It was a beautiful day
09-19-2011, 02:53 PM
#1
Under the Lift
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It was a beautiful day
I awoke Sunday morning in Ely, NV to find perfect race conditions. It was a beautiful day - absolutely crystal clear sky, no clouds whatsoever, very cool and crisp with no wind. After several pre-race days of thunderstorms and showers, it was a miraculous surprise.
George Suennen and I were in Ely to run the Silver State Classic Challenge with 140 other cars. We were hoping to break 200 MPH in George's supercharged 90 S4. For those who don't know, the Silver State Classic is a timed rally over 90 miles of closed-off rural two-lane road in Nevada. The object is to try to hit a target average speed over the course, in our case 160 MPH, while not exceeding our "tech" speed limit. The target and tech limits are determined by your safety equipment, experience and just how crazy you are about speed. George was teched unlimited. That meant we could theoretically go as fast as we wanted at times. The minimum goal for people in this unlimited tech class is to be clocked at 200+ MPH in a short speed trap area about halfway down the course. George had tried and failed 4 or 5 times over the last several years, one time hitting 198.6 MPH but not finishing. I have worked with George to prep his car for these attempts, and this time I was set to navigate as well. I have raced my own car a number of times in these open road race events, but never exceeded 170 MPH before. I was a bit apprehensive even though George's car is an absolutely rock-stable sled. The main source of my apprehension was the knowledge that more than a few cars in the unlimited class have had tire blowouts at over 200 MPH and that these invariably have lead to loss of control and crashing. These crashes are usually horrendous as there is almost no flat run-off space. Rather deep ditches line both sides of the road over most of the course. So, the result is these off-road cars are catapulted into the air and usually flip several times or worse before coming to a stop. The safety equipment required for unlimited is such that most often the driver and navigator survive with minimal injuries, frequently walking away, although this has not always been the case and there have been some fatalities over the years. So, I was a bit nervous about what lay ahead.
We finished taping up the car, loading up our safety gear, checking tire pressure and lug nut torques, various fluids and headed out to the race site. We left quite a bit later than most of the other race participants since we were scheduled to be the next to last car to run, right behind Tim and Cheryl Dey in their 87 928 "Beast". The lower speed classes (150 MPH and below target speeds) are run first beginning at 8 am, then the course is "swept" (checked for obvious debris and hazards by a "sweep" car ) before the unlimited tech cars are run. When we arrived at the final grid we expected to see maybe half the 140 cars still waiting to go as these things almost never start on-time and usually there are one or more delays due to breakdowns and accidents. However, all the lower classes were gone and the sweep had begun. Wow! So, we had maybe an hour at most. We took some time to chat with Tim & Cheryl and the other drivers and navigators in the unlimited tech class and their support crews. We all remarked on the beautiful weather, especially in light of the 40 MPH headwinds at the last race in May and other far less than ideal race conditions we had all experienced. Everybody agreed it was a beautiful day, perhaps the best raceday weather anyone had ever seen. And everything was going off seemingly without a hitch. We were anxious to get going.
Soon it was time to suit up. They began sending out the first of the unlimited cars, starting with a couple of cars with unlimited target speeds as well as tech limits, then the 180 and 170 target groups at 3 minute intervals between cars. It took George and I almost 8 minutes to get into the car, get all the safety gear on and attached, radio comm working, and a computer booted with Sharktuner. That's right, we were going to have Sharktuner running during the race so we could make tuning changes real-time if needed. By then there were only a handful of cars left to go before us. We were a bit frantic (at least I was), but we got things buttoned down and pulled up behind Tim and Cheryl to wait our turn.
Then I noticed it had been more than 3 minutes since the last car left. A few more minutes passed with nothing happening. Uh oh. We surmised there must have been an incident on the course. It could be anything from a breakdown to stray cattle near or on the course or a hundred other things. Soon, race personnel came up to our car and said there was a fire on the course, then clarified that a car had caught on fire. That certainly was alarming, but I had seen several car fires before at these events and most were from blown motors and the occupants activated the fire suppression systems and got out of the cars unharmed. I figured we might have another hour or so delay.
We all got out of our cars, stripped off most of the safety gear, found a shady spot and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally someone clarified that the car had crashed, flipped and then caught on fire. That was far more ominous than a simple car fire. We didn't know who it was or how serious it was, but I was quite worried.
Frank, one of the race directors at the start line, drove off in his car to see what was happening at the crash site 20 miles out. Although there is full radio comm all over the course, I was not surprised to see him go out to survey the situation directly. About an hour later he came back. I watched with some apprehension as he walked deliberately toward one side of the start area. One of the other drivers shouted out to Frank, asking what was up. I prefer to stay quiet and let the man do his job. Many drivers think the race staff should be providing full periodic updates to all of us, but I don't agree. They have more important things to do.
Anyway, Frank acknowledged the driver's question with a quick side-to-side motion of his head, an indication of bad news. He continued walking to the side of the start area. He approached a woman there, touched her gently and said something. As I heard her start to sob, I knew what it was. We all knew. She was the wife of one of the unlimited drivers receiving the news one hopes never to receive. Her husband and his navigator had both died in the crash.
I was hit hard down deep inside by witnessing this tragedy unfold. It was completely overwhelming. The lady continued to sob with her head on Frank's shoulder. I was oblivious to anyone else around me for several minutes, my head down and my eyes closed.
I heard the sobs broken by conversation. Other friends of the family gathered and eventually Frank and the others went off to take the stricken wife on the long ride around the closed road to the other end of the course to be with the rest of the family members who were there that day to witness the race.
The rest of us milled around the start area for a while trying to absorb what just had happened and then got ready to go home.
I was struck by the terrible irony. It was such a beautiful day.
ADDENDUM: I did not get to meet Rick DeKneef, the driver from Kerman, CA or Merle Hill, the navigator from Ely, NV, but many who I spoke to after the event knew them well. Rick had been a long-time participant in the Silver State. Rick and Merle were not at their car, a red 1994 Camaro, when I passed by it in the final grid before the race. Rick and Merle were already out on the course when George and I pulled up to the starting line and took our place behind Tim & Cheryl.
http://www.elynews.com/articles/2011...ews/news10.txt
George Suennen and I were in Ely to run the Silver State Classic Challenge with 140 other cars. We were hoping to break 200 MPH in George's supercharged 90 S4. For those who don't know, the Silver State Classic is a timed rally over 90 miles of closed-off rural two-lane road in Nevada. The object is to try to hit a target average speed over the course, in our case 160 MPH, while not exceeding our "tech" speed limit. The target and tech limits are determined by your safety equipment, experience and just how crazy you are about speed. George was teched unlimited. That meant we could theoretically go as fast as we wanted at times. The minimum goal for people in this unlimited tech class is to be clocked at 200+ MPH in a short speed trap area about halfway down the course. George had tried and failed 4 or 5 times over the last several years, one time hitting 198.6 MPH but not finishing. I have worked with George to prep his car for these attempts, and this time I was set to navigate as well. I have raced my own car a number of times in these open road race events, but never exceeded 170 MPH before. I was a bit apprehensive even though George's car is an absolutely rock-stable sled. The main source of my apprehension was the knowledge that more than a few cars in the unlimited class have had tire blowouts at over 200 MPH and that these invariably have lead to loss of control and crashing. These crashes are usually horrendous as there is almost no flat run-off space. Rather deep ditches line both sides of the road over most of the course. So, the result is these off-road cars are catapulted into the air and usually flip several times or worse before coming to a stop. The safety equipment required for unlimited is such that most often the driver and navigator survive with minimal injuries, frequently walking away, although this has not always been the case and there have been some fatalities over the years. So, I was a bit nervous about what lay ahead.
We finished taping up the car, loading up our safety gear, checking tire pressure and lug nut torques, various fluids and headed out to the race site. We left quite a bit later than most of the other race participants since we were scheduled to be the next to last car to run, right behind Tim and Cheryl Dey in their 87 928 "Beast". The lower speed classes (150 MPH and below target speeds) are run first beginning at 8 am, then the course is "swept" (checked for obvious debris and hazards by a "sweep" car ) before the unlimited tech cars are run. When we arrived at the final grid we expected to see maybe half the 140 cars still waiting to go as these things almost never start on-time and usually there are one or more delays due to breakdowns and accidents. However, all the lower classes were gone and the sweep had begun. Wow! So, we had maybe an hour at most. We took some time to chat with Tim & Cheryl and the other drivers and navigators in the unlimited tech class and their support crews. We all remarked on the beautiful weather, especially in light of the 40 MPH headwinds at the last race in May and other far less than ideal race conditions we had all experienced. Everybody agreed it was a beautiful day, perhaps the best raceday weather anyone had ever seen. And everything was going off seemingly without a hitch. We were anxious to get going.
Soon it was time to suit up. They began sending out the first of the unlimited cars, starting with a couple of cars with unlimited target speeds as well as tech limits, then the 180 and 170 target groups at 3 minute intervals between cars. It took George and I almost 8 minutes to get into the car, get all the safety gear on and attached, radio comm working, and a computer booted with Sharktuner. That's right, we were going to have Sharktuner running during the race so we could make tuning changes real-time if needed. By then there were only a handful of cars left to go before us. We were a bit frantic (at least I was), but we got things buttoned down and pulled up behind Tim and Cheryl to wait our turn.
Then I noticed it had been more than 3 minutes since the last car left. A few more minutes passed with nothing happening. Uh oh. We surmised there must have been an incident on the course. It could be anything from a breakdown to stray cattle near or on the course or a hundred other things. Soon, race personnel came up to our car and said there was a fire on the course, then clarified that a car had caught on fire. That certainly was alarming, but I had seen several car fires before at these events and most were from blown motors and the occupants activated the fire suppression systems and got out of the cars unharmed. I figured we might have another hour or so delay.
We all got out of our cars, stripped off most of the safety gear, found a shady spot and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally someone clarified that the car had crashed, flipped and then caught on fire. That was far more ominous than a simple car fire. We didn't know who it was or how serious it was, but I was quite worried.
Frank, one of the race directors at the start line, drove off in his car to see what was happening at the crash site 20 miles out. Although there is full radio comm all over the course, I was not surprised to see him go out to survey the situation directly. About an hour later he came back. I watched with some apprehension as he walked deliberately toward one side of the start area. One of the other drivers shouted out to Frank, asking what was up. I prefer to stay quiet and let the man do his job. Many drivers think the race staff should be providing full periodic updates to all of us, but I don't agree. They have more important things to do.
Anyway, Frank acknowledged the driver's question with a quick side-to-side motion of his head, an indication of bad news. He continued walking to the side of the start area. He approached a woman there, touched her gently and said something. As I heard her start to sob, I knew what it was. We all knew. She was the wife of one of the unlimited drivers receiving the news one hopes never to receive. Her husband and his navigator had both died in the crash.
I was hit hard down deep inside by witnessing this tragedy unfold. It was completely overwhelming. The lady continued to sob with her head on Frank's shoulder. I was oblivious to anyone else around me for several minutes, my head down and my eyes closed.
I heard the sobs broken by conversation. Other friends of the family gathered and eventually Frank and the others went off to take the stricken wife on the long ride around the closed road to the other end of the course to be with the rest of the family members who were there that day to witness the race.
The rest of us milled around the start area for a while trying to absorb what just had happened and then got ready to go home.
I was struck by the terrible irony. It was such a beautiful day.
ADDENDUM: I did not get to meet Rick DeKneef, the driver from Kerman, CA or Merle Hill, the navigator from Ely, NV, but many who I spoke to after the event knew them well. Rick had been a long-time participant in the Silver State. Rick and Merle were not at their car, a red 1994 Camaro, when I passed by it in the final grid before the race. Rick and Merle were already out on the course when George and I pulled up to the starting line and took our place behind Tim & Cheryl.
http://www.elynews.com/articles/2011...ews/news10.txt
Last edited by Bill Ball; 09-20-2011 at 04:04 PM. Reason: Fixed a few factual errors.
09-19-2011, 03:26 PM
#3
Damn....very sad, don't know what else to say.
09-19-2011, 03:39 PM
#5
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Open Road Racing is a very serious endeavor. More dangerous than most closed course racing due to the fact that these are run on public highways.
Most of the people running in the unlimited class, are doing what they love and know the risks, but it is still disheartening to hear.
My condolences to the family and friends of the racers.
Most of the people running in the unlimited class, are doing what they love and know the risks, but it is still disheartening to hear.
My condolences to the family and friends of the racers.
09-19-2011, 04:20 PM
#7
Race Car
So sad. And this on top of the Reno Air Races-many of my close friends were friends of the pilot.
Man (and woman) try so hard to beat the machines but every now and then we lose...
My condolences to you Bill and the family and friends of all who were lost...
Man (and woman) try so hard to beat the machines but every now and then we lose...
My condolences to you Bill and the family and friends of all who were lost...
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09-19-2011, 04:35 PM
#8
Nordschleife Master
Heartbreaking story.
Enjoy life.
Enjoy life.
09-19-2011, 05:22 PM
#12
Team Owner
It was a beautiful day..............
Thanks for the story and I`ll have a good thought for the crew of the car that crashed..
Still a bummer......
Thanks for the story and I`ll have a good thought for the crew of the car that crashed..
Still a bummer......
09-19-2011, 05:33 PM
#14
Rennlist Member
I was trying to find out about this on the news wires but nothing so far.
09-19-2011, 05:39 PM
#15
Race Director
Everyone forgets the risks involved.....which doesn't lessen the loss to the effected families....while I am sad for the loss of the fellow racer...I am GLAD it wasn't you, George, Tim or Cheryl.....
I really thought the story was going to be George finally getting his jacket!!!!! So sad......
I really thought the story was going to be George finally getting his jacket!!!!! So sad......