[trackbird]

Article:

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4562562/detail.html

Pics:

http://nbc4.tv/slideshow/news/4562709/detail.html

More info at corner carvers:

http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showthrea...ead.php?t=23616

Emergency Crews Respond To Fatal Crash At California Speedway
Second Person Hospitalized After Crash

POSTED: 3:23 pm PDT June 2, 2005
UPDATED: 5:16 pm PDT June 2, 2005

(IMG:http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0602/4562735_200X150.jpg)

LOS ANGELES -- Two people were killed Thursday in a crash at California Speedway in Fontana.

A private car club was renting the speedway at the time of the crash.

A Porsche Carrera GT crashed into a retaining wall and came to rest on the track's infield. Authorities said two people were in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene.

The second person in the car was transported by Mercy Air to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. That person later died.

The track is home to the California 500, Nextel Cup 500, the Toyota Indy 400 and other motorsport events. The 2-mile D-shaped oval surrounds an infield portion used for road courses and a 13-turn interior test circuit.

Private parties can rent the track to turn laps.

Be safe out there guys.

[Teutonic Speedra...]

Yes this is HORRIBLE news....

Just goes to show you how careful you guys NEED TO BE out there. Don't mean to upset anyone here, or step on anyones toes, but this type of thing would worry me a lot in HPDE events. I don't know this guys situation, but it seems at the VERY FEW HPDE events I have been to, there are PLENTY of guys with more money than brains/skill, and they could and do get themselves into trouble more than occaisionally---fortunately not this bad typically. I also hear plenty of stories of how guys "are blowing the doors off" Ferraris and Porsches at their club events...all good and well, but there are also stories of how these big money guys "don't like to get passed" and will "hold you up"....one NEVER knows when pushing an inexperienced driver ABOVE his limits because he or she is embarassed to be passed by a lowly Chevy, will cause them to lose it and maybe take you out with them....

BE CAREFUL GUYS!

Yeah, it is a shame this happened. What you said is what I described in my recent post in this section about my trip to the Ferrari club day about a month ago:

"All in all I was happy that I run with the BMW club. They are much more friendly and they aren’t ashamed to give point-bys. The skills of the drivers in the advanced group in the BMW Club seem to be much higher than the advanced group Ferrari guys. Some of these guys at Pocono weren’t even close to the correct line."

I wasn't overly impressed with how the Ferrari Club track day was run. Have you ever seen anything like this?----They almost didn't let me out with an instructor in the car? I'm a intermediate/advanced student. Why would it even be a question of whether to have a more knowledgeable trained instructor with you:

VIDEO"Blue students can't take passenger/instructors out?!?!?!?" VIDEO