Reason #1 not to skimp on safety equipment
#17
Spell Checker
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Agreed that is some scary ****. The lack of speed reduction while going sideways was shocking, but then again, there isn't much there but asphalt and a little gravel there I think. I hope your friend pulls out OK and gets back to wheeling soon.
#19
Rennlist Member
Glad to hear he is OK, although it sounds like he still sustained some serious injuries. Lots of places with not a lot of runoff at RA, especially given the speeds you can carry. Good reminder of how dependent we are on our equipment.
#20
Three Wheelin'
Holy S*%t! That a scary one. Amazing that he found the hole so he didn't take anyone else out. Hopefully recovery goes well and quickly, and he is out of the hospital and back in the car soon.
#21
Burning Brakes
Unfortunately, he appears to have a long road to recovery. This is from an Andy Lally piece for Speed.com:
"Before anything else, I’d like to express my sincere best wishes for my Kinetic teammate, Mark Pombo. Mark had a major crash going in to Canada Corner on Friday morning, one of the highest speed parts of the track. He broke his collar bone, his jaw, and took a big hit to the head. Unfortunately, Mark has a long recovery ahead of him, and all of us wish the very best for him and his family. Whatever else transpired over the weekend, my thoughts were never far from Mark and the Pombo family."
"Before anything else, I’d like to express my sincere best wishes for my Kinetic teammate, Mark Pombo. Mark had a major crash going in to Canada Corner on Friday morning, one of the highest speed parts of the track. He broke his collar bone, his jaw, and took a big hit to the head. Unfortunately, Mark has a long recovery ahead of him, and all of us wish the very best for him and his family. Whatever else transpired over the weekend, my thoughts were never far from Mark and the Pombo family."
#22
Rennlist Member
Yeah, I had a feeling, yet the commentators implied that he "walked away", I didn't think so.
Gotta love Lally, he always seems to be clear in his thoughts and interviews, rarely the pre-scripted crap.
I've broken lots of collar bones, more worried about the hit to the head.
Gotta love Lally, he always seems to be clear in his thoughts and interviews, rarely the pre-scripted crap.
I've broken lots of collar bones, more worried about the hit to the head.
#23
Yeah, the commentator was just spewing babble. Fact is he had to be airlifted from the track.
They have been giving some updates on Mark's condition over at Mazdaracers.com: http://mazdaracers.com/topic/2539-ma...am-crash-news/
They have been giving some updates on Mark's condition over at Mazdaracers.com: http://mazdaracers.com/topic/2539-ma...am-crash-news/
#24
Rennlist Member
Unfortunately, he appears to have a long road to recovery. This is from an Andy Lally piece for Speed.com:
"Before anything else, I’d like to express my sincere best wishes for my Kinetic teammate, Mark Pombo. Mark had a major crash going in to Canada Corner on Friday morning, one of the highest speed parts of the track. He broke his collar bone, his jaw, and took a big hit to the head. Unfortunately, Mark has a long recovery ahead of him, and all of us wish the very best for him and his family. Whatever else transpired over the weekend, my thoughts were never far from Mark and the Pombo family."
"Before anything else, I’d like to express my sincere best wishes for my Kinetic teammate, Mark Pombo. Mark had a major crash going in to Canada Corner on Friday morning, one of the highest speed parts of the track. He broke his collar bone, his jaw, and took a big hit to the head. Unfortunately, Mark has a long recovery ahead of him, and all of us wish the very best for him and his family. Whatever else transpired over the weekend, my thoughts were never far from Mark and the Pombo family."
I share his thoughts.
#25
Rennlist Member
There's some useful commentary on that Mazda forum about securing things inside the car like the fire bottle and such. Anyone else have thoughts or experience on that? Nothing worse than a projectile in the car.
#26
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
You guys are correct, Mark does have a long road ahead for recovery. He is doing well at this point responding to therapy and working hard to get back to normal.
My whole point in this post is to make sure each of you are thinking about your safety on the track. We all enjoy driving fast on a racetrack and the speeds we are seeing with our cars on track, a lot can happen quickly. As evidenced by this incident, **** even happens to some of the best pro drivers in the country.
My whole point in this post is to make sure each of you are thinking about your safety on the track. We all enjoy driving fast on a racetrack and the speeds we are seeing with our cars on track, a lot can happen quickly. As evidenced by this incident, **** even happens to some of the best pro drivers in the country.
#28
Former Vendor
Yup, Canada is right after the kink at RA. Both the Pombo's are great guys and great drivers. Glad to hear he will make a full recovery...and awesome job avoiding other cars. RA is a VERY fast track for any car with 3 good sized straights. Lot of cars rolled there.
#30
The KIA crashed in Canada corner, but Steve Bearteau crashed at the kink last weekend during Grand Am Racing. Steve was driving for the Racers Group. Both corners are connected to the same quasi straightaway. Both corners eat a large diet of rubber and steel.
Last edited by spare tire; 06-26-2012 at 05:52 PM. Reason: spelling