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13 Posts
Guys, I know alot of you had heard or have wondered where I have been(or Not..lol) the last few months(especially on the board). Well I have been dealing with insurance companies of sorts and other issues to boot. (see the attachment below)
Back on June 30th I went to California Speedway for a race with Speed Ventures as a tune up for the big event with TCCRA in July. I had bought new scrubbed tires from Goodyear(the same ones I was running at OTC for the whole week) They are great tires if they are the right size...which brings me too why I have not been around in awhile. Ran the first practice session on a smaller set of tires that we about gone. Came back in and put the new set of 28' rears on and went out to qualify. Ran 2 seconds faster than I had ever run at Cal Speedway.
Qualified 2nd next to my buddy Doug.. we were only 10ths of seconds off of each others times. ( I'm thinking another epic battle between us again..) They drop the green flag and were off I get Doug going into turn 3(entrance into the infield) stayed close for the next 2 or 3 turns continue to put space between us. By the time I came out of the infield back on to the oval I must have been 3 or 4 seconds ahead of him( I kept thinking what happened to Doug) I was on a mission to put as much space between Doug and myself. The Radicals are a real threat and I needed to get a big lead to fight them off. On the front straight I was hitting speeds of over 160mph going into turn 1 and holding it there coming into turn 2... I start to smell rubber. Well this went on for 3 more laps, seeing the smoke and smelling the rubber. By this time I had a huge lead on Doug and every-time I looked back at him to see where he was at...The Radicals were all over him like a swarm of Bees. Two of the Radicals had made it around him and were gaining on me FAST . By the time I get back on the oval there were 2 radicals giving me the fits.. i go into turn 1 full out. Radical is down below me about 2 or 3 car lengths behind. I start talking to myself and say "don't you lift hold it hold it" just as I am getting through turn 1 at the apex I here a "ppppppsssssssssssssst". Oh My GOD I'm blowing a right rear tire... car takes off.. rear to the wall....counter steer.....facing down at the bottom of the track now....counter again...rear to the wall.. I knew at this point this was not gong to be pretty...talking to myself again..."this is going to HURT" at that moment I hit the outside wall at the top of turn 2...on the right rear side of the car..once it hit it swung the front end sideways to the wall...
Now I know there were cars behind me and beside me at this point..."have to hold the car against the wall".. which I did. I hit at such a speed(around 145mph ) that my momentum carried me all the way around to the entry of turn 3. Once the car had settled I start to come to my senses of what just happened. I was in sooooo much pain I could not hardly move. I immediately called for the corner worked to come get me out of my car. At that point I unstrapped and slowly got out of the car.....My ribs hurt so bad I could hardly breath. They had to bring an ambulance over to escort me off the track. On a funny note, when I got in the ambulance The guy asked me where it hurt and I showed him my ribs on my right side. Then he said I need to ask you a few questions......first "how old are you?...I paused...and paused and blurted out "I'm 32"! Well he went on and asked me a series of additional questions. When he was done I said .."can we go back to question 1...."Im 42" he just laughed.
One thing I would like to add Safety. Yes it was my fault for putting on those larger tires and not stopping when i saw them rubbing. HUGH mistake on my part. But the Neck collar saved my life..in my opinion. If i did not have it on...my neck would have snapped violently to the right. (The seat itself moved 4 inches to the center). I had no neck injury at all after the hit. Not even sore over the next 5 days after the incident. So people who say the neck collar is no good.....I would have to disagree.
I wanted to thank everyone for there phone calls and the tremendous amount of help after the accident. You guys all rock.
Ryan was nice enough to take my in-car camera and put it on a web page. you can see what happens in the Video. When you open the below attachment..click on Video then click on the last file listed...its the best quality. You will need Quick Time to view.
If you look at the pictures that Ryan put up on the attachment you will see the only thing left of the back window was my PMUM sitcker... intact and now sitting in my office!!!
http://www.midnight.net/~ryan/jdcs0621sv/
Oh and if my spelling is wrong....tough shit...
John " I will be back" Dearing
Back on June 30th I went to California Speedway for a race with Speed Ventures as a tune up for the big event with TCCRA in July. I had bought new scrubbed tires from Goodyear(the same ones I was running at OTC for the whole week) They are great tires if they are the right size...which brings me too why I have not been around in awhile. Ran the first practice session on a smaller set of tires that we about gone. Came back in and put the new set of 28' rears on and went out to qualify. Ran 2 seconds faster than I had ever run at Cal Speedway.
Qualified 2nd next to my buddy Doug.. we were only 10ths of seconds off of each others times. ( I'm thinking another epic battle between us again..) They drop the green flag and were off I get Doug going into turn 3(entrance into the infield) stayed close for the next 2 or 3 turns continue to put space between us. By the time I came out of the infield back on to the oval I must have been 3 or 4 seconds ahead of him( I kept thinking what happened to Doug) I was on a mission to put as much space between Doug and myself. The Radicals are a real threat and I needed to get a big lead to fight them off. On the front straight I was hitting speeds of over 160mph going into turn 1 and holding it there coming into turn 2... I start to smell rubber. Well this went on for 3 more laps, seeing the smoke and smelling the rubber. By this time I had a huge lead on Doug and every-time I looked back at him to see where he was at...The Radicals were all over him like a swarm of Bees. Two of the Radicals had made it around him and were gaining on me FAST . By the time I get back on the oval there were 2 radicals giving me the fits.. i go into turn 1 full out. Radical is down below me about 2 or 3 car lengths behind. I start talking to myself and say "don't you lift hold it hold it" just as I am getting through turn 1 at the apex I here a "ppppppsssssssssssssst". Oh My GOD I'm blowing a right rear tire... car takes off.. rear to the wall....counter steer.....facing down at the bottom of the track now....counter again...rear to the wall.. I knew at this point this was not gong to be pretty...talking to myself again..."this is going to HURT" at that moment I hit the outside wall at the top of turn 2...on the right rear side of the car..once it hit it swung the front end sideways to the wall...
Now I know there were cars behind me and beside me at this point..."have to hold the car against the wall".. which I did. I hit at such a speed(around 145mph ) that my momentum carried me all the way around to the entry of turn 3. Once the car had settled I start to come to my senses of what just happened. I was in sooooo much pain I could not hardly move. I immediately called for the corner worked to come get me out of my car. At that point I unstrapped and slowly got out of the car.....My ribs hurt so bad I could hardly breath. They had to bring an ambulance over to escort me off the track. On a funny note, when I got in the ambulance The guy asked me where it hurt and I showed him my ribs on my right side. Then he said I need to ask you a few questions......first "how old are you?...I paused...and paused and blurted out "I'm 32"! Well he went on and asked me a series of additional questions. When he was done I said .."can we go back to question 1...."Im 42" he just laughed.
One thing I would like to add Safety. Yes it was my fault for putting on those larger tires and not stopping when i saw them rubbing. HUGH mistake on my part. But the Neck collar saved my life..in my opinion. If i did not have it on...my neck would have snapped violently to the right. (The seat itself moved 4 inches to the center). I had no neck injury at all after the hit. Not even sore over the next 5 days after the incident. So people who say the neck collar is no good.....I would have to disagree.
I wanted to thank everyone for there phone calls and the tremendous amount of help after the accident. You guys all rock.
Ryan was nice enough to take my in-car camera and put it on a web page. you can see what happens in the Video. When you open the below attachment..click on Video then click on the last file listed...its the best quality. You will need Quick Time to view.
If you look at the pictures that Ryan put up on the attachment you will see the only thing left of the back window was my PMUM sitcker... intact and now sitting in my office!!!
http://www.midnight.net/~ryan/jdcs0621sv/
Oh and if my spelling is wrong....tough shit...
John " I will be back" Dearing
