Forum: Oklahomatidbits.com General Forum (go)
Moderators:  /  David Smith Jr

Update

Talked to Eddie this evening. He did get to see the doc today. Doc said the burns are looking good but they are going to have to do a skin graph. They are going to do the graph on Tues of next week. Eddie said the doc told him 3 to 4 weeks.

He is going to get a supression system. He wants to be better safe than sorry after this incident. He said that maybe this did open some eyes.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands 
in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he 
stands at times of challenge and controversy." 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Erich Petersen 

Just a commit about the Larry Hill era Hill really cares about track saftey.. During that time not only did all the corners haves fire extinguishers there was also A guy names Ricky Womack and one other fireman In full firegear sitting in the infield ready to go into a fire if needed. there was 4-5 push trucks positioned around the track and 1 in the pits with fire extinguishers. Ricky provided training to the track saftey crew on fire fighting as welll as how to assist with injuried drivers and crews I'm not sure what Hill payed Ricky , The rest of the crew got in the races free and the trucks got a little gas money and the corner workers got there firesuits R Prince.

That is one of the things I remember most about the Larry Hill era (other than his promotion) was the safety aspect. I remember that blazer always sat between turns three and four on the half mile and as soon as somebody started flipping, that blazer was moving and fast too. They would often be at the scene before the car even came to rest.

The fire that really scared me was ('00 I believe) when I was covering ASCS during speedweeks and we were at the Highbanks in Salina. Jason Johnson slowed down the backstretch. There was a car behind him that slowed but Foster Landon, not aware what was happening, duck underneath that car and hit Johnson full throttle. The car burst into flames.

I remember Estes was in the infield and he ran full sprint to Jasons car and when Jason slid out of the cockpit, he started to do the drop and roll. Tommie got there and smothered him with dirt and himself while Toby Brown then stopped and also assisted. Somebody was bright enough to have water around so Tommie rubbed him down so much he commented, "I don't even give my wife this kind of a rub down.

Jasons burns weren't serious and he continued the next night (whatever track that was) but just seeing the flames from the press box and seeing somebody on fire IS the most scariest thing I think you can witness at a racetrack.

I wasn't there last Friday night but I do hope that this isn't so much of a slam against the officials that you all are doing but rather a "wake up" call that things things can and will happen. If officials stop and think now and put themselves in the same position for the next possible time it happens, then if they do an outstanding job then Eddie's incident was served to better the safety on the track.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

In my opinion, they need to have all the trucks at different parts of the track instead of all of them being bunched up in one spot. That would give them a better vantage point for the whole track, including the back stretch and certain parts of the infield. Lloyd Buntin was spun out in turn 2 last week and his car was broke. He was not in the line of racing, but he was in harms way and we continued racing for 3 laps. Luckily, or unluckily for Steve Smith, when Smith spun out, a caution finally help get Lloyd out of the track. I got spun out on the last lap with a little help and it was exactly where Lloyds car had been. If there hadn't been that other caution, me and Lloyd would have really torn up our cars and that would have been unexcusable in my point of view. But if someone had been in better position to see that, he would have not been in harms way for that many of laps. Or maybe they were and no one really cared. I dont know, just one more reason i wont be racing there much anymore.