Incredible Rolex Racecar Crash...........

[Greg Collier]

I was watching the Rolex Series racing at Mid-Ohio this weekend when in the last 2-laps Joey Hand got bumped in the rear and end-oed nine times. It brought back memories of a similar accident I had at the old Riverside Raceway back in the seventies. I end-oed 13 times, destroying the car and my seat on the team. I had a mild concussion and a few bruises...

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxnzhtjfm50&search=joey hand crash

 

[Zero Bar]

I saw this on another site, amazing he pretty much walked away from it. At one point he makes 2 whole rotations without touching the ground!! I hope Mid-Ohio addresses that jump in the grass there, it will end up getting someone killed.

 

[CanadianTSi]

I watched that also, I immediately searched for a video but it guess it wasn't up yet.

Thanks for the link

 

[schemauer]

WOW - What a testament to a great cage builder. And who the hell would leave that berm in the grass on that section of the track??????

 

[Ludachris]

Damn! Looks like there will be some work done to the track soon - or at least you'd think there would be.

 

[Greg Collier]

His crash at Mid-Ohio is big talk on all the race sites. All the road racers will be running Mid-Ohio this year at some point and they're all getting freaked out after watching the crash. It's like an every day occurrence in NASCAR but when something that dramatic happens in road racing everybody wants to blame somebody. I'm sure Mid-Ohio with grade the hump and everyone will be satisfied. Keep in mind; he was bumped by the GTO that sent him into his highflying cartwheels...

EDIT:

Here's a statement from the owner of Joey Hands team:


Quote:
RE: Joey Hand accident...Should Edwards be penalized?

First of all, Thanks for all the good comments and support we got as a team from the fans, other teams, and message boarders. It was quite a 28 hour period from the elation of the pole to the sad ending. I watched the race and crash video for the first time this morning and it was unbeliveable. When I drove past the wreck (in the 24 car) and saw what was left of the 21, I almost got physically sick and had to pull over. Who could survive that? The second lap past I saw he was out of the car but I was still so shaken - I have never had that feeling of absolute terror before and hope to never again. Even though the report came in, I still drove to the hospital to see with my own eyes. Sure enough, there was Joey making jokes and asking when he could go home. Gleason, Auberlen and others were there as well. It still took a while for it to sink in that he was ok - I kept thinking about Mark Donohue.

Regarding Edwards, there can be no doubt that it was intentional - he clearly did not have the line and never got more than a few feet next to Joey. There is a kink there, and that is considered a corner - Edwards did not come even close to being in a position to make a pass. Edwards pulled a desperate, dirty move to knock Joey around just enough to make him lift to straighten the car so he could pass. If you watched Henzler and Liddell racing they never once did that when they certainly could have many, many times. They are Pros, and drove like Pros. Edwards should count his days as a paid factory driver, they may be few.

All of this was greatly magnified by THE ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL JOB THAT MID OHIO DID WITH THE NEW PAVING AND ACCESS ROAD WHICH LEFT A GODDAMN LAUNCH PAD NEXT TO THE FASTEST PART OF THE TRACK. WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING? THEY PUT GRAVEL TRAPS AROUND THE CORNERS BUT LEAVE THAT ABOMINATION IN PLACE? How many cars have gone down there in the past and driven back onto the track with no problem? Now they raise the pavement and add a berm. Isn't someone with an understanding about race cars and the laws of physics supposed to do a final check? How can you miss something like that? What about some formula Vee getting launched and landing without all the crumple zones and such to absorb the impact? You will have a dead driver on your hands.

My team has been dealt a severe blow due to the poor judgement of two seperate parties. What Edwards did might not have even mattered if the berm was level ground. Joey would have gotten back on the track, turned the wick up from 11 to 12 and gotten him back. Instead, I have a totalled race car and a team whose efforts for a well earned and legitimate victory were taken away in a most unjust way. I understand all of this is possible when competiting at this level, I just hope the proper repercussions and corrections occur.

Matt

 

[Zero Bar]

Wow!! He's pissed and for good reason. That sure looked intentional to me, that driver was in no position to make a pass, not by a long shot.
I'm sure Mid-Ohio will remove that launching pad, if that had been a Formula car there would of been a dead driver.

Greg, you notice how tall those curbs have become??

 

[mavisky]

I watched the race live and vividly remember my dad screaming "holy shit look at that" after I had just stepped out of view of the tv. I came running back to see Hand's BMW tumbling through the air. Earlier on that exact same lap the GTO had again tucked inside and nearly taken them both out. It was plain and clear that the GTO driver was trying to make a pass happen where there just plain wasn't room, and this time it nearly killed somebody in the process.

As mentioned that is on the fastest straight at Mid-Ohio and the pass itself was ill-concieved, but not nearly as ill-concieved as the placement of that berm. This track only runs in one direction and to leave something like that directly in the path of a potential off is just rediculous. I've watched many of the amatuer level drivers at the scca runoffs go 3 and 4 wide through that section in cars built to much lower levels than what BMW and Hand's team had put together there. To see something like a spec ford or even worse yet an IRL / ALMS car hit that could be disastrous. Hand's BMW would have been into the 100mph range by the time he reached that corner, and a lighter ALMS / INDY car could easily be at 150+ and after hitting that could've replayed the incident from a few years ago at LeMans when the Mercedes went flying off into the woods. Were a spec car to hit that ramp (as mentioned by Hand's team) it could well end with death as it's doubtful that their car would retain its structure the way the BMW did.

Here's an actual interview with Hand after the wreck.

http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6724

 

[HyperTSi93]

Thats ###@ing crazy!!! I would of been sick.

 

[olmytsi]

It's crazy how much momentum the car had in just staying in the air and flipping.

 

[Defiant]

Nice PIT move, Edwards. Best of luck in the storm door business.

Amazing the amount of energy that BMW was packing.

 

[mavisky]

Nice PIT move, Edwards. Best of luck in the storm door business.

Amazing the amount of energy that BMW was packing.

You'd think he'd spent a year being trained by CHP's finest the way he pulled that off