Serious accident at Road Atlanta, is there any way to find the status of someone you don't know?

[streetroc]

I spent the weekend racing motorcycles at Road Atlanta. During one of the first sessions on Saturday morning I was approaching turn 5 which is a left hand corner going up a hill. As you exit this corner you are at the top of 2nd gear and when you come up over the hill the bike starts to wheelie. It's a blind spot and you can't really see what's in front of you until you shift into 3rd. As I went through the apex of that turn I just happened to see one of the corner workers picking up a red flag. I eased off the throttle and moved slightly off the race line to the right and when I came over the top of the hill I saw shattered pieces of a bike and a rider lying face down unconscious in the middle of the track. If I hadn't moved off the line at that instant I would have put my front tire right into the top of his helmet at about 70mph. They took him to the ER in an ambulance instead of a helicopter which is a good sign but nobody seems to have any more information other than that.

I've been participating in extreme sports for a long time but this accident really got to me. If I hadn't seen that corner worker picking up the red flag out of the corner of my eye I would have killed him. It all happened in a split-second but I just keep thinking about the image of that guy lying there in the middle of the track. The crash ripped the visor off his helmet and I could see his face with his eyes closed. I really want to know if he is okay but I don't even know his name. I'm assuming that they took him to the trauma center at the hospital in Gainesville. Is there any way to find out who he is or how he is doing?

 

[CBH13]

i'd scrounge the facebook groups. tends to the best place to find this kinda info.

 

[GeauxLSU]

Lost a good friend that way. Went down, was fine. Next bike killed him.
As far as it getting to you, only you can decide if that was somebody taping your shoulder.

I don't have an idea for you other than somebody at the track perhaps knowing. Hope that guy is ok. Let us know what you hear.

 

[wozeyjales]

I worked track safety at Road Atlanta in the mid '80s.
Only time I signaled for an ambulance was at turn 5.
Cars come downhill thru the Ss then as stated turn
5 is an uphill lefty. Formula 440 and Formula Vee
ran together this race. Formula 440 comes thru Ss
then at 5 he comes straight off track instead of turning
left and slams head-on into red clay embankment.
Took maybe 10 seconds to run downhill to his car.
He was out cold with hands dropped into his lap.
I kept his head stationary and he was just beginning
to regain conciousness when the ambulance and
EMTs arrived. Never heard what his outcome was.

 

[streetroc]

Lost a good friend that way. Went down, was fine. Next bike killed him.
As far as it getting to you, only you can decide if that was somebody taping your shoulder.

I don't have an idea for you other than somebody at the track perhaps knowing. Hope that guy is ok. Let us know what you hear.

God has tapped me on the shoulder many times before, especially with situations involving motorcycles and airplanes. To be honest I'm not sure how I'm still alive and that is the basis of my faith in God in the first place.

Nobody at the track knew anything about his condition. The organizers seemed reluctant to talk about it. I guess that's just part of the culture of racing.

 

[streetroc]

I worked track safety at Road Atlanta in the mid '80s.
Only time I signaled for an ambulance was at turn 5.
Cars come downhill thru the Ss then as stated turn
5 is an uphill lefty. Formula 440 and Formula Vee
ran together this race. Formula 440 comes thru Ss
then at 5 he comes straight off track instead of turning
left and slams head-on into red clay embankment.
Took maybe 10 seconds to run downhill to his car.
He was out cold with hands dropped into his lap.
I kept his head stationary and he was just beginning
to regain conciousness when the ambulance and
EMTs arrived. Never heard what his outcome was.

This was my first track day at Road Atlanta. It's a fun track but it's very fast and the runoff areas are very short. Turn 5 in particular leaves almost no room for error. It's a lot of fun to come rocketing up that hill in second gear and wheelie over the crest. Sometimes the bike will wheelie again when you shift into 3rd at almost 100mph and it's a hell of a rush. However after that incident I spent the rest of the weekend tiptoeing my way through it and almost always stayed off the line because I was afraid of what might be out of sight at the top of the hill.

Racing motorcycles is a dangerous sport and this isn't the first time that I've seen someone get seriously hurt. However this was the first time that I nearly hurt somebody else through no fault of my own. I wasn't expecting that.

 

[wozeyjales]

Worst crash at RdAtl during my tenure was during the
runoffs when different classes have 30 minute races to
determine who's the champ. Sunday afternoon last race iirc.
Started raining at turn 6 which is 90 degree right turn after short
straight from 5 to 6. All the cars came thru 5 on dry pavement then
hit a downpour at 6. About 20-25 cars hydroplaned straight off
into the grass which increased their speed and lessened
control. Slid all the way to the perimeter fence and cars
stacked into each other. After 2-3 deep following cars started
vaulting over the previous wrecks & the fence landing in the
woods. Only the 3-4 slowest stragglers managed to stay on
course. In addition to the pileup the woods caught on fire.
The race was black flagged and all the safety equipment
and workers reported to turn 6. Don't think any drivers were
injured other than bumps & bruises. Several of the leaders
were getting ready to unstrap belts and get out when the other
cars began to pile in. Wisely they decided safer to stay in cars
until the crashing noise and chaos ceased. Oddly, the SCCA
didn't declare the stragglers who finished a few more laps than
the leaders as the winners. Instead they went back to the last lap
before the rain at 6 wiped out the field to determine the finishing order.

 

[streetroc]

Worst crash at RdAtl during my tenure was during the
runoffs when different classes have 30 minute races to
determine who's the champ. Sunday afternoon last race iirc.
Started raining at turn 6 which is 90 degree right turn after short
straight from 5 to 6. All the cars came thru 5 on dry pavement then
hit a downpour at 6. About 20-25 cars hydroplaned straight off
into the grass which increased their speed and lessened
control. Slid all the way to the perimeter fence and cars
stacked into each other. After 2-3 deep following cars started
vaulting over the previous wrecks & the fence landing in the
woods. Only the 3-4 slowest stragglers managed to stay on
course. In addition to the pileup the woods caught on fire.
The race was black flagged and all the safety equipment
and workers reported to turn 6. Don't think any drivers were
injured other than bumps & bruises. Several of the leaders
were getting ready to unstrap belts and get out when the other
cars began to pile in. Wisely they decided safer to stay in cars
until the crashing noise and chaos ceased. Oddly, the SCCA
didn't declare the stragglers who finished a few more laps than
the leaders as the winners. Instead they went back to the last lap
before the rain at 6 wiped out the field to determine the finishing order.

Turn 6 is nice and gentle if you are on the line but there is very little runoff if you don't get it right. When you're in 4th gear charging down towards it at about 115mph that concrete wall at the end gets real big real quick

 

[Hayata]

 

[C'mon man!]

Track day or racing? You can try the WERA forums to see if anyone posted about it, but if it was a trackday, it could have been someone new/not known in the paddock. Does the trackday org have a forum?

Glad you didn't target fixate on him, that can be a huge challenge, but in moments like that everything is like slow-mo and you have time to think. He must have high sided, easy spot to do it, and got a good smack coming down. Road Atl was always my favorite track.