Mike in Chi

Bill

glad to hear you're on the mend.

And thank you for passing on your hard earned lesson to the rest of us. I'm sure it will leave it's mark.

all the best for a quick recovery for both you and the car.

Mike

78SC

Glad to see you came out relatively okay. That turn you went off in seemed to be one of the only areas with guardrail close to the track. I had fun dicing with you up to that point and look forward to your and the car's return to the track.

Lawson

RedlineMan

Hi Bill;

I don't mean to pile on here at all, and I doubt anyone can beat you up more than you are doing yourself, but for everyone spectating from the outside I can say that it takes very little effort whatever to do something incredibly stupid in the heat of the moment. Everyone is due for one some time in their life. If this was your one, while you pushed it a bit far, you have nonetheless fulfilled your obligation and lived to tell. Not everyone is so lucky, and for the benefit of everyone else, that is quite my point. You of course know this... now.

I too understand such situations, if indirectly. This article I wrote was MY effort to come to terms with what it is that we do, and its potential cost.

http://redlinerennsport.homestead.co...Ed19sword.html

What I would really like to say is that while I am also dubious as to your pre-accident thought process, I am INCREDIBLY IMPRESSED by your bravery in offering this up to us rail birds as testament to the Dark Side. I know of many that have not been "so large in stature."

What is most important is not that you made a mistake and learned, but that you are man enough to face the music and try and help others to avoid such travail. It takes great personal courage to do such a thing, and for what it is worth to you, I am mightily impressed by your resolve. I am willing to wager that your Karma is well restored.

All the best to you in your physical and emotional recovery. Give a shout anytime if you need to chat. You're among friends!!

M758

Bill,
Sorry to hear the incident. Wish you a speedy recovery.

Like John said you deserve alot of credit for they way you handling this stiuation. People make mistakes and errors in judgment, but how we learn from them determines if they will happen again. Honestly I think all of us have done something on that track that we think about now and wonder why. Sometime the result was "a close one" and sometimes the result was more. It is important to be honest with yourself face up to what you did wrong. If you don't you are doomed to repeat it.

Bill, it is very rare for someone to be so honest as to inform so many other of your mistakes and errors in judgement. I repect how you have handled this and do hope that others (along with myself) use this information and experinece to my our track days safer. A very good point you made was about not just consideirng the risk to you and your car, but to the others out there too. That is something we all to often forget. Yep I might be willing to take the risk for me, but is it worth the risk for the guy next to me?

Wish you the best!

Carrera51

Bill:
I am sorry that this happened, but you can replace/fix the car, your family cannot replace you. I also applaud you for sharing this with the rest of us, eventhough in doing so, opening yourself up to criticism. I wish you a speedy recovery.

JC in NY

For those of you who have not had the privilege of meeting Bill I can assure you he is man of exceptional character; it does not surprise me the manner in which he has handled this incident. I wish you a speedy recovery Bill.

trumperZ06

Bill, I wish you a speedy recovery and expect that you'll be back to 100 PERCENT, shortly.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope I and others can learn from this mis-hap.

Best of luck !!!

Dbltime

Thanks to all for the kind words. Good therapy, I feel like less of an idiot but not much. Humpty Dumpty and ole yeller will be back on track a wiser egg very soon... well maybe not "very", but 2 months. No more watching NASCAR for me.

Sun Ra

bill,
thank you for sharing this. it takes a lot of courage and self knowledge to do so. and neophytes like myself learn critical lessons by heeding you.

God bless you and swift return.

kary993

Bill,

I hope you are well and thank you for sharing your story with us!

SkipSauls

Bill,

I'm glad that you're okay, and wish you the best during your recovery. Posts like yours are always sobering, but they serve as a reminder that there is risk and danger involved in this sport that we've chosen to participate in. It's remarkable that there are relatively few incidents at most PCA Club Races, which is a testament to the club, the drivers, and even the cars.

Keep your spirits up and get well soon so that you can get back out there.

RSRRacer

Bill:

Ivan told me about the incident and why you were missing on Sunday.....

This is the same place I had an accident in my black 996 about 3 years ago.

Thankfully you invested in quality saftey devices. A few broken ribs and a bent car can be fixed.

You will come out of this a safer, faster, better driver!

Good luck over the next few months and thanks for sharing.

Chris Brown

Stuttgart

Bill,
I'm sorry to hear about your incident, but glad you are okay. As someone who has raced with you, I never felt that you were unsafe or out of control. You are a good driver and I look forward to sharing the track with you in the future.
As they say, "thats part of racing", but either way shunts are not fun.

Just look at it this way, now you have an excuse to complete the RSR look w/ the bolt-on flares.

Out of curiosity, did your 3.8L have the slide valve throttle bodies, i hear they are known for sticking.

Dbltime

I have no idea Phil. I will deliver the car in the next week and have the problem isolated. Autometrics and I both feel certain the problem is under the pedal in the linkage assy. I have always slammed the pedal down not exactly a smooth transition so I could have damaged something from my abuse. The new set up is pretty simple with a external cable running outside the tranny tunnel.

Skip, My car will look closer to yours in 2 months.

On a lighter side I was giving buckets of racing advise to a rookie candidate in GT2S that probably had 3X more track time than I. New to racing but a very good driver. As time progressed we communicated more and more until my crash. After that he looked at me with eyes the size of soft *****. "this is the guy I am taking racing advise from?". Oh well it is not a perfect world.

Phil, Thanks for the good driver comment... I will forward your post to my wife ;>

DCLee

Bill:

Listen.. it was a learning experience (just like my boneheaded move at the Potomac Club Race when I assumed a slower car would move over for me). Rest up, get better, fix the car, and keep chugging. You have made incredible progress as a driver in a very short time and you're a great guy to be around at the track, so let's focus on the bright side.

Cuzzin' Lee

(I can authoritatively report that being out on the campaign trail is not as much fun as racing... )