Unsafe racetracks in America

Dangerous for riders or spectators? I've seen bikes land on the spectator side of the T4 fence at Blackhawk a couple times.

 

Nelson ledges (sorry for all you fans of the track)

And lets not forget summit main, when the surface was just coming up like mad on the hot days. To this day i still think I have some of the track in my belly pan

 

Everyone says BHF is dangerous.....but I've never seen any injuries come out of there from anything other than the pavement, or another bike. & I've never seen a bike go through a gravel trap, over a tire wall, through about 20' (distance wise) of grass, & over a 4' chain link fence.

At least not there!

 

nelson is the worst i've been on but i love it.......outside of the carousel and the kink suck runoff wise

 

Anywhere when you're on the same track as Mike "regularguy" Copoulos!

 

Not sure I understand your point. Your lack of personal experience with such situations doesn't change the fact that they've happened. The bikes don't go through the grass...they get launched off the outside curb, never touching the runoff area on the racing side of the wall.

This one didn't clear the fence, but these shots illustrate how bikes get airborne there.

 

I like BHF. I'm not saying its any more dangerous than a lot of other tracks. I will say everything you listed above of not seeing I have witnessed multiple times. Just saying.

 

Soooooo true.


For those referencing a Canadian track with a wall up n close, y'all have to be thinking of Calabogie MotorSports. That place is/was heaven on earth!!! (3miles/20 turns!)
The wall was on the left side of the track immediately following a 90+MPH left turn #1 (full course/clockwise), so there really isn't as much risk as you'd think. The wall does continue on til turn #2 (right) but there really isn't any point in pulling up close to it if you're carrying enough speed through one, you, basically, make a b line straight to T2 just barely left to the center line...at least that's the way I remember it, it's been a few years tho.

 

Turn 2 is scary, and i've heard of people getting helicoptered out from there.

I crashed there last year at the very top of 5th gear on my SV, if I would have crashed a second earlier it would have been a nice trip to the air fence @120mph... yeah not fun.

Instead I slid almost all the way to the corner worker station in 3!





That's where you can see where the bike ended up, you can see where turn 3 is starting.

 

Miller...outer course.

 

Firebird main, has to in the top 3 if not at the very top of the list.

 

Mosport, late 70's. Terrifying.

The AMA riders held a "rider's union" action at the September, 1978 event there, to get hay bales installed in front of the tire wall after Avrum Gudelski was killed during the Saturday practice. John Long said of that race "It's the only race I ever won while riding half-throttle down the front straight and trying to hold onto the bars!"

 

Tanacross is the name of it, basically airfield that uses cones for turns, bumpy but not dangerous and the grass/weeds are gone after the first few laps! I've been out there a few times, good bunch of folks out there

 

I love BHF, but I do agree that turn 2 is scary. The staff at Blackhawk have put a lot of effort into making the track safer, hopefully they can come up with a way to cut down a few trees at 2 and move the armco back another 50' or so. In my opinion BHF does not belong on this list...

 

Yeah, besides crashing into swamps it's not bad at all. Much much safer than what it used to be. That was before my time though.

They are building a huge new building, I feel like they should have put resources into fixing the turn two wall first. It's rare to crash there, but it only takes one time...

 

I agree that turn 2 is sketchy.
I wish they'd cut the trees down in the grass past the bus stop.

As far as my statement about 4......I know how bikes get launched there.....but on the spectator side of the fence is the part I've never seen.

 

A friend of mine died hitting a telephone guide wire there in the late 80's. There used to be a plaque in his memory on the wall near the podium

 

The last turn at BHF (10 or whatever they number it as) was one of scarier ones I thought. Nothing like a forest for run off. I never paid attention to turn 2 but know a lot of people crash hard there. The bus stop never freaked me out either until I saw all these air born photos

 

Page 5 and nobody has said IRP? If it even spit rain every single bike will crash when it gets to the front straight. Some of the track was actually in the parking lot. There is a building in the back section that I can't believe nobody ever hit.

Gateway.

I bet if you went by number of injuries/deaths to motorcycle racers over the last few decades that Road Atlanta would top the list.

 

Mixed feelings for Ponoco. The infield was fun IF you nailed the entrance to turn 1 (thanks Tommy D.) but the banking was scary bumpy & fast. Had to stay way inside going in, 'cause the ripples would make the bike drift over about a foot. Talk about double vision.