I hate doing this with limited information:, Update: Randy is okay- bruised and broken bones Options

[Chris Ronson Jr]

Here's another description of Randy's crash, from http://www.v8supercarswest.com/

Saturday’s race began at 11:30 am with all eyes on the battle between Randy Mackintosh in the #35 Chevy Camaro, Andy Sutak, and Connie Bogan. The green flag flew and the drag race down the front straight kept Andy Sutak in the lead with Randy Mackintosh and Connie Bogan on his heels. Filip Trojanek in the #55 Wyotech Mustang and Bryan MacMillan in the #44 Mustang followed close behind the leaders raging their own battle.

The three front runners pulled ahead of the rest of the group running clean 1:55:00 laps until lap 4, when Andy Sutak had a sad break (no pun intended) and slowed to pull off track on the back straight with a differential failure. With Andy out of the lead, Randy took control with Connie breathing down his neck looking to strike. They made it around to turn 9 where Randy made a pass around a GT1 car between 9 and 10 and was struck in the right rear quarter causing his car to dart right sharply and strike Kip Olson’s #49 Super Production NSX that was limping along with a mechanical failure. Kip’s car spun off track as Randy had little time to brace himself for a wild ride. The Camaro shot off the track with the front end diving into soft dirt then immediately launching the car thirty feet into the air end over end. Randy must have rotated 7 times before coming to rest on the hillside upright - a shockwave rippled through the group. The red flag was thrown and the race ended while we all looked on to see if our fellow racers were safe. Kip was able to walk away from the accident but Randy suffered 6 broken bones and a concussion. It is never something you want to see happen, but it is a testament to Randy and his dad Doug that the car was properly built and the safety gear performed under such an impact. It was also impressive to see the professional SCCA medical crew and course workers spring into action. We spoke to Randy today and happy to hear he is on the mend. We hope to see him back on the track soon.

Thanks Alan, that's much better (and less confusing) than what I wrote

[GCOSENTINO]

Thanks, glad he's OK.

[CMC #37]

Glad to hear you are back home Randy! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[racerx]

Randy - Here's to a speedy and full recovery!!!!!

[SVTHuh]

How did I not see this post sooner??! I just kept waiting patiently for an update of how his race went with the new front end setup in another section..

This is horrible news, but good news that his injuries weren't worse.

Hope you have a speedy recovery Randy. Let us know how you are doing when your feeling up to it!

[AllZWay]

WOW... I have been traveling all week and just saw this post. Get Well Soon!!

[John_D.]

Randy, very sorry to hear about the accident, very glad to hear you came out of it as well as you did.

[racerx]

Randy, very sorry to hear about the accident, very glad to hear you came out of it as well as you did.

Not to divert the direction of this thread, but everyone please take a moment to look at your racecars and safety gear. Look at it to see not only is everything is good, but also what you can do to make it better.

After the wreck of another board members car at T-hill about a year ago(he walked away too), I had Alan upgrade my cage to improve it based on lessons learned there, and we added a Wilwood column, and a full containment seat.

After my big wreck at the 25 (T-boned at 100-110mph) and I walked away (although the survive the 25 show said I was knocked out which was incorrect, I had a concussion though) I again had Alan look at what we could do to improve safety again, and he converted my driver side cage to a NASCAR COT design, with both high impact foam, and intrusion protection plates.

I don't know all of the people on this board, but accidents happen, and I want to always hear our members walked away or with an absolute minimum injuries.

Racing is dangerous, but we all can do things to ensure the best chances of survival, and lower the risks of injuries.

I implore everyone to always look at safety improvements they can make to their cars, and gear.

[Chris Ronson Jr]

Randy, very sorry to hear about the accident, very glad to hear you came out of it as well as you did.

Not to divert the direction of this thread, but everyone please take a moment to look at your racecars and safety gear. Look at it to see not only is everything is good, but also what you can do to make it better.

After the wreck of another board members car at T-hill about a year ago(he walked away too), I had Alan upgrade my cage to improve it based on lessons learned there, and we added a Wilwood column, and a full containment seat.

After my big wreck at the 25 (T-boned at 100-110mph) and I walked away (although the survive the 25 show said I was knocked out which was incorrect, I had a concussion though) I again had Alan look at what we could do to improve safety again, and he converted my driver side cage to a NASCAR COT design, with both high impact foam, and intrusion protection plates.

I don't know all of the people on this board, but accidents happen, and I want to always hear our members walked away or with an absolute minimum injuries.

Racing is dangerous, but we all can do things to ensure the best chances of survival, and lower the risks of injuries.

I implore everyone to always look at safety improvements they can make to their cars, and gear.

I completely agree. Unfortunately my Corvette is very limited with how the door bars can be made, so I too had the intrusion plates welded in over the off season. I may talk to Alan about the high impact foam as I haven't seen this anywhere. I also added a full containment seat to the car, which makes entry and exit more difficult (especially through the window with helmet and hans where they both already are very tight fits) , but I've been practicing

[racerx]

Randy, very sorry to hear about the accident, very glad to hear you came out of it as well as you did.

Not to divert the direction of this thread, but everyone please take a moment to look at your racecars and safety gear. Look at it to see not only is everything is good, but also what you can do to make it better.

After the wreck of another board members car at T-hill about a year ago(he walked away too), I had Alan upgrade my cage to improve it based on lessons learned there, and we added a Wilwood column, and a full containment seat.

After my big wreck at the 25 (T-boned at 100-110mph) and I walked away (although the survive the 25 show said I was knocked out which was incorrect, I had a concussion though) I again had Alan look at what we could do to improve safety again, and he converted my driver side cage to a NASCAR COT design, with both high impact foam, and intrusion protection plates.

I don't know all of the people on this board, but accidents happen, and I want to always hear our members walked away or with an absolute minimum injuries.

Racing is dangerous, but we all can do things to ensure the best chances of survival, and lower the risks of injuries.

I implore everyone to always look at safety improvements they can make to their cars, and gear.

I completely agree. Unfortunately my Corvette is very limited with how the door bars can be made, so I too had the intrusion plates welded in over the off season. I may talk to Alan about the high impact foam as I haven't seen this anywhere. I also added a full containment seat to the car, which makes entry and exit more difficult (especially through the window with helmet and hans where they both already are very tight fits) , but I've been practicing

chris - Do you have the quick release tethers for your hans? If not - this makes a huge difference in getting out time. as you can quickly release them and get a little more mobility to get you out faster

Alan posted the pic's of the work he did on my car with the COT impact foam. see thread on my car in engine/powertrain on forums

This post has been edited by racerx: Apr 15 2011, 05:58 PM

[Chris Ronson Jr]

Randy, very sorry to hear about the accident, very glad to hear you came out of it as well as you did.

Not to divert the direction of this thread, but everyone please take a moment to look at your racecars and safety gear. Look at it to see not only is everything is good, but also what you can do to make it better.

After the wreck of another board members car at T-hill about a year ago(he walked away too), I had Alan upgrade my cage to improve it based on lessons learned there, and we added a Wilwood column, and a full containment seat.

After my big wreck at the 25 (T-boned at 100-110mph) and I walked away (although the survive the 25 show said I was knocked out which was incorrect, I had a concussion though) I again had Alan look at what we could do to improve safety again, and he converted my driver side cage to a NASCAR COT design, with both high impact foam, and intrusion protection plates.

I don't know all of the people on this board, but accidents happen, and I want to always hear our members walked away or with an absolute minimum injuries.

Racing is dangerous, but we all can do things to ensure the best chances of survival, and lower the risks of injuries.

I implore everyone to always look at safety improvements they can make to their cars, and gear.

I completely agree. Unfortunately my Corvette is very limited with how the door bars can be made, so I too had the intrusion plates welded in over the off season. I may talk to Alan about the high impact foam as I haven't seen this anywhere. I also added a full containment seat to the car, which makes entry and exit more difficult (especially through the window with helmet and hans where they both already are very tight fits) , but I've been practicing

chris - Do you have the quick release tethers for your hans? If not - this makes a huge difference in getting out time. as you can quickly release them and get a little more mobility to get you out faster

Alan posted the pic's of the work he did on my car with the COT impact foam. see thread on my car in engine/powertrain on forums

Yes I have quick release, but unfortunately in bad situations (re: ST2 competitor Tage Evanson and a couple years ago Charles Espinlaub at the 25), every second matters in getting out under fire situations, and that's one extra step to remember to do. If I'm forced to go out a window with helmet on, it has to be the passenger window unless I modify my Cobra Sebring Pro. I fear fires in the Corvette with this seat..I'm seriously considering putting the old seat back in and just using the center window net, but with what happened to Randy, his window net reportedly failed..

[racerx]

Randy, very sorry to hear about the accident, very glad to hear you came out of it as well as you did.

Not to divert the direction of this thread, but everyone please take a moment to look at your racecars and safety gear. Look at it to see not only is everything is good, but also what you can do to make it better.

After the wreck of another board members car at T-hill about a year ago(he walked away too), I had Alan upgrade my cage to improve it based on lessons learned there, and we added a Wilwood column, and a full containment seat.

After my big wreck at the 25 (T-boned at 100-110mph) and I walked away (although the survive the 25 show said I was knocked out which was incorrect, I had a concussion though) I again had Alan look at what we could do to improve safety again, and he converted my driver side cage to a NASCAR COT design, with both high impact foam, and intrusion protection plates.

I don't know all of the people on this board, but accidents happen, and I want to always hear our members walked away or with an absolute minimum injuries.

Racing is dangerous, but we all can do things to ensure the best chances of survival, and lower the risks of injuries.

I implore everyone to always look at safety improvements they can make to their cars, and gear.

I completely agree. Unfortunately my Corvette is very limited with how the door bars can be made, so I too had the intrusion plates welded in over the off season. I may talk to Alan about the high impact foam as I haven't seen this anywhere. I also added a full containment seat to the car, which makes entry and exit more difficult (especially through the window with helmet and hans where they both already are very tight fits) , but I've been practicing

chris - Do you have the quick release tethers for your hans? If not - this makes a huge difference in getting out time. as you can quickly release them and get a little more mobility to get you out faster

Alan posted the pic's of the work he did on my car with the COT impact foam. see thread on my car in engine/powertrain on forums

Yes I have quick release, but unfortunately in bad situations (re: ST2 competitor Tage Evanson and a couple years ago Charles Espinlaub at the 25), every second matters in getting out under fire situations, and that's one extra step to remember to do. If I'm forced to go out a window with helmet on, it has to be the passenger window unless I modify my Cobra Sebring Pro. I fear fires in the Corvette with this seat..I'm seriously considering putting the old seat back in and just using the center window net, but with what happened to Randy, his window net reportedly failed..

I fear fire too... So I bought Carbon-X underwear (it does WAY better then Nomex especially with heat and direct flame) to wear under my 3 layer Nomex suit.
You can also improve your fire system as well, add more nozels and tank capacity, to help buy you the precious seconds.

This post has been edited by racerx: Apr 15 2011, 07:14 PM

[Chris Ronson Jr]

I agree, I've done both of those things as well!

I tell you what though, the 2 fastest I got the F out of the car, both times I thought there may have been a small fire starting in the bay. Scary stuff when your cockpit fills with smoke and smoke is coming from under the hood heavily too

[mitchntx]

Any update on Randy?

Does he or his family need anything?

[Chris Ronson Jr]

Because of his concussion and I'm sure partially because of the impact too, his last update was that he's still a bit queazy and slightly blurred vision but is otherwise feeling better

[mitchntx]

This is the inter-web.
Plenty of folks post up while queezy and with blurred vision.
Hell, I think I saw an iPhone app for just that.

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Randy ... glad yer feeling better, dood.

[Blainefab]

I talked to Brandon today up at Thunderhill - He said Randy is improving but the vision problem is keeping him off the keyboard. The best thing he said was that Randy was released from the hospital the day after the surgery, so he's recovering at home instead of a hospital bed. Brandon said the crash scene was horrific, and Randys whole family was there and pretty traumatized.

[SVTHuh]

Im just glad to hear that he is relatively OK, especially for what he went through. Glad to hear hes home and resting up!

[rmackintosh]

Hello all....thanks for the many kind words and thoughts over the past few weeks!

I AM ALIVE! That is the important thing, and from all I have been told, that is no small feat. I just finished SQUINTING at the video of the crash and it was horrific. Mostly car parts flying like a bomb went off. The car looks to go 30+ feet in the air and landed upright...Thank God! My door was ripped off and the my arm seems to have knocked the window net off, so I was riding the flip like a rodeo cowboy with my left arm out the window for style points....Image is EVERYTHING! ;-).

I was found with a purple face and black eyes, which the EMTs later told my family that I was extremely lucky to survive. I remember nothing other than seeing a bright light and the rush of air....then the helicopter engine starting and seeing the ceiling of the chopper. They said I was concious at the track and complaining mightilly of the other driver...don't remember that. It took them 50 minutes to cut me out of the car. My cage broke the Jaws of Life!

I had a broken Clavical, Scapula and approximately 5 ribs. The clavical was sugically repaired with plates and screws a few hours after the accident. My scapula and ribs will heal "naturally"...which is doctor speak for PAINFULLY! hehe. I have been back to the surgeon on Friday and the X Rays show the sugical repair healing nicely as are the ribs and scapula. My biggest issue now is my vision. I still cannot see too well. I am typing this on FULL SCREEN mode and still can't read it too well. I have been to several eye doctors and am now in the car of a Retina specialist who seems to know his stuff. They tell me I "likely" will recover my vision. No one will give too much information since I think they don't want to be on the line for promissing something that doesn't come to pass. I have talked to a few "crashers" in the past, mostly motorcycle guys and they talk of similar vision issues that does go away after "some time". My vision seems to get better each day, but not much...it is microscopic improvements. Which, as you all know when sick, sucks sinced while daytime TV sucks....staring a a blurry wall sucks EVEN WORSE. I have downloaded a book on iPod this week and plan on chilling out that way a bit.

The crash video, I will post as I get better at seeing. I do not remember driving it at all. While I don't think I was at fault, surely I drove to a spot that was "tight" and the other driver just moved over on me for little reason that I can see. Knowing my conservative self, I was surprised to see me even drive the car in there.....but oh well....

I no longer own a race car, but more like a ball of tin foil....so if you know of any good deals out there.....hehe.....you will have to fight my wife off, but let me know....hehehe.

Thanks all....

Randy

[Chris]

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/2thumbs.gif) Glad to see you posting again. 50 mins. to get you out? That must of felt like a lifetime. Get better and hope to see you race again at Sears.