CRASHED 1ST RACE 2 RACES TO GO DO I GO OR DO I STAY

I have to comment here, especially after the issue of hitting your head came up.

Sean may have picked my butt up at the Sledges after tossing away third place on the last lap in the carousel one rainy Sunday in 1990. I remember seeing stars after that crash. I swore I was OK. Every one thought I was ok too, since I only hit my head.

After a rather nasty street crash in 1992 (me and the FXRP vs the left-turning Mercedes-Benz), I was out of racing for two months. The helmet I was wearing at the time was a 3/4 coverage Shoei. I had earlier argued with the Powers That Be that the 3/4 would help me survive a crash better than the standard issue shorty helmet. I was right. I landed on the back of the helmet; the impact point with the ground being where there would have been NO protection for my skull with the shorty helmet. You could say I had a concussion, being knocked out for almost 30 minutes. A better term would be closed-head injury, meaning the bone was not broken and blood was not coming out my ears and nose.

In the first time back on the track, I crashed in Devil's Elbow at Pocono, landing on my head again. I'm not saying that the head injury 2 months prior caused that crash. I believed trying to get one more practice session out of a worn tire was the cause. Yeah, right. It was the bad decision that caused that crash.

Less than a year after the street crash I was back under medical care for the after-effects of the street crash, exacerbated by the track crash. Dis-orientation, nausea, dizzyness and a feeling of vagueness was what I was experiencing. I was slow in responding to quick-reaction and critical thinking situations. After a discussion with the doctor, I asked that WERA temporarily suspend my license. The state almost took my driver's license. My job status changed as I was unable to carry the sidearm. I was able to get medical clearence and have since been cleared to race.

The last time out at the track (Nelson.. again) the bike seized and I high-sided while racing for 2nd. I remember thinking that I needed to get off the track. I crawled, rolled and stumbled to the tire wall. Another head hit along with rotator-cuff injuries made for a miserable half year.

Sean says WERA trys to track the head hits and the difficulty in determining how each rider is affected. I've done the "I'm OK" racer act while being in a position that I could not tell you the time of day. Sadly, experience tells me that the racer is the last person to listen to when determining when to go back on the track.

BTW, if you crash at Summit, Rausch Creek or VIR Sportsman events and you had hit your head, I want you to get medical clearence before you go back on the track. You owe it to the other racers and yourself.

THE Rain Director

 

Well put JU and Rain Director, I got a concussion at Oak Hill last December in turn 3 on a practice day. Hit the ground, got up, helped load my bike, told everyone i was alright. Only one problem, i couldn't remember anything that happened 5 seconds previous. About my 5th time to ask what happened my dad threw me in the truck and off to the ER we went.Total memory loss for about 5 hours, my first recollection came at the hospital signing out AMA.
Doesn't seem to be any long term effects so far, but concussions are no joke. guys that get multiple start getting lost in their own neighborhoods.
It took a few track days to recover from the trauma (mentally) but now I am back, and with an ARAI

 

Yes,I do agree.The 750 can put out 70to80hp with some money tossed at it,but to get this hp you have to throw some where in the ranges of about $4000.You are also able to get this hp range out of Hawks & EX if you put that kind of money in those bikes.Hold the 750ss to super stock rules and let them race.I know my bike has went to far to race clubman thats the reason I said that I wasn't planning on running clubman.There might be some people who would like to race the 750ss but do not wish to spend the kind of money it takes to be competitive in the classes it is in now.The 750ss has taken a large amount of work and lots of $$$$ to be competitve in LWT,Dsuper,and For2.This is going to have to happen again to stay with the SV's this year.The worst thing that could happen if the 750ss is allowed in clubman is that you might get more racers racing clubman.This could result into a number of things like close racing you now the kind that has the crowd standing on thier feet.Which may result in more people paying at gate and more interest in the clubman series.I personally don't see anything wrong with this.Just looking for wera to grow.

 

Losing the memory of an incident should not really be that alarming. If I remmeber my Psych. class correctly, there is a short delay of about 5 seconds while the brain 'writes' the information into memory. If you lose consiousness, those 5 seconds are not stored in your memory. This happens even when you do not bang your head.

If you seem to lose your memory for any longer than that, definitely see a doctor.

 

Like last week when I passed out and hit the corner of my eye on the water faucet. I didn't remember it but I was out for about 5 seconds.

 

WOW, Anthony, I think that head hit was a little worse than we thought....changing the subject like you are trying to do. WRONG THREAD Anthony. And don't worry, I'll take it easy on my teammate/sponsor/friend.

 

i picked a guy up in turn 9 at roabling once. the guy told everybody he was ok. then he asked me what happened about 10 times before i could get him back to the pits, so i made a little detour over to the med dudes. but he kept saying he was ok and what happened? where am i? yeah he was just fine.

 

no i have not found the little animals yet buy i will continue to look anyway i am ok grant are you ready for the season yet??

 

hey critter, i am ready for the season, all i have to is drill my header bolts and i am done. big question for you, what type of clip ons and steering damp. did you have?

 

Sorry about that my computer went offline an I didn't notice.When I sent my reply evidently somebody had replied to this thread an put it back on top.xoxoxo :P

 

Given CR's crash record I would say the cheapest he could find since he was replacing them alot.

 

I'm catching up I'm on number 4. Number 3 is now reinforced with some screws and plate. Any opinions on racing with a "plated" collar bone? I'll have about 7-8 weeks recuperation time before the first track day.



[This message has been edited by VitoDuc19 (edited 01-03-2001).]

 

eight weeks should be no problem.

JU

 

Haven't had one of those. But I do have two very nice looking wood screws in my ankle.

 

I've got the bike now and it has Vortex clip-ons and a Scott's damper. I always use Vortex clip-ons cuz they're the best and I've only ridden the bike twice with the Scott's damper but I like it. It will hold up much better in a crash than fork tube mounted dampers.

 

Yeah and Tom is speaking from experience.

 

that was my story right there. my friend told me to shut up a few times before he realized i wasn';t messing with him.

 

November 1995, and you are there:

JU: What happened?

TU: You crashed in turn nine and your bike landed on your head.

JU: Was I winning?

TU: No, you were trying to win by going around the outside of Vicky and Wes, who were trying to go underneath a couple of lappers at the apex, but one of the lappers swung wide and you went off the track to miss him.

JU: What happened?
(Repeat 33 times, then switch to revised version below):

JU: What happened?

TU: Crashed.

JU: Was I winning?

TU: Yes.

JU: What happened?

(etc.)

(Or so I am told)

JU

 

Yup, I'm a walking advertisement for Vanson, Vortex, Arai, Held and Alpinestars. Crash tested, racer approved.

 

do you think if tom ever hits his head, will it make him like a normal person? you know the opposite of what he is now?