Today's racing "OH SNAP" moment
 

Brought to you by Ricky Johnson - skip to the 3:15 mark if you want to go straight to the action...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL2Dp...ature=youtu.be

WOAH ****!!!

Didn't expect that. At all. Corner worker should have been waving a brown flag...

-td

WTF was He doing?!?! DRIVING AGAINST TRAFFIC AT THE WORST BLIND CORNER ON THE TRACK!!!????

Damn lucky, did you guys hit? Plenty of spins in that corner can't imagine ANY reason to recover that direction....yikes.

OK, so I watched the whole thing. The first three minutes brought back every bad memory I had of Firebird from 25-nearly 30 years ago. Looks like all that's changed is the K-wall extends all the way to T1. (What's a decent lap time? I remember HAND TIMING SCCA Trans Am there, probably '84, and I got Paul Miller on the pole in his 924 Turbo at almost 1:00 flat. No way, no how was I much under 1:20 in my ITB Scirocco.)

So I guess what I can conclude is that if something completely off the wall could occur on any track anywhere, Firebird would be near the top of the list...........

Good lord! What an asshole!

I would have had a one on one conversation with that cretin afterwards that would have made him soil his pants & give up racing. :mad::mad:

Love the slo mo sound, Oooohhhh Shhhiiiittttt

That's insane. Driving counter race at a blind corner - someone needs a time out with while wearing the dunce cap.

I will give him the benefit of doubt, he is normally a very fast and clean driver, I wonder if he was waved around by the corner worker or something, way out of character, maybe somebody else in the car?

Are you kidding? Would you drive counter course for any reason beyond a Polish victory lap?

No (see above^^^ still a major brain fart) just saying it's way out of character for this driver.

It's not uncommon to have a car spin into the inside of that corner due to the slippery end of the dragstrip and endup backwards on the inside wall, only way I would move is if a corner worker cleared me and waved me around. Dangerous place to either sit or recover. I've seen some bad signals by corner workers as well...

Good reaction!
Corner workers shouldn't let him do it.
Got lucky...

Driver had no way to turn around, after he spun on the straight coming out of 12, without taking up the line on the straight. He is a vey professional driver in all regards. He wouldnt of done it unless he had no other choice. Dunno if the corner worker called it in for turn ten to go yellow. Just glad both drivers had no contact.

This is why race cars are equipped with a reverse gear. :rolleyes:

So the driver spun, so rather than just park the car/stay where he is, he decides to drive the other way?

I'll bet he won't try it again. Had to be an even bigger Oh **** moment for him since he was going too slow to maneuver much.

Never mind, just watched it again, in the middle of the track driving the wrong way...wtf...

I would have blown through my shorts, suit and seat...nice save Rick...that would have been expensive...

Yeah - the driver is normally a very clean driver. I think he doesn't know or can't get that car into reverse easily. I have been told by others that they have video showing he could have turned and reversed and gone in the direction of the track. Also, I saw him at grid go by his grid spot and he got out of his car, put it in neutral and pushed it back to get to his spot. Which is why I make the reverse statement.

Anyways, the corner workers all say they did not wave him and that he made that move on his own and they were like WTF?! I think he couldn't make the u-turn and then had to drive through the apex of the blind corner.

It would have been about $230k in damage to his pocketbook if he totaled both cars.

I am back at the track today. Yesterday was a good day other than this moment in time.

Four 1st place finishes! 1st in class - Porsche; 1st in class - MINI; 1st in class Time Trial - Porsche; 1st in class Time Trial - MINI.

Ricky

Seems like you AZ guys are giving this guy a bit of a pass on this and I'm sure he's
"normally" a good drover, but perhaps the guy needs to PRACTICE putting his cup car in reverse before venturing out on track. Seriously, if you need to get out of your car to push it back into his spot and later going against traffic after a spin because you can't put it in reverse, then you don't belong on track, period!

+1

Doesn't matter how this guy has driven before, if it wasn't for amazing fast reflexes of the car with the camera, that would've been a head on collision with bad consequences in a move that has absolutely no excuses.

+2.

Like I said on page 1.....someone needs to have a serious pow-wow with him.... :rolleyes:

+3. No excuse is acceptable for that maneuver. Great save Ricky...

holy crap! :eek:

Nice save.
Would have been cooler if you cut between him and the wall tho.:eek:

O-M-G. Nice avoidance. That was really bizarre!

+4

That was a brutal combination of stupidity and insanity.
Watching the video my first reflex was to keep turning in tighter... as he was initially aiming off the track to your right. Amazing save.

He must have gone to the Sato School of re-entering the track.:rolleyes::icon107:

Ricky,

Great save!:rockon: Did that guy buy you a new set of underwear?

First I'm watching this video and starting to think that this is one **** track.
Then this guy appears out of nowhere and now I'm convinced.

HOLY CRAP!!! Great save bud. Serious Code Brown.

C.

Great save.
I didn't see that coming at all. I would hope that I would have the same reaction as you did.

What? Droving counter race is a nono?!






<--- ;)

Nice miss. (as an aside, I think its time for a video camera upgrade)

Holy Crap.... I soiled myself a little just watching...

Or maybe a different mount. You're shaking that poor thing to pieces!

WTF - however great reaction time. I bet your eyes were the widest they have ever been

LOL - after they saw the video they tightened it up. Subsequent recordings seem a lot better!

What?

It is. Sadly, I've still got more laps in there than anywhere else except Thunderhill. And you wouldn't believe how the track was first configured--there was a chicane about halfway down (maybe 1000 ft from the dragstrip lights) that went LEFT INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC with only the K-wall separating things. That lasted about the first SCCA season, then the chicane went to the right at about the 1/4 mile point. We'd only go straight all the way to T1 when we'd run under the lights at night in the summer.

I was there on Opening Day in the fall of '83 in the Showroom Stock RX7 I'd end up taking to my first SCCA school at Holtville. Oh wait, Firebird is state-of-the-art compared to what Holtville was. Anyone here have to dodge carrot drying if you went a bit off course?

you obviously did not leave racing room :)

A crazy stupid move.

This is scary when you realize that a NORMALLY GOOD AND SAFE DRIVER can make a stupid decision in a split second so he doesn't loose too much positions. Racing is a risky business, especially when inexperienced amateurs make-up most of the grid... we are crazy !

Don't kid yourself. I once paid for damage I caused to another, but that's not how it usually goes.

We agree on this one, Gums.

Paying for damage is sometimes appropriate, but you can't expect it.

Video from a fellow racer - showing where he was on the track before going the wrong way...I think it confirms the "hard to get into reverse" hypothesis...

http://youtu.be/XqvbdCYe4g0

Then he needs to learn how to do donuts....

my thoughts exactly... I would have been doing a brodie out of there faster than you could say "WTF!"...

that vid makes his error even worse. He was that far down the track and came back?

+1
Totally nuts.

+2.

He doesn't need a serious conversation.

he needs a serious beatdown.

Ricky- holy schmoly! I would of been soooooo pissed if I were you.
Fixing reverse is cheaper than what could of happened. They should of parked him the rest of the weekend. That was really, really dumb.

Rick, I have no idea why anyone would think going backwards there is a good idea. That is a spot that unless you drive out quciky and safely going forward you just park it till they go FCY. Jus too much risk.

At least there is time to react from the blind apex to where he was stalled and could have moved backward. Worst case, he could have move forward off line outside the corner where there is more room and where someone coming the other side of the blind apex could see him. Going at the apex in a blind corner was just insane.

It happens to the best...