Joe's Blog - Safety Thoughts

August 2007

As many of you now know my racing effort hit a snag this past weekend at the Pocono National when I was hit from behind and knocked into a concrete wall after the checkered flag fell. While it has hurt us racing wise, we have much to be thankful for. We have many friends that helped us through the incident to include Bill Pintaric ( Dave's brother and GT-Lite racer ), Matt Miller and the Kryder racing crew, and the entire Phoenix crew. So many that I can't list them all, but rest assured I realized after the accident how tight knit racers and crews are. We also have all of you on the forums and that frequent our site to thank for support and well wishes, it gives us drive to come back.

In light of how bad my weekend was, I have to say that after learning of the loss of a fellow racer at Mid Ohio, I realize how fortunate I am. It makes my incident seem VERY trivial. It also made me think of the things that surround and protect us. Although my car has seen better days, I am 100%. I believe I owe this to a couple of very important things; my safety equipment and my conditioning.

Check out the video, it's pretty clear I took 2 pretty hard hits. The video still doesn't do them justice. After it was all said and done, I thought for sure that I was going to have some residual effects. About 4 hours after the accident I developed only a slight tightness of the upper back and neck and a slight headache. Within 24 hours that all was gone, and this is with NO medicine whatsoever to relax or kill pain. I was really astonished. Yes, my accident wasn't as bad as some, but it was pretty hard, and 2 hits! I feel everything worked together to help keep me safe. First, Corvettes, especially when they are prepped by Phoenix Racing with a first class roll cage, are pretty sturdy cars!! While mine looks bad, considering what it went through it faired very well. I sit in a Sparco EVO seat perched on top of Gary Hoffmans ( owner of HardBar LLC ) seat rails and nut adapters. Combine those with my properly anchored 5 point harness ( G-Force ), HANS and G Force helmet and I was secure even during a side impact. Although I cinch myself in pretty tight, in the video you can tell I moved around on impact, I actually still made contact with the rollcage above the driver window area. Again, in spite of this, no injury to speak of besides soreness. There has been much debate as to whether a HANS helps in side impacts, all I can say is I don't think it hurt me to have the thing on!!!

I also feel conditioning played a big roll. Although not in the best shape I've ever been in I have always trained pretty hard in terms of toughness. Flexibility, training to take hits, martial arts, etc. I really feel it played a role. After the accident I told a few that I have been hit and busted up more by training partners than this. Physical conditioning cannot be ignored. Are drivers athletes, I can't answer that. Can being athletic and physically flexible and tough help a driver, YES, without a doubt. Take your fitness level seriously. It can help save you in an accident, and it can help you stay focused and consistent on track in 90 degree weather. Your brain needs oxygen, if your cardio is good, that's another thing you have in your corner that won't fatigue.

This incident has made me take a look at some things I've let go, mainly myself. I've already jumped back on the training regimen and plan to get myself in as good of shape as I want the car in. I will never allow myself to get in a car again unless my cardio and fitness levels are pretty darn good. Make the car good, make yourself good, use the safety equipment and be safe. Most of all have fun!

Joe