18 replies to this topic

[Juan Pineda]

Hey everyone,

I missed the last race weekend at Thunderhill, but I heard that Fred was injured in a crash. Here's an update on his condition from Michael Joseph. PM me if you want his address to send him a card.

-Juan


"Jeannie called me this morning. Fred has been moved to Kaiser Antioch for physical therapy. He hopes to be released early next week to go home and recover.

The Hospital's phone number is(925) 813-6500. He is in room 345.

If anyone wishes to send him a card, Jeannie asks that you send to his home. She will get them to him."

[Alberto]

Good news!

[MightyMike]

Glad to here your doing better Fred. I am praying for you to make a full recovery.

Your friend
Mighty Mike Niemann

[Dan Cooper_155]

Oh No! I had no idea about this! Hoping for a speedy recovery!! Does any one have an address for them??

[Ron Alan]

Geez...what happened? I can't believe no one posted on this. Best wishes Fred for a quick recovery. SFR has a big SM family and with a lot of newcomers and old guard leaving it's hard to keep up with everyone...but Fred is always involved on and off the track. We need more like him. Get back soon Fred!

[Alberto]

Don't know all the details but...

Something happened (health issue perhaps?) and he went off T1 straight up to the tower and hit the tire barrier straight on. Front end was pretty bent up. Pretty sure he didn't have any help. Wasn't a spin. Just straight tracks through the grass up to the tower.

If memory serves correct, it was during Quali on Sat.

Scary. And sad.

[Ron Alan]

Don't know all the details but...

Something happened (health issue perhaps?) and he went off T1 straight up to the tower and hit the tire barrier straight on. Front end was pretty bent up. Pretty sure he didn't have any help. Wasn't a spin. Just straight tracks through the grass up to the tower.

If memory serves correct, it was during Quali on Sat.

Scary. And sad.

Tower? You mean turn 2 flagger stand? Or just up the hill into the tires in front of the stands and fence? Man, what a bummer...

[DionJ]

Thanks for the update. Best wishes to Fred.

[Alberto]

Tower? You mean turn 2 flagger stand? Or just up the hill into the tires in front of the stands and fence? Man, what a bummer...

Yes. At the exit of 1 before T2. It is up the hill a bit.

[Juan Pineda]

Hey Everyone,

An update from Fred himself. It's a fascinating account written from the view of a driver, worker, and engineer. Post your well wishes to this thread. Looking forward to seeing you out there soon Fred!

-Juan


From Fred:

"I have been challenged by turn 1 at Thunderhill since I started racing and enjoyed being able to carry more speed at turn in then ever before, during practice on Friday. The next step is to get back to the throttle sooner on entrance and I was working on that during Gr7 practice on Saturday morning. This time, it seemed to all come together. The problem was that I was paying too much attention to how my corner speed was improving and not quite enough to maintaining my driving line. I caught too much of the apex berm which upset the car and sent me off at the exit. I expected it to be only 2 wheels off which I have recovered from many times before but it was worse. Once I got into the dry grass and dirt there was much less traction then expected and while I could make the car yaw, I could not cause it to arch away from the turn station wall which I was headed toward.

I have no doubt that this would have been a fatal event if I had not been wearing my HANS device since I hit the turn station wall at 75mph give or take. I expected the car to get crumpled up but not did not expect that i would also do poorly. I was still trying to correct the problem when I hit the wall and so now have a common drivers injury, a broken wrist from the steering wheel kick back. I should be fully recovered from that injury in 6 weeks. I have a couple pins and a cast to deal with until then.

The bigger problem is from Physics 101 - a body in motion will stay in motion. So when the car comes to such an abrupt stop, the top of the spine (carefully held in place by the shoulder belts) and the bottom of the spine (carefully held in place by the seat and anti submarine belts) also come to an abrupt stop. However, the middle of the spine is not as well constrained by the middle section of the shoulder belt. Thus, on impact, my mid section (no snarky comments about the vastness of my midsection please) continued to move forward causing a burst fracture in my L1 vertebrae and a a fracture of the T12 vertebrae above it. Fortunately, there was/is no nerve damage so the recovery time is for bone regeneration and there should not be any ongoing problems.

It was terrific to see the fantastic SFR E-Crew arrive! They did an incredible job of getting me stabilized and into the Ambulance which took me to Glenn County. My insurance is with Kaiser and I was to be transferred to Kaiser/Vallejo but there wasn't a Neurosurgeon on duty so they deferred to UC Davis/Sacramento. If you ever need quality trauma care in a hurry this is the place. Even though I had been "stabilized" at Glenn County, a trauma triage team descended on me, making their assessment and then transferring me to a room in ER care. Because my spine was "unstable" they watched over me carefully in an ICU room until I was fitted with a 2 piece turtle shell that I will be wearing for the next 12 weeks (except when flat on me back). Davis determined that the splint would be sufficient and no surgery was needed on my spine. Davis finally released me to Kaiser, Antioch on Thursday and they released me on Saturday. Being home is very nice!

As I said above, the SFR E-crew is just terrific as are the friends Ginny and I have made here. We owe so much to so many folks who went way out of their way to help Ginny be with me and get home, who took care of our stuff at the track and find a home for the Motorhome. There are so many cards, e-mails and phone calls wishing me well. It's all overwhelming! Now I can concentrate on mending.

Please feel free to pass this on to the forum or where ever, if you want.

Thanks for caring! Look forward so seeing you soon.

Fred"

[Johnny D]

That's great news Fred, get well soon.

On another note... Has TH reviewed this?
Maybe have the wall deflect the car in a safe direction, not stop it cold.
I saw your car.
J~

[CARacer]

So good to hear the news of a full recovery underway. Get well soon, Fred!

[Jim Creighton]

In 1994, a driver intentionally turned me after I passed him coming out of turn 3 at Road Atlanta. The result was my 240 Z managed to knock down one pine tree and cut the other one off at the base. The impact was just in front of my feet. I won't go into details, but my doctor said had I not had a set of seat belts that had a sterum buckle, I would have twisted entirely around in the seat and broken my spine in half. The bruise on my shoulder from the right belt started at my neck and went with 2 inches of my right elbow. And I always wore my belts tight. And for two years, you could feel the dent in my left leg where it hit the down bar of the cage. They had to use a chain saw to cut the upper part of the tree off the car before they could bring it in on the tilt bed.

At that time, SCCA had declared the sternum belts non compliant and I always had to leave the grid with the sternum buckle unbuckled. I would then buckle it on the pace lap. I wonder if that kind of belt would have helped prevent your injury? If you haven't seen a set, they have another buckle across the chest. It kept me from coming out of the belts as I twisted from the impact. The only injury was from the buckle hitting my chin and cutting me. The bruises and dents were not lasting.

Glad you are going to recover. Never met you, but I'm pulling for you to get back to having fun with us again.

BTW, the driver who hit me lost his license for a year and had to go back to drivers school once that suspension was over. He hit a driver in that drivers school and served another suspension. Not sure if he ever got his license back.

[Steve Holifield]

Fred, I am so glad to hear you are on your way to a full and complete recovery. Best wishes and get well soon!

Steve

[dp35]

Fred - glad to hear that you'll make a full recovery. Looking forward to seeing you & Ginny at the track again soon. Take care.

[Inferno]

Thanks Juan for the updates. Fred I'm happy to hear your home and healing, get well soon.

[alangj]

Fred Update:
Fred made an appearance at the track during the last race (Group 5). For those who didn't get a chance to see him and say hi, he looks good, in good spirits. Has a cast on his left wrist (lime green!) and a plastic/fiberglass brace front and back up to his chest; looks like a Ninja Turtle shell. Hopes to be out of the brace in another month. Says he will try to stop by Laguna, at least for his traditional pre-Enduro pep talk at the end of the month.
Al

[bones240z]

Great news. In regards to the safety of the worker station where the incident occured, maybe adding more tires in a triangular pattern could absorb more energy in a straight on impact and deflect energy in a glancing blow. The engineers in the group know the right setup.

[SHOP TEACHER]

I was out on the track when it happen and saw it. Im glad to hear your on the mend Fred. I pray you have a speedy recovery, I love woppen your ass on the track.
AL