Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I was back rebuilding a car a week later while I healed, the engine was removed withthe help of a sawzall,  other than laughter, at the time, a new build was the best medicine. strapping in for the return actually wasnt too bad, a serious racer will attest,  your only as good as your last ride,  fault or not, I wasnt going to accept it, just like any other sports injury is never welcomed but somehow, in these cars, it has to be accepted, kinda a bullriders mentality i know, now those guys (bullriders)are nuts, OR flat trackers. thats crazy, hell, sprinters are just gokarts on roids.. More importantly,  with your question revjimk,  arised the thought to me, what was more difficult was,  returning after the 06 nationals I wasnt driving but attended as a spectator, Steve King was killed that year, I didnt know him personally, his age was similar to mine,I never met him, his incident hit home for me, made me wonder if what I was doing was really worth it, it bothered me, more than I had thought it would, I felt kinda resposible for bringing all my family and freinds to a sport and a specific night,  I wasnt sure,  I wasnt 100% positive I wanted to continue with.. the only person I spoke to aout it was my father, im not hired to drive, its simply a hobby of mine, a pretty serious hobby, my father had to quit racing stock cars back in the late 70's because he had two boys at home, my older brother and I, during my return to the track the following weekend,  after the Nationals, I was still bothered by it. i coudnt put my finger on why? thats a good thing, it made me find core in myself that I was human, its natural if your a honest person, I settled into my seat, took a few big breaths, I sat in the car during"quiet time" in staging routinely you find alot of time to think conversation is limited,earpieces cover with chatter, and more often your crew is doing finishing touches, other than a thumbs up that is all the conversing you really have,  shortly was pushed off, I convinced myself if our fallen drivers were here they would absolutly share this moment with me!. i ramped up the engine and never looked back, 100% attention is needed when competing. i still hold respect for injury and death in motorsport. Im doing what i love, there is 400 other ways to perish miserably. injury is tolerated, death has a different impact, I remind myself, im surrounded by the people I wish to be surrounde by at the races.. regardless,  if we all had the option, you would surround yourself with comfort when your time is up.  it could be on a plane, a commute,a bus, a train, standing at the bank, who knows..   its not racing, its higher powers that be.. back to reality...  see you at the races!

yes sir, i feel more comfortable in my sprinter than any of my snowmobiling days, in competition in a sprint your prepared for mistakes,a chassis is both for safety and construction, snowmobiling alltho fun, a guy can be bucked off,ranover, or just ditch riding you hit everything, rocks,trees,fences,wires, ect ect , at a young age its difficult to ride responsibly and not full tilt all the time, snowmobiles are fun, thier quick impressive machines, anyone that loves speed will test thier ability to perform,sadly it becomes very dangerous. luckily I was either good or lucky? I never got hurt on one..  I forgot to mention, while flipping a sprintcar its wierd, if the motor dies its complete silence, well, for me it has been too often, during flight, the only thing ive heard was my tearoffs flapping in the wind.. ya know,  when you hear that sound, hold on, its about to get rough!

Lol! No kidding these comments dont really make sprint car racing sound all that fun!  Im sure glad there are crazy brave people who do it anyways so we can WATCH... (:

What are some of the most common sprint car injuries?  And yeah Bullriders have something seriously loose in there head! lol

dirtdevil do you still race at knoville?

Thanks for your sincere answer. I've only been watching for 4 years, & wonder how I would feel if I saw somebody get killed on the track.

But something similar happened that made a point for me, in something I participate in, zydeco dancing (from Louisiana) A guy dropped dead on the dance floor, heart attack.. After getting over the shock, we all realized he went down doing what he loved. Like you said, we all gotta go sometimes.

Thanks for following your passion & entertaining us. Be safe, my brother....

kvill fan  unfortunately Knox is a 14hr drive for me, my tires have only been on the track once and it was a bit of a hazing.but, i would race there weekly if I didnt live so far away, truely its a place you have to get use too . and not for the faint of heart. we run 1/4 to 3/8 commonly, but, I still love the 1/2 miles. 

revijmk, I will, keep on keeping on.. try keep the shiney side up, and wings to the checkers first, thanks bro.

About the closeset thing I've ever done to compare toa bad sprint car "ride" is an amusemet/carnival ride called the zipper. Never got any broken bones or red eye from the zipper.

The Zipper used to be fun till Schatz started winning all the time...

Ironically, that ride was my favorite as a kid, I was a little scared to get on it, but once I took my first ride, i wouldnt get off it for hours!

hehttp://www.onedirt.com/videos/dirt-track-racing-all-videos/joey-saldana-reveals-what-makes-him-tick-as-a-driver/re is a guy that has had his share of Injury and success in a sprinter, thought I would share

Good Saldana piece. Know what you like, do your best, deal with the consequences. Thanks

Thanks for the description of ur horrific wreck !  This just adds to my feeling of anybody that straps into one of these beasts has my admiration and respect. I also now believe even more that anyone who utters the words " I hate (insert driver name)" should be kicked in the balls until said balls bleed or have flatspots on them.  One question....what transpired to cause the wreck?

Honestly, sice im being honest here. i defiently wasnt competing for the win, i was just happy after that drive there  14hrs, and my new 410 under the hood, AND to be turning laps at the "sprint car capital of the world", I was GETTING MY ASS HANDED TO ME!  it was th efinal lap of the second 410 heat race for the night, i was going a lap down, my lap times were almost a full 3/4 second off the regulars.. i was fine with that i just wanted the seat time to get aquainted, and in actuallity SK couldnt make my car quicker with the equipment I have vs the competitors, thats just fact, so with that being said i was pretty happy to just be there. the 360's dont pay sh%t, i dont have one, and i get more track time with the 410, qualifying is something i have been working on and theres only one way to better yourself, keep on keping on,  ANYwho, I was getting lapped, i came off of four fairly smooth and towards the top of the exit, with the increase top grove speed i wiggled a little off the corner, (the car got loose, not uncontrolably loose just skipped out a touch, i move up the track and pinched someone that was Maybe? trying to go around mye on the outside, I dunno, i never seen him or heard him i dont recall hearing him close, (these cars you can sometimes hear another car,BUT that does not mean you know where they are at, your vission is limited to just what is going on in front of you, AND THAT IS IT .. nothing more, I rubbed my RR on his LF, i felt the car kinda suck down on the rearend, like a elephant had stepped on the bumper, the car quickly got upset and turnd outward towards the front streach wall, I countersteared and thought i had it saved, it was too late i was carrying too much speed, the car then lurged up on the front end with mybe the LF only touching the ground, the frontend then dug into the raceway and it was history after that, quick and to the point, one sec i was happy to take the checkers the next sec i was laying on my side ,couldnt breath, smoke pooring off the engine, and i was gasping for air, the first voice i heard was one person, scratching the back of my neck and asking if i was ok.. not 4 people asking the same question over and over, one gentelman was standing in my line of vission looking me square in the eyes and letting the other lady do the talking. truely a class act im greatfull for thier quick responce and professionalism,  I didnt realize how screwed up i was, I wonderd the pits for the night with virtualy no vission out of my left teye, i took the ride in the ambulance and said my ABC's and 123's i went to my trailer to see my chassis all "F"ed up, i wanted to see if it was fixable, the front downtube was kinked, oiltank cut, ect ect, my words to the crew were"guess this one is done", we traveled to Souix falls the next night in hopes to catch sunday show and maybe watch (we were going to tace there on the retun trip home) after the long hospital wait in Knox we arrived late, i refrained from taking my pain meds ect, we had a few beers and BBQed at the motel room/trailer, we ecected to go swimming and hit on the hotel staff instead, besides I was kinda talking walking and looking like a pirate,   ARRRR you ready for another beer..?

I wish I could get a couple of guys that I know to read what you have posted on here because everytime I go to the races they would ask were there any good wrecks and I would look them right in the eye and just tell them there is no such thing as a good wreck and then I would have to bite my tongue and just walk away. I said it before I just hope this changes some poeples mind on going to the races and hoping to see some wrecks. Hope to see you at Knoxville again someday.

I used to wonder what went through a drivers head after one of those big diggers that kills a car.  Then I had one.  Strangely enough, as I got out of the ambulance and walked toward the pile of pieces behind my trailer, my first two thoughts were:  1.  "Well, I guess it's time to build a new one", and 2. "I sure with I had a spare in the trailer, I'd really like to race tonight".  This was after riding out a wreck into the turn 3 concrete at Lincoln (PA) when the brake rotor exploded.

 I was knocked out, and as it turned out I had herniated a disc in my back, but I sure didn't feel as bad as dirtdevil did.  I was able to drive 7 hours home that night, and the damage was limited to my sciatic nerve.  Unfortunately that feels like a knife in the hamstring, but still nothing compared to what many other long time drivers have been through.

its strange, I kinda did the same thing, with the exception of my eye I felt fine, I dont think I knew how big of a wreck i was just in, (a guy doesnt think clearly after something like this)  I didnt look over the car at all on the track, I was kinda wisked away from the wreck, I returned to the trailer and my crew had the car on the stands, it wouldnt sit square on the stands anymore, it was apparent after i walked up fron tan seen the damage we were done. it must be second nature to try see what can be repaired, out of the, gosh ? I dont know how many anymore,  the wrecks ive been in that have crushed a wing and minor chassis damage   we have been able to rebuild,drive to the next location (200mi) and race the next night.. so it kinda becomes a different objective after the wreck to just ge the car running again. the racing and being competitve is put on hold until you see how the car works .  91ri  that doesnt sound fun, is that from swelling or slip disc type damage? did it return to normal function? I know Jake Peters took a wreck a few years back and had two black eyes from the impact, even if your car stops your internal organs dont, its amazing how much internal bruising your body will endure in a wreck, and of course your brain is floating in fuild, 91ri its good thing you didnt have a spare car, if you understand what you just did you would be begging for a catastrophic disaster, your family should make sure your spare car is at least 24hrs away from running, a head injury that you may not know you suffered from could be fatal if experianced again, OR you could be in a vegtible state for yout near ones to attend to you 24/7. simply walk away, enjoy the races as a spectator, I have sidelined my car when it was running good, i had to do alot of explaining one evening why I wasnt racing, I came up with a lie that sounded good, truth was, my blood pressure wasnt under control, im also diabetic, thus the close watch on my levels vs  rather than someone that is less effected by disease ect,   if i took a tumble my Dr said i would be at high risk for perminant damage, get physicals done during race season, even if your a tone altheletic type build, it may keep you in the seat and not in a wheelchair.. just a FYI, goodluck this season!

dirtdevil-

   The back is pretty good now, if I work out it behaves, if I get lax it can cause me some pain, but I can play sports and race just fine.  The nerve pain was from swelling, but a couple of doctors missed the root cause, the physical therapist figured it out and fixed me in 3 visits.

Now a days I don't think that the guys would put the gears in the car if I took a hard hit and tried to race again.  They know that I would try to race no matter what, and also that I don't NEED to be in the car so there is no reason to play chicken with a concussion. 

good to hear, my crew is in the medical field by profession, kinda a querky tradeoff getting thier fingers dirty, but i think that is the appealing part?  Its good your crew understands it better when your judgement may be impaired, keeping your spine limber is best allaround for you anyway, glad you understand your body and it is not a perminant issue as long as you stay on top of it,   regardless, we were attending a race at RRVS a few years back, we gathered by a dip in the corner that would absolutly swallow a car, we knew the sh%t was going to hit the fan there, quite a few laps went by that cars made thier way thro the dip with a bobble but no major troubles, soon two cars entered the corner close and low near the dip/rut, one was Steve Kinser, somehow he hit the trouble and his car shot up the track almost dead strait for the wall, he basically tried to knock the concrete wall down. the car was absolutly tore to sh%t, frontend went one direction, the fuecell and ther pieces went over the wall in the other, we though twe just witnessed a death, unbeliveable how that car ripped apart.. Steve got out and walked away, later we joked he walked away like a hulk that just ate a baby.. im pretty sure he made his way to the hauler and puked. we didnt see him the rest of the night, Not taking anything away from Kinser, he was 8-10 years younger then, but anybody has to feel like crap after something like that, and these guys (the pro's) saddle up and get on with it the next day..  100% respect, but in the medical aspect, proubly not the safe thing to do..

Posted By: B2racing on January 31 2014 at 07:02:11 PM About the closeset thing I've ever done to compare toa bad sprint car "ride" is an amusemet/carnival ride called the zipper. Never got any broken bones or red eye from the zipper.

Good thing the wreck doesnt last as long! lol