1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Ultimate Chicken

Discussion in 'General' started by MarkB, Aug 22, 2005.

  1. MarkB

    MarkB All's well that ends well

    The thought crossed my mind - how crazy would it be to walk around a racetrack during a race into the oncoming bikes. Obviously, all the racers would be informed ahead of time, and understand what was going on. These guys are more than skilled enough to avoid a pedestrian in the track - much like avoiding a piece of bodywork laying on the track might be.

    I just think it would be an ultimate buzz to walk into a WERA superbike race, to feel all those bikes flying past at close quarters like that........


    ..yeah, I KNOW it would never be alowed....but hey...:D

    ...infact, imagine if I filmed the oncoming bikes splitting me, that would be excellent footage - I'm suprised it hasnt been done before.....

    I need my meds this morning.
     
  2. R1ZOOM

    R1ZOOM Well-Known Member

    Hey man, pass me some of whatever that is your smoking, because I need some of it to help with my aches and pains from my high speed crash yesterday at Tally. :beer:
     
  3. IF!

    IF! Buford;02 Polaris&trailer

    Come on down and play crash quad with us. There is a lot of trust in our fellow racers, the little speach I give durring the riders meeting tells it all. Self loading sucks:D
     
  4. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    Yes you need your meds. I've done similar stuff cornerworking - rider down and out mid track and I felt the oncoming traffic could see me standing over him but no thim due to a ride int he track - weird part is I remmeber the feeling but no idea on what track it was. I wouldn't suggest it to be honest. I'd probably do it again if I truly felt the riders life was in danger if I didn't but it wasn't my smartest move ever. We had flags out so it wasn't as bad but this was before we went to a full course red flag so people were still at speed until they saw the red at start/finish.

    Ya know, the more I think about it the more I realize how damned stupid that was....
     
  5. Yamaha Fan

    Yamaha Fan Well-Known Member

    But in situations like you describe it is hard not to react the way you did... only afterward does it occur that it could result in additional incidents.....

    I try and always be aware when I am racing but a yellow or a red flag really get me watching for ANYONE, rider, medical or corner worker to be on the track.. In vintage thankfully we tend to be a bit more spread out, I can imagine in a 40-50 bike modern field it could get VERY dicey.......

    As for MarkB's question... WTH were you doing that this even floated into your consciousness?

    Mark if we ever meet remind me to share the story of watching a drugged out guy trying and succeeding in committing suicide on P-tree industrial BLVD. 3 years ago by doing a similar thing with 2 lanes of oncoming traffic....
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2005
  6. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    I still think I did the right thing but it was a looooonnnnnggggg time ago so my memories are a bit fuzzy on it. I just remember thinking there is no way the oncoming guys can see the rider because he was bvelow the horizon until it was too late to react, with me over him they could see me from a good distance away and react as needed. I'm also pretty sure we did the 2-3 corner waving yellow thing at that point (pre cursor to the full course red) so everyone knew bad stuff was ahead.
     
  7. Mitch

    Mitch MV Persistence

    somebody found some fresh KBs.
     
  8. MarkB

    MarkB All's well that ends well

    Yeah, I worry about myself sometimes. As I kid I rolled down a hill on my stomach on a skateboard. I was entranced by the little wheels and wondered what would happen if I put my fingers in them.......

    ...anyway, crazy but good choice you made Mongo. Imagine if you hadn't and the guy had been killed.

    And I trust a bunch of racers alot more than the traffic on Peachtree...

    ...meds just kicked in, so forget I posted:moon:
     
  9. Repo Man

    Repo Man 50 years of Yamaha GP!!

    Did'nt Yates try this at VIR a few seasons ago???


















    :p
     
  10. Sean Jordan

    Sean Jordan Well-Known Member

    I had to cross a track during an AMA Pro-Thunder race at VIR in 2001. Even when signaled by the other workers that there was a break in traffic, looking at the bikes coming down through the roller-coaster towards me gave me a bit of an adrenaline surge. I remember thinking at the time how NOT fun it was!
     
  11. On a side note...

    I was at Cracker Barrel yerstoday, and some British yuppie parked his little rig, right along side our big ghetto rig. I was going to kick his bike over, but it looked pretty rough allready...:Poke:

    Then I think I saw Mr. Microphone driving a big ass RV, with the WERA trailer behind it. I waved, but he gave me the evil eye. :D
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2005
  12. fullweed

    fullweed gunnin for skillets

    I always thought it would be cool to get a remote control helicopter with a Sony Handycam attached to it. Perch the chopper right above turn one and get some good close up racing footage.
     
  13. skip salenius

    skip salenius Well-Known Member

    :p :up:
     
  14. MarkB

    MarkB All's well that ends well

    Whats a KB??? I don't get it :(

    And yeah, I always park next to someone with better stuff to steal than mine....:D
     
  15. Booger Van der Jackass

    Booger Van der Jackass Well-Known Member

    KB's are Kind Buds, as in The Good Shite. You'd probably know nothing about them since you f'ers mix your greens with tobacco.
    BTW, Drugs are bad!
     
  16. 976-FIZR

    976-FIZR In transition...

    Agreed... I've been on track at Road Atlanta, in the impact zone of turn 12, and turn 7, and 10. And Summit all over the place (the beach at 1 comes to mind, where the guy target fixated on me as I was standing in the run off and he headed right for me), and turn 9, and VIR (Aaron's turn, what was that, 6?). It's more a question of clearing the track as well as possible for the oncoming racers than responding to the downed rider so much. It's adrenalin-fuel'd for sure. It could be labeled fun. It all depends on the outcome I suppose.

    You can pretty much get the same sensation by standing inside a turn during a race. Station 1 and 5 at Summit, station 3 and 16 (sorta) at VIR, station 1 at Road Atlanta is pretty good, so is flag station 5, 6 and 7, there are tons of places to get a good, close view of the racers and yet stay (mostly) out of harms way.

    Being on the track is a necessary evil, but mostly just screws up the racers concentration (pisses some of them off), and if they're battling with others for position at the time, well... helmet on, brain off is the mantra we use. They're not looking to avoid you, they're probably thinking for the best way to use you as a pick. For all intents and purposes it should be avoided if possible. You think they'll avoid you, but theory and practice are two different things.

    Flags upstream won't always save your bacon if you're on course down stream. [rant]I sometimes wonder if the guys racing actually know what some of the flags mean. A rocking debris flag means fluid down on the track, and I personally think that's a big deal, but it always seems like guys go balls out anyway. And if I point a debris flag at you, it means you're lousing up my race track, so get off course. Immediately. Not slow down and ride off the line with a hand up, not ride around looking down at your bike to see what's wrong (like you're gonna fix the problem on the fly or something :rolleyes: ), it means get as far away from the course as you can... now. Don't cause a 45-minute red flag to clean up a 1/4-mile trail of oil/engine case chunks.[/rant]

    -HJK
     
  17. Mitch

    Mitch MV Persistence

    you forgot the "Mmmkay?"
     
  18. jigmoore

    jigmoore Banned

    awesome idea.
     
  19. Pants Romano

    Pants Romano Well-Known Member

    It's not on the track, but...

    At VIR, 50 yards past start finish towards pit-out is a tree right at the the inside of the little kink. It's pretty fun to watch a C-SS race leaning up against the tree.
     

Share This Page