60 replies to this topic

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

I don't want to start a whole argument over it, but I'm curious if that is with a helmet, and if so, what kind? (full-face? partial?) Did it change your mind about any particular gear?

It was the one time I did wear my helmet. I was going to a friend of mine to fix his bike so we could go riding later that day. So I the way over I was riding with two of my other friends and we where laughing the whole way over to his house saying " look we're tough guys no helmets). Mind you my friend only lived about 4 miles from my house.
Well on the way home we where doing about 40-45 mph and a van ran a red light and I t-boned him. I was looking to the right of me talking to my friend while we where riding and the van came from the left so I never seen him and never had a chance to hit the brakes. So now I know what a bug feels like !

I raced about 4-5yrs and always wore a ARAI helmets as I believe they have the best padding you can get. Trust me I've tested them plenty of times going down at over 160mph and look I'm totally fine !

[chris haldeman]

Bob we spent many weekends together at Nelson ledges in the 90's :-) kinda funny we both found our way too spec miata

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

Bob we spent many weekends together at Nelson ledges in the 90's :-) kinda funny we both found our way too spec miata

I know it's been a long time,What a small world it is.

When I stopped racing bikes I talked to a half a dozen people to find the right class to get into. More then half of them wanted me to join the Porsche club and I told them I ain't got that kind of money. Then I met the Puskar's and they told me join sm and it's been all down hill from there ! Lol

I will say this I'm so glad I got into sm. I have met some great people in this class and it feels like my second family.

Now I have my son racing and he loves it. I brought him out to the runoffs to watch some racing but we ended up talking to people more than watching. His comment to me was "man you know everbody" and I told him you will know all these guys after one year of racing and this is your racing family and he just got a smile on his face.

When did you stop racing bikes ?

[chris haldeman]

Very cool about your son racing! I stopped racing motorcycles in late 2002. It was a long run on 2 wheels for me. I took riders school at Nelson in 1989. At the time everybody was freaking out because I was 13 butt Tommy Hayden soon followed and was also quite young. Now it's the norm and old guys like us are out

[Cnj]

old guys like us are out

Yeah Haldeman, I've been thinking about how old you are

Sheesh.

CNJ.

[MPR22]

Yeah Haldeman, I've been thinking about how old you are
Sheesh.
CNJ.

Yeah Craig, when looking back and wishing you were merely old again means you are ancient.

[Bench Racer]

^       may you all get there.

[av8tor]

   ok...explain?

Although he won both races at the first “Showdown” round of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park to take the points lead, Samsung Crescent Suzuki’s John Hopkins was still suffering a lot of pain from the finger injuries he received from the practice crash at Brno during his third cameo ride on the Suzuki GSV-R MotoGP bike five weeks ago. Refusing to take painkillers to avoid possibly compromising his skill during the Donington BSB races, once the adrenalin wore off, the American found the pain hadn’t decreased in the days afterward, and fears that he may have caused more injury convinced him to see his surgeon back in the U.S.

 

A Honda press release issued over the weekend stated that MotoGP rider Marc Marquez fractured the little finger of his left hand while riding dirt track.

 

Valentino Rossi is confident the broken left little finger he suffered in the Japanese Grand Prix will not be a major problem during this weekend’s Phillip Island clash.

The Italian broke his left little finger in a crash on the first lap at the Twin Ring Motegi and he was forced to withdraw from a test on Ducati’s 1000cc GP12 machine in Jerez last week.

They just tend to get in the way and are often ripped off between the clip on (handle bar) and pavement during fast low side crashes. (trail braking leaned over and the front tire loses traction, you go down FAST)

[manthony121]

Though I'm fairly new to SM racing (or any racing, for that matter), I do have some experience with trauma surgery.  It is no secret that people worry about the wrong things.  Things that are spectacular, like crashing a race car, capture our attention, while more ordinary things slip by unnoticed.  You are more likely to choke to death from eating dinner than you are from racing Miatas.  There are three things that can kill (or seriously injure) you in racing: rapid deceleration, fire, and intrusion into the driver's compartment.  It seems that Miatas are about as safe as can be from that perspective.  I certainly feel safer strapped into my race car than I do driving down the highway in my daily ride, along side people I *know* are much less serious about driving than I am, in a car designed more for comfort than extreme safety.

 

That being said, I can't say for sure if you have any other screws loose or not.  Most everyone has their quirks.  Surely, knitting is safer than racing, but you have to do what excites you.  If there's anything crazy about racing, to me, it's more the money than the safety issue.  But money is no good if you don't spend it on something you enjoy.  Perhaps when you're 80, you'll have some aches and pains that you wouldn't have if you went with knitting instead, but when I get there, I'd rather be looking back over several years of racing than knitting.  Besides, I won't need all those scarves and mittens.  I'll have my Nomex balaclava to keep me warm.

[Tom Scheifler]

You are more likely to choke to death from eating dinner than you are from racing Miatas.

Can't say as I ever worried about choking to death from racing a Miata.

[Jim Drago]

Though I'm fairly new to SM racing (or any racing, for that matter)

 I certainly feel safer strapped into my race car than I do driving down the highway in my daily ride,

Sentence one explains sentence two

 

I was defininitely my own worst enemy for the first few seasons, not the other cars

[Danny Steyn]

Can't say as I ever worried about choking to death from racing a Miata.

 

Tom, I have been around WAY more life-threatening choking incidents than I have ever been around life-threatening Spec Miata incidents. True Story

[MotoFusi]

I have used the heimlich maneuver twice. Both with success. Both at the same restaurant when I was a cop. three years apart. And yes there are one or two guys on here I would like to apply it but higher LOL

 

I did put my helmet on and got in the car with a pinch between my cheek and gum. Thought about choking LOL Does that count?

[Bench Racer]

In the news recently.

 

Dr. Henry Heimlich of the Eponymous Anti-Choking Maneuver, has dies at age 96.

[MotoFusi]

He saved a lot of lives and continues to

[Johnny D]

[manthony121]

Don't forget Leon Russell!

[Parity]

This thread is officially four off at this point.

[av8tor]

Honestly, if you are driving spec miata's and afraid of getting hurt.  I think you should sell your car immediately for pennies on the dollar ( to me) and take up golf.  Oh that will not work:

In a quick web search, I was able to find a half-dozen or so news clippings about people killed by golf balls. Among them:

-- A 69-year-old man died several days after being struck in the back of the head by a tee shot from 10 yards away after walking out ahead of his playing partners at a Chino, Calif. course in October this year. His brain swelled, and despite surgeries, he died in a hospital.

-- A 66-year-old woman was killed in 2009 after being hit in the back of the head by a wayward shot hit by her son-in-law at a course near Loch Lom0nd in Scotland; she died a day after being struck.

-- A 67-year-old course marshall at a club in Arlington, Texas, died one day after being hit by a ball that caromed off a tree and into his head. He had taken shelter in a group of trees 200 yards from the tee box; sadly, the fatal shot was struck by his 31-year-old son.

-- A 16-year-old girl died after being hit in the head by a golf ball on a course in Sydney, Australia in 2005. News reports say she could have survived but was given the wrong dose of medication at the hospital -- also found to have collapsed beds and roaches in rooms -- causing her to suffer cardiac arrest.

-- A 13-year-old boy was struck and killed in 1998 while walking a course in Kilkenny,Ireland.

-- A 10-year-old boy was killed after being struck in the head by a golf ball in 1989 in Fairhope, Ala.

-- A 17-year-old Scottish boy was killed in 1993 after being hit in the head with a ball struck by his best pal during a friendly outing.

Which leads us back to the fatality last week at the course in Sanford. In that case, the course worker was 100 feet away from the tee on a par-5 when he was struck. Below find a more detailed story on his death. Meanwhile, please remember to always yell "fore" when your shot is heading toward someone, or even if you're not sure.

Couldn't find any news about spec Miata racers killed in racing accidents.

[manthony121]

Wikipedia has a page for "unusual deaths", sorted by century.  My favorite:

 

2008: A 43-year-old mother of four in Ireland died from having sex with a German Shepherd dog owned by a man she met in an online fetish chatroom. The semen of the dog triggered a fatal allergic reaction similar to that of a peanut allergy. The owner of the dog was later criminally charged in 2011 under Ireland's national anti-bestiality laws, the first such case in Irish legal history ever since the said laws were passed in 1861.

 

The fact that she had allergy to dog semen suggests that her immune system had been exposed to it on a previous occasion.

 

Regarding people dying after being hit in the head with golf balls, could this be a possible market for our expired helmets?