Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Just walked out of Beaver Dam.  Helicopter leaving the track.  One scary wreck. 

I was watching on dirtvision.  Very scary indead.  Thoughts and prayers for him and his family.

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

For sure....fingers crossed and prayers for Jason and his family. Very scary looking crash at full speed.

What happened?

He walked out on his own 2 feet? Hope so

Scary as hell....

Bad flip out over turn three into the billboards. 

Oh, you mean YOU just walked out?

I was praying as soon as i saw it, & I'm an agnostic

Thoughts and prayers with him, his wife and their son. Really hoping for some good news after that one. One of the scarier wrecks I have seen in person. Also, on a side note, never ever should a track have I beams anywhere near the track for any reason what so ever, let alone use them to hang signs on at the entrance of a corner

Real race cars don't have fenders...

Nasty deal, thoughts for JJ.

Sorry, no.....I walked out and helicopter was leaving.  They cut him out. 

Replay from a spectator in the backstretch....it appears as though the front/top of the cage took the brunt of the impact against the concrete wall while car was airborn upside down.

That's what I was seeing too. That was an ugly, ugly crash.

Ugh, it happened so quickly I was trying to hope this wasn't the case, but I can believe it from what I remember seeing. 

There is no reason for not having a catch fence mounted on those damn four foot concrete walls! If this one would have had that the front of the car would have rebounded the car away from the concrete, or at a minimum reduced the scale of the cage impact dramatically.

He hit steel beams holding up the advertising signs... Prayers for everyone!!! 

Somewhat of an update per Dave Biro (DB3 Imaging) on Twitter, per Bobbi (JJs wife): "Jason Johnson is still with us! Please keep your FAITH for us and say all the prayers you can!!! He is breathing, heart rate good made it thru flight is all we know!"

Some good news - hoping it stays this way.

Man this sucks. Hate when these things happen. I hope and pray everything works out ok. I echo your sentiments completely. I'm just a fan but open concrete barriers shouldn't be anywhere near a racing surface. Especially one where sprint cars race. I've been saying since they put those jersey barriers around the inside of Port Royal that it was a bad idea and a crash like this one is exactly what I fear will happen there. Sprint cars are dangerous and they always will be therefore any kind of barrier has it's drawbacks but still, there are far better options than jersey barriers or concrete walls. 

Who the fucks idea was steel beams (if that's the case)?!!!  Why protect a damn sign over that of a driver's potential injuries? It makes me sick to my stomach when I see a driver seriousely injured. Really!

I agree completely, and it makes me sick too.   There are a good number of tracks that have safety issues like this.  In many cases it's spectator fencing that isn't safe.    In other cases it's an issue that affects the drivers, like this one.   I remember the accident in 1989 that killed Ron Hughes Jr. out at Devils Bowl.   This was another case of a cage impact on top of a concrete wall.   I've always thought that a fence on top of the concrete might have saved his life.   

Scott Semmelmann lost his life there 3 years ago in a similiar situation in IRA, cage to the top of the exposed concrete wall. Everyone complained about that set up back then too.