As most of you know I had the misfortune of significant off the racing surface contact with concrete at speed. Concrete won. Months later I delivered the car to GT Performance in Edgewood Maryland. The crew at GT Performance worked to remove the car from the trailer. When I got my first full view of the car I was sure it was now a parts car. I asked Bill (chief race car reincarnation engineer at GTP) if the car was fixable. "I can fix anything" was his reply. Great attiude but I had my doubts.
http://gallery.rennlist.com/albums/P...sh_1.sized.jpg

GT Performance wasted no time. This is my Sebring race car on Jan 8, 2005.

http://gallery.rennlist.com/albums/P...an_8.sized.jpg

Thanks to the power of Rennlist we located a full front clip from Hergesheimer Motorsports in Southern California. The people at Hergesheimer went above and beyond the call of duty cutting the new clip back past the factory weld points in the cockpit and crating her up for the trip.

After 4 days of drilling out the welds, grinding, aligning and welding GTP had ole yellow "whole" again to unbelievable tollerances. Bill at GTP knew what he was saying about fixing anything.
Photo taken Jan 13th I think.
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Next problem is we need a fuel cell and Fuel Safe cannot build one in time. Rennlist again comes through with Chris Cervelli shipping a 100L cell.

GTP is now fitting the body parts getting ready for paint.

A huge THANK YOU to Gennady, Igor, Bill and all the crew at GT Performance for doing a great job with a complex project.
Look forward to "contact free" fun race event at SEBRING!

 

Wow. I hope you weren't hurt in what must have been a HUGE impact.

It really is amazing to see what can be resurrected from the destruction! It's looking great so far.

Best of luck.

 

Wow lots of TEAMwork went into that car. Congrats on having such good friends and getting the car done on time (not to mention escaping injury in the crash )

Happy racing !

 

Bill was hurt in the off, we like him even more now as he carries a supply of titanium in house so to speak....
Luv Ya Bro!

 

Having helped push what was left of the car into the trailer at the Point I'm not sure now who the tougher son-of-a bitch is you or the car. Best of luck for a great race at Sebring.

 

Looking good, Bill. Best of luck at Sebring. Wish I could go.

 

The guys at GT Performance are great. While my Trailblazer isn't as exotic as Bill's RSR (although at $17K in repairs, it might have been just as expensive), they still fixed it 6 weeks quicker than other shops quoted and I had the piece of mind of having 'Bill' work on my car as he was working on Bill W's.

 

Congrats Bill. Glad the car and you are back in one piece. Good luck this year.

E. J.

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone. The "incident" took its toll on me for two reasons. First the crash ended my racing for the foreseeable future but second it brought my running career to a abrupt halt. I love running ( about 25 marathons) and my morning run is how I sort out my business day. BUT the good news is that this unnecessary experience has made me very aware of the safety requirements of our sport. I was cavalier about safety before the wreck but now... Hans/6 point/fire system... You may be the most focused driver on the track but you are co existing with a huge mix of ability.

When frontal impact is imminent do not brace yourself on the pedals and wheel. Let the harness and seat do their jobs and avoid the splintering bone(s)

My wreck did not take place during red hot racing but a laid back first practice session on my home track. So drivers be advised... you may be having a relaxed practice session but the cars around you may be in full attack mode.

Think safety and enjoy the sport!

 

Bill,
Did you ever find out who the culprit was that pushed you off track?
Glad to hear you are coming back, your picture should be in the dictionary under persistence or perserverance. My guess is your wife has a few other suggestions as well!

 

Bill, great to see humpty dumpty back together again. Stop by our the trailer at sebring and we'll make sure those throttle bodies are up to snuff

 

Great to see you & car back in track!

Hopefully I'm able to come down there on Saturday, I couldn't sign up early enough because I didn't know my travle schedule but I want to come up and say hi and see them turtles run!

Bill, with titanium ***** I'm expecting you to fly!

 

Look forward to seeing you at Sebring!

 

These cars are amazing. Some of the damage they go through, and they just keep resurrecting them.

Good Luck on the Sebring event.

 

Wow Bill, first picture I've seen of the aftermath. You are meant for more in your life surviving that episode. Keep any of the parts for garage art? Also, keep pictures of the broken car handy to remind yourself of the dangers. My reminder came at Atlanta under the same senario, second practice session.

As for the running, I was told to give it up this year as well. 25 years of it behind me now. What a major life change. I did though go out and purchase a nice road bike. That is very good exercise.