Hey Randy,

I've been off the board for a few days, SO glad you're on the mend and things weren't worse. My thoughts are with ya bud.

Jason S.

Absolutley.. that was a scary as advertised.

I took a violent hit at the 25Hr (T-boned on track, left side of car, 100-110MPH speed of car impacted, my speed I was stopped), but it's pale in comparison to this wreck....

That video, good lord

Yeah...a few years ago I T Boned a 510 sliding back across the track after he lost it and overcorrected into the wall shooting directly in front of me. He was effectively going zero as he was going across the track.....I was up near 100 MPH...the skid marks were 4 feet long, so it was bad.....put him in the hospital....I was unaffected. This, however, is ANOTHER story altogether.

Randy - You are part feline...... That explains surviving as well as you have............. ;-)

Hehe.....only 7 lives left!

Well here we are eight weeks into my life--post trauma--and things are looking up!

I started physical therapy last week and despite having a 10 lb. limit on my bad arm...the PT lady starts by pressing her thumbs AS HARD AS SHE FREAKING COULD onto my broken scapula for about FIVE MINUTES....left a puddle of sweat on the table! She asked "does that hurt?"....I say "damn right it does, it would hurt on my GOOD shoulder!" So she decides to press on THAT scapula for comparison! And they say WATERBOARDING is effective torture. If you have never had someone press as hard as they can on your scapula....don't!

After that and the "lighter" torture of bending my arm in impossible positions and asking how that felt, I thought we would do some LIGHT movement excersizes to get things going....she starts me out with FOUR DIFFERENT KINDS OF PUSHUPS!!!! Uh...lady....you DO know I can only lift 10 lbs....right??? Deaf ears. I do more push ups in the next 20 minute than I did in all of high school and dying...then, we hit the weights, the rowing machine, the excersize ball with stretches and more.....WTF???? More balls of sweat!!!

That was day one...two days later I went back for the second time of the week and more of the same....however, she says while doing the SCAPULA THUMBS OF DEATH that my scapula is moving nicely. DAMN! So we go through the big workout again, her ADDING MORE WEIGHTS AND EXCERSIZES, all the while commenting to the other PTs there "look how good he is doing." "Can you believe how flexible he is for just a few weeks?" and "I just don't know how much I can do other than make sure he stays on this program." Then she says to me " I sure can't make you ANY stronger....so let's cut this back to once a week."

HALLELUAH!!!!!

The vision is still improving. The right eye is lagging. The big issue is bright light. It makes me like snowblind. If I wear sunglasses I can see pretty normal. But I try not to wear sunglasses to force my eyes to deal with it. I have begun driving last week...just around town to my kids games and errands. And I have been working for 4 weeks...computer work at home.

So all is well....the hunt for a new racecar begins.....

A few more weeks for the eyes.....

When you first told me your timeline...I thought....but I AM a SUPER FAST healer...which is true. But I think I may have underestimated the trauma to my eyes....folks who describe the wreck repeatedly say, "violent" and the "worst I have seen" so....maybe I underestimated the timeline and yours will be mine! ;-)

Good to hear things are getting back to normal! Sooo... does the wife know you're looking for a new car...

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

If its any consolation, I'm a fast healer too. So....

Randy my friend....... I'm truly sorry for not seeing this sooner! Im glad you are recovery well my friend. Im dealing with another friend who just got hit on his motorcycle by a BMW. He's a big guy himself, and is doing well considering. I wish you a complete and continued recovery my friend!

If you need a car, let me know. You can have your pick of either of my cars. I'm out of NASA racing, and don't want to spend the money on ITE!

I'm looking at offroad racing, king of the hammers or something similar to a CMC series offroad. PM me since I don't check the boards very much nowadays.

Get well my friend!

Sounds like a painful competition to get into to see who is the fastest healer

John, sorry to see you go! I guess you had a bit too much "aggrivation" with your car the past few years? Sigh....been there....done that...STILL better than owning the worlds biggest ball of tin foil!

I more than likely will stay away from building another car like I had. Better to take the "opportunity" to do something different. I am thinking a Vette....we shall see...the "smart" money is on a tube frame car that I can get cheap and run immediately...dunno if I want to go that route....I always LOVED GT1 cars growing up and would have told you the chance to own one would be the ultimate....but it is a 2-3 car class here...and not looking up in car count so....

Hope your off road deal works out....

...I CRY UNCLE!!.....

LMAO

Hehe...getting too old for that! Today was a good day...sun was out, so I drove around town with NO sunglasses forcing my eyes to adjust to the dreaded bright light. Seemed a bit better. Then, when walking to my son's school to pick him up, I noticed I can read the street signs A LOT better, then in the backyard I could see the stickers and other stuff on the hulk better. So I de-stickered the car so no sponsors have their name snapped on a hulk somewhere....more PT pain tomorrow. Can't wait!

Do I get the prize for vision improvement time frame?

Not yet. Saturday was 9 weeks. I have 3 left...given your call of 3 months equals 12 weeks. I am NOT 100% It is close when I wear sunglasses...but the right eye is still lagging....I think I will need ALL of your 12 weeks.....sigh

Damn... ok I'll wait it out..... drats

Well...tomorrow will be week 11...ONLY one week to go on your schedule.....not looking good. Either you ARE the better healer, or my wreck was worse....hehe.

I did have somewhat of an improvement the last couple of days though.....I got hope! But I am thinking 2-3 more weeks to be fully back vision wise.

My PT told me to stop coming and just work out! My range of motion is better in the "bad" arm! Hehe

Glad to hear that you're still making progress Randy. Sounds like you're on a steady path to a full recovery.

YOU WIN!!!! Or my crash was way worse than yours....but I'll give you the "victory"....Saturday was week 12. Still improving. Right eye not 100%.

Went to the bone doc today, he says that I "am healed".

Went to the eye doc as well, he says the left eye is normal now and the right is "near normal". However, it still has some glare issues in it. I am glad he said it still had some room for improvement because I was getting discouraged.

The cool thing is the last appointment with the right eye I could NOT SEE THE TOP LINE OF THE CHART! The one with the 10 inch high letters....it was crazy! Today, I could see it with the right eye easily. I could also read down 4-5 lines with little effort. And the test where they hand you the text and you read as small as you can, I could read to the smallest line. Just gotta get rid of the glare/halos in the right eye!

That's great news, eye injuries are scary. Amazing what a body can heal.

Any luck on finding another car?

Great news, Randy.

Here Here! I've been waiting along with all your other friends on here to read that post! As a guy who has been fighting serious eye issues for over 3 years, I'm VERY happy to hear about your progress Randy!

There is a Corvette C6 frame sitting in my garage RIGHT NOW!

It will be a slow build as it will be expensive and I need my eyes back, but maybe a year or a year and a half from now.....

Woohoo! Better eyes, and you're building again, but this time from scratch! Awesome, awesome news.

There is then new project on day #1:


Basically, a frame, doors and suspension! Have ordered the back 1/2 WC bodywork and some stuff to allow cage fabrication. Day #2 was cutting out the fiberglass and plastic firewall.

WHO KNEW Corvettes were held together with glue and sheet metal screws???

Found that one out the hard way!

Was the vette a wreck?

Got hit on the passenger side in the door latch area ABOVE the frame. The door latch area is smashed back a few inches. I new sheetmetal section to replace it was included with the frame. The stock halo hoop bar is pushed back 2 inches on the passenger side, but it will get cut off and replaced with a REAL main hoop. Body man comes tomorrow to replace the latch sheetmetal.

You sir, are a madman!!! This should be fun to watch.

Yes, you are a madman, and my hero! Time to start a REALLY long thread like the guy above!

I hope you don't mean me. I'd hate to think that anybody would use me as a role model. That's pretty scary stuff.

Looks like a good start Randy! I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Can't wait for this project

How'd you convince your wife to let you do this? Or she doesn't know? Or you didn't ask because it doesn’t matter what she says?



Yeah, you need to start a build thread ASAP.

Like I said before, my family took this WAY harder than I did. Even with the months of FRUSTRATION with my vision.....it has been relatively easy on me. I REMEMBER NOTHING, so my passion for cars and speed is not changed from the 30 seconds before the wreck. My family, on the other hand had some gut wrenching times for a few hours there as well as sitting with me in the hospital for the first week, and after a visit to the track a few weeks ago to thank the workers who saved my life, I heard first hand how bad it was, and how they all thought I was done. Some of the things that happened also led the spectators, and even my wife, to think I was, in fact deceased. So, it is not an easy thing....my wife, daughter and mother would MUCH RATHER I hang it up and start building hot rods or something.

That said, the "hard sell" has been on my daughter and mother...my wife KNEW I would be right back at it, because she KNOWS me in and out....and from previous discussions we had had. My daughter has come to understand my passion and love for racing and is now "happy for me". My mom.....not enough face time to get her over that hump yet I fear.....sigh....a work in progress. My son....he wants to BUILD TWO RACE CARS...one for him....he is 7....HAHA

Randy

I first read of this on CorvetteForum after it happened. Im glad to see you are doing better, and on another project already. This build looks like fun.

FOUR MONTHS......one week.....STILL waiting on my STUPID right eye!! ARGH!!!

Getting better, but VERY SLOWLY. With both eyes I can see pretty normally, but the right just sucks!

Can it be corrected? Is it just blurry/focus issues or are you seeing spots or some other issue?

Its not blurry. It is like someone is shining a bright light in my eye and blinding me....in normal light. The left eye was exactly the same a few weeks ago and it improved just as slowly. I just think the right is behind schedule a bit. It IS getting better. If I wear shades, I can see almost normal...I am just trying to force the right to deal with it and adjust. The doc did mention I could use glasses, and I probably will in a month or two and be much better....just trying to get it to come back as far as possible first.

Drug some "junk" out of the barn after working on the car today:

How about those wing mounts???

Right eye STILL not back, but better every day....car is starting to look like a REAL car now....hehe

Build thread, NOW

yup, we havent seen near enough of this build.

good to hear the eye is still improving.

Hehe....well the "build" photos are pretty much what you see right now.

I have bought the bodywork in anticipation of putting in the cage/drivers compartment. This should happen soon, and I can add a thread at that time. About all we have done at this point to the car is cut out the firewall, in anticipation of a steel replacement, and fix the damaged B pillar on the passenger side. Other than that, it has been WEEKS of grinding and scraping glue and fiberglass....THAT sucked!

I will create a new thread in a week or so as the "build" moves forward.

What engine are you planning for the vette? I found an 07 C6 frame for cheap in similar condition to what you have, I would love to build a car from the frame up! Unfortunately, money and time won't allow that for me right now.

I am reusing the motor from the Camaro. LS7 I built last year.

One thing that I like about the Vette, is it will be a much more "servicable" car.....I will be able to strip the car to the frame in minutes....even the roof.....will be nice.