stownsen914

I was at the event when this unfortunate incident occurred. I did not see it occur, but can comment on the arrangement of the staging and pit out cones. There were cones marking the staging and pit out area, and there were pit workers guiding cars along the route marked "Staging" in the aerial shot in the post above. There were also cones marking the pit in route -- for this past Friday's event it was the same as marked "Pit in" above. The driver who entered the track going the wrong way may have seen the pit in cones and thought they were staging/pit out cones ...

Jscaramella

Hope the drivers are ok. NNJR has a pretty good saftey track record.
+1 on the north end being crap. South end is ok.

Potomac-Greg

Did my first ever DE there. It gives me a better appreciation for Summit.

DrJupeman

Pretty cool that this satellite shot actually shows the North Course being used!

roberga

So much for eyes up driving. How in the world the organizers could have the potential not covered with staff workers.

Hoosier_Daddy

Hi Charlie ...

Not only is the North Course in use, but I was told it was taken during a NNJR event and I believe there is a thread on our site about the Google Map shot. Story goes that someone with more time than myself actually inquired about the day and time of the sat pic and it coincided with NNJR. Looking closely I believe this to be the case as I "think" I see my truck and trailer parked in my usual place along the back fence.

Unfortunate event on Friday, however, thank goodness everyone will recover. My guess is something like that won't happen for another forty years of track.

-HD

Hoosier_Daddy

Let's begin to count the ways ... September 11th. and the Credit Crisis that hit the fan last summer come to mind. It's always easy to point fingers after the fact. Human error is a fact of life and will continue to test even the most thoughtful of any organization.

chrisp

I've only been a couple of times but if the mis-guided driver was aiming for the apex of what he thinks is turn 1 (where the flagger stands) then it's a relatively blind turn because of the high armco. The driver about to exit the track would have the same visual obstruction (although I have never personally run in that direction) and I would think that two cars could come together right there pretty easily if they are running in opposite directions.

Jimbo951

It was the April 2005 NNJR Pocono 1 Event.

- Reddogger

AC coupe

I was told the recent repaving of Summit went bad and it now is worse than before, Is this fact or a hyperfest alcohol induced hallucination?

Phokaioglaukos

I was there yesterday. Those who raced at Hyperfest and yesterday said the track was better yesterday by a good margin. The rash (Swiss cheese effect) on the T1 and T5 patches were ice-like at Hyperfest (I was told) and drivers had to straddle those spots. Yesterday they were extremely rough and bumpy but had reasonable grip. The repave, and the re-repave, has not been successful, though.

Potomac-Greg

Yes, it was a textbook example of trying to save a few bucks. It was repaved in the dead of winter (when most people know better than to pave), right over the broken pavement/concrete. It held up for about 5 months. I hear that they're putting patches and sealer down, but that sealer gets very slick when wet. It's probably not worse than it was before, but it's getting there. They also did a ****-poor job grading the run-off areas, so there are some nasty drop-offs to deal with.

Everyone's jealous of the lucky ones who set record lap times during the few months when the track was smooth and grippy!

srf506

Gee, all f those comments on how bumpy the infield sections are at PIR, but the last time i was there (about 7 years ago) I thought it was in a lot better shape than Sebring.

roberga

HTF do you connect those issues to f*cking up at the most basic of track safety?

Potomac-Greg

I think the point was that you prepare for all eventualities, but no system is failsafe.