ckdc

No problem retelling it. I was also wearing one of those foam neck collars as well. As I was sliding backwards/sideways I had turned my head to the right to see if I was going to clear the wall. I remember impacting the wall first with the front then slapping the side when my head was still turned to the right. I'm pretty sure my head rotated horizontally far enough (ear to shoulder is correct) that my helmet hit the passenger seat which, to this day, seems almost impossible when I'm strapped in, but it def hit something. I heard the crack inside my helmet (eerie) but it just sounded like my neck cracking like you might experience occasionally.

I just remember the impact was loud as **** and after I walked off the track I was having an odd feeling when I tried to swallow. That's when I sat down in a spectators car and he held my neck til the EMT got there.

I fractured both of my facets on C2 which are the rear wishbone shaped extensions that surround the spinal cord. They are not that functional in general, and sometimes are removed completely in patients with chronic disc pain and inflammation

I think HANS is designed to protect from a basilar skull fracture which is when the base of the skull that connects to C1 fractures when the skull is hyperextended forward-

HANS summary and racer deaths listed here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilar_skull_fracture

Thanks for the comments- If Schumi can comeback from a broken neck then so can I!

kurt M

Where do you get this info from or is this just your opinion?