38 replies to this topic

[Charlie Hayes]

My info from Stephanie/Ron Cortez was brain swelling, collapsed lung, and is currently sedated. From both sources they are close and don't sound good. Hope Doc can pull through, he was doing awesome on Sunday by the way!

[Alberto]

Wow, thoughts and prayers go out to Dave...

+1
Scary stuff.

[Rob Burgoon]

What type of seat was Dave in? A containment seat?

[Charlie Hayes]

No full containment seat for Dave. I believe he had a center net and a defender though.

[Juan Pineda]

Scary stuff indeed. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Dave!

Was the seat fiberglass or Aluminum Kirkey type? Did anyone have a chance to look at the car after? Understanding is helpful for future decisions.

Dave was on a tear last weekend. He started P2!

-Juan

[Greg Cicatelli]

It was a fiberglass Recaro, but no full containment. Yes, I saw the car and honestly have a hard time explaining how bad it is. Tub is completely twisted from the transmission tunnel through to truck. Rear driver wheel/axle & door took the biggest impact. Cage was solid and intact before jaws of life. Heard he is scheduled to come out of induced coma today. Keep him in your thoughts... going to be a tough recovery.

[Rob Burgoon]

Good that his cage held. I guess the next question is what he hit his head on. Cage, high density padded cage, or *gulp* concrete.

Times like this I am jealous of the e30 guys and their cavernous cockpits .

Best of luck today Dave.

[Juan Pineda]

Greg, Thanks for the info. Could you tell if the seat was still secure, or whether it had come loose? Or if it had shifted due to floor pan deformation? -Juan

[Greg Cicatelli]

Greg, Thanks for the info. Could you tell if the seat was still secure, or whether it had come loose? Or if it had shifted due to floor pan deformation? -Juan

Seat was secure, thankfully.

[Viet-Tam Luu]

Thanks Greg & others for the update(s). I'm reloading this page hourly and keeping my fingers crossed for Dave...

As is usual with these types of incidents I appreciate people sharing information & first-hand observations, and refraining from speculation, etc.

[Charlie Hayes]

Great to hear about his progress. Best of luck Dave!!!!

[Phillip Holifield]

Our thoughts are with you Dave.

Greg, Thanks for keeping us updated.

[Nick Buchanan]

I too have video of this unfortunate event but will hold off from posting it until hearing from Dave.
Dave gave Mike Niemann a small bump from the rear coming into the corkscrew which made Niemann get loose. Dave backed off to avoid hitting Niemann and I drove to the right of both of them to get around the entire incident when Dave moved over very quickly into my front bumper which caused him to spin off to the right hand side.

Best of luck for a speedy recovery, Dave!

[CARacer]

3 races in a row at Laguna Seca where a car has hit an unprotected concrete wall hard...how expensive is it for junk tires?????

Anything to be done about this? Do we write to the board? Write to the track? What about other tracks?

Get well, Dave.

[Kyle Gayman]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. But it's hard to be excited about finishing well when a fellow racer gets injured like this. Thinking about you, Dave.

And Greg, I know what you mean about not being able to describe it. I didn't see the car after it got towed in, but I saw it twice while doing caution laps. It was, at best, mangled.

[Ron Alan]

A thread has been started for Dave and his condition. Thanks to all for checking and posting to that thread.

http://mazdaracers.c...t=0

It's hard to think about the weekend beyond this but we did finish and I'll try and keep us going.

Kudos to Phillip for another rock solid weekend laying down consistent laps. After that you could throw a blanket over the next 6 or 8 guys and it was anyone's to take. Tough to pass and then make a pass stick. Mike N again brought his Laguna A game with 2 SSM wins. But Dave was right there in both races

Who said qualifying is important? Nice job Kyle keeping pace with Phillip and gaping the field as the next 8 guys battled it out

With the short weekend format I thought it all ran smooth(other than the fog delay). The best lap format for the 2nd race qualifying seemed to work out just fine. Only downside was for the stewards having to sort out all the bad behavior for group7/17. What do you say we try and clean it up for the final weekend

[Alberto]

Only downside was for the stewards having to sort out all the bad behavior for group7/17. What do you say we try and clean it up for the final weekend

[dp35]

Congrats to Kimi Gaymanen for career best 2nd place finish. Look out Phil Hill-ifield!

KG - since you don't know who Kimi is (proves you are him), here's a clue:

[Kyle Gayman]

Haha!! Oh boy, I'm never going to lose that stigma. But that's all right; considering he was making around 45-50 million a year, I'll take it as a compliment.