog-X from the Curpiers.

Out we go for qualifying and on the first hot lap, I managed to avoid getting t-boned. Whew. Hung back for a lap to get some space and then let it rip. It was fantastic. I left a good bit on the table and managed to still pick up pole position.

Well, as fate would have it, it started to dry out for the race. So at the last minute, we swapped to a full dry setup. Went out for the pace laps, and figured out that it was pretty evil loose. No big deal, just gotta warm up the tires. So I warm up the fronts by braking a lot down the back straight.

Just past the kink, I swerved left, right, and then back left. I was doing about 40 mph. When I pulled left the second time, the rear end decided to just plain check out. Nothing broke. Nothing was wrong with the car. I was not ready to catch the car on a warm up lap, and so off into the wet grass I go. I hit the guardrail at about 35 mph, almost head-on. The rear of the car went airborne, and I think the front did a little as well when it came around.

The first word that came out of my mouth pretty much said it all. "Woah..." On a PACE LAP? Seriously? The car is pretty toast. Both frame rails are bent all the way back to the firewall and one of them looks like an "L". It would need a new front clip. The shock towers are a good bit closer together than normal too.

I'm still a bit sore. Really not bad off physically. Mentally is another issue. I always wondered how people f'ed up during a warmup or cooldown lap. I mean, come on, it's a slow lap. Well there. Karma's a bitch.

Dunno what I'm going to do next. I was planning on giving up racing and selling the car at the end of the year. Just going back to schools and instructing. Steve and I had that planned from the beginning of the year. I don't know if it's worth the effort to build another car (we have a donor chassis that just needs a cage) just to finish off the season.

Maybe it's God's little way of saying, "Hey kid, time to get out."

Warren

 

Really sorry about what happened Warren . I can only speak for myself, but I'd definately like to see you out there racing the rest of the season

Brian

 

My jaw hit the fl00r when that took place...even the pace car driver was confused.

Sorry to see the car finish off like that

 

Warren, glad you are ok.

If you want to come instruct some this year, you're welcome to take my car out for a session or three.

 

Sounds like cold tires.

Like you said you knew it was going to be loose, so you were warming up..got a little heat in the fronts by braking, and on one of the swerves it just got away..could be lack of heat, could be some sand/rubber on them...any number of things. I myself have had two spins due to cold tires doing exactly what you did..i was just lucky enough not to have a guard rail there to catch me.

I am glad your ok, those strange angles of impact tend to hurt the most, and I hope that the repair of the car goes as smooth as it can.

As far as spinning on the pace lap..dont worry you are in good company..I have seen a few Indy 500 drivers do it, including the infamous Roberto Gurerro on the pace lap in 1992 (crashed out) Cold tires..i see it all the time when i work turn one at Daytona for the 24 hours.


Jon K
http://www.seat-time.com

 

dang warren... sorry to hear that!

same thing happend to me at the CMP race this year... i spun on the warm up lap in turn 1... just had pulled out of the pits... i guess i just wasn't thinking about how cold the tires were and wasn't ready to catch it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i spun on the warm up lap in turn 1... just had pulled out of the pits.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sand on the tires. I've done that twice at CMP.

Sorry to hear about that Warren. You luck is worse than Karl's.


Modified by MaddMatt at 2:45 PM 6/7/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Warren &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe it's God's little way of saying, "Hey kid, time to get out."
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I hope that's not the case....you would be missed out there.

-Pete

 

If Warren is instructing I might go back to HPDE1 or 2.

 

That's a bummer, Warren. It sucks to have something like this make up your mind for you before you were really "ready".

 

Sorry to hear it Warren

 

Warren, atleast your car didn't catch on fire in front of the fuel pumps like the 911 did. I hope this helps.

 

Sorry to hear that Warren. Don't let this incident influence your decision to keep racing. **** happens all the time. You should definitely keep racing if you get pleasure out of a race weekend and all that comes with it. Go to a different racecar that comes with a cheap shell, run less events per year on a smaller budget, just do whatever it takes to keep coming back out there from time to time. However, this is worth doing only if you would get more net fun out of enjoying yourself at a race weekend with your friends, than the efforts it takes for you to make it possible. Having met you at the first H-C race in '02, I definitely noticed the enthusiasm you had in you just to be out there and doing it. I don't think this kind of thing dies off quickly.

To make a long story short, don't let a "**** happens" incident influence you one bit on your decision to keep doing this, as long as you do have the means to keep doing it at least to some degree. Let your passion for what you like doing decide instead.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Warren &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I always wondered how people f'ed up during a warmup or cooldown lap.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Simple! Cooldown lap here. I was thinking about other things when I should have been driving and spun out going into T10a at road atlanta while in 2nd gear doing 40 mph on a wet track. Did a 180, slid on the wet grass and touched the concrete (no damage). The practice session had seen the checkered flag already, but I bet the corner workers thought someone still needed some more. ****, karma, whatever will always just happen. Just brush yourself off and look forward – it’s the only way to beat it. Don't let this be the reason to stop you from racing if you still have the means to do it one way or another.

 

I agree with Alex, quit if you don't like it, don't get enjoyment out of it, don't want to spend the money and time on it but for a silly mistake?? Not a reason to bail. At least that's what I keep telling myself IIRC, this is what happened to the GT2 poll setter in the 2000 Runoffs - didn't it? Tried to look it up but couldn't find it through google - could swear he took himself out before the green flag dropped. I lost it after the checkered one time and feel very fortunate I didn't ball up me and the guy I had been racing with - just dumb luck.

 

Nice to hear you're okay, if your tired of it, now's a good time to retire but if there's still some hunger for racing, by all means build up another car and get back into it.

Did you happen to catch the accident or moments before it on tape?

 

Warren, seriously you need to get back out there, even if it isnt right away. People make mistakes, you know that. And its usually the one who makes the least mistakes that wins. So you didnt win this time, but you do know what winning is like

 

Tis just a flesh wound!

 

hehe ... I spy a RedBull on the fuse box.

How's the motor?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sgT &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Tis just a flesh wound!


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'Tis not a problem, looks like you've got a suitable "donor" car in the same garage.

Casey, sorry you hear about your "**** happens" story, Warren. And glad you're okay.