Sports Car races at Sonoma Infineon Raceway
07-18-04, 08:39 PM
#16
This was the scariest accident I've ever seen in person
This happened during the morning practice. Dale Earnhardt was on the first lap and rear ended the car into the wall. Probably spun from cold tires or maybe something broke. It was 8am and he was like the third car out on the track.
We saw the explosion and fire and the whole car was engulfed in flames.
I just kept saying to myself, no driver out yet, NO DRIVER OUT YET.
Man what's taking so long ? !!
Fire trucks were not yet on the scene yet, and no one was trying to get the driver out.
With smoke pouring out of the driver compartment, I saw Earnhardt crawl out of the car and under his own power.
Just then, a course worker helped him off the track.
It was VERY close.
Don't wanna over dramatize this accident, but I was thinking we were less than one minute from tragedy.
Apparently the rear end accident broke the fuel filler pipe which ignited the "usually very safe" fuel cell.
I've watched races live for a very long time and this is the first time I've seen a car become toast before my eyes.
This was not how I wanted to start my race day, let alone it would of been tragic if Dale Jr. was seriously hurt or worse. One of the grandstands/terraces at Infineon is named after Dales late , great father.
I only had a camera phone so please excuse the resolution.
You can see the fire trucks have not arrived there yet. They are coming toward me on the right. Atleast another 30 seconds away !
Dale Jr. did not race as he was checked into the local hospital for minor burns on his legs.
Watch the evening news on CBS tonight. They will cover it for sure. (CBS televised the event & Speed Channel televised the GT and Touring car races)
We saw the explosion and fire and the whole car was engulfed in flames.
I just kept saying to myself, no driver out yet, NO DRIVER OUT YET.
Man what's taking so long ? !!
Fire trucks were not yet on the scene yet, and no one was trying to get the driver out.
With smoke pouring out of the driver compartment, I saw Earnhardt crawl out of the car and under his own power.
Just then, a course worker helped him off the track.
It was VERY close.
Don't wanna over dramatize this accident, but I was thinking we were less than one minute from tragedy.
Apparently the rear end accident broke the fuel filler pipe which ignited the "usually very safe" fuel cell.
I've watched races live for a very long time and this is the first time I've seen a car become toast before my eyes.
This was not how I wanted to start my race day, let alone it would of been tragic if Dale Jr. was seriously hurt or worse. One of the grandstands/terraces at Infineon is named after Dales late , great father.
I only had a camera phone so please excuse the resolution.
You can see the fire trucks have not arrived there yet. They are coming toward me on the right. Atleast another 30 seconds away !
Dale Jr. did not race as he was checked into the local hospital for minor burns on his legs.
Watch the evening news on CBS tonight. They will cover it for sure. (CBS televised the event & Speed Channel televised the GT and Touring car races)
Last edited by RMMGS4; 07-19-04 at 12:16 AM.
07-18-04, 08:44 PM
#17
Lexus Connoisseur
Yeah, I was watching the live telecast on the Speed Channel. He got airlifted to UC Davis medical center. They showed in car video of the crash from the rear of the car and the inside where the flames just passed right in front of his helmet. Scary video that's for sure.
07-18-04, 08:46 PM
#18
Close up of the wreckage on top of the tow truck.
Sorry it can't be clearer.
The rear of the car was flattened almost to behind the drivers side. The left rear wheel was pushed in toward the drivers rear.
The fuel even melted the track which was burning for a while as well.
Surprising damage considering it was not a high speed section.
Like I said, glad he's OK.
Sorry it can't be clearer.
The rear of the car was flattened almost to behind the drivers side. The left rear wheel was pushed in toward the drivers rear.
The fuel even melted the track which was burning for a while as well.
Surprising damage considering it was not a high speed section.
Like I said, glad he's OK.
07-18-04, 08:54 PM
#19
Originally posted by flipside909
Yeah, I was watching the live telecast on the Speed Channel. He got airlifted to UC Davis medical center. They showed in car video of the crash from the rear of the car and the inside where the flames just passed right in front of his helmet. Scary video that's for sure.
Yeah, I was watching the live telecast on the Speed Channel. He got airlifted to UC Davis medical center. They showed in car video of the crash from the rear of the car and the inside where the flames just passed right in front of his helmet. Scary video that's for sure.
It kinda sucked, because they wouldn't tell us anything about his condition. We only found out when they broadcasted the accident on the closed circuit TV's located all around the track, but you couldn't hear what they said since we were hearing the real cars roaring engines through the whole broadcast. You couldn't talk on a cell phone anywhere in the area for the 2hrs 45 min during the race.
Gotta wear ear plugs unless you wanna lose your hearing when you get old.
Anyone get it videotaped??
So they airlifted him to Davis? Wow I thought it was the Sonoma hospital. I saw the chopper take off tho.
On a lighter note, the National anthem was sung before the race and they had a flyover by a C5 Galaxy Cargo Plane about 2000 feet overhead. The track is at sealevel you know. One of the largest cargo planes the US has.
They did an excellent job with the shadow of the plane going directly over and inline with the drag strip.
Last edited by RMMGS4; 07-18-04 at 08:59 PM.
07-18-04, 10:58 PM
#20
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When we arrived at the parking lot we saw a big cloud of black smoke. I only got the cleaning part of Dale's accident. Very scaring from the videos like Glen said.
Here is the C5 Galaxy Cargo Plane.
We stayed from 8am-12:30pm and only have photos from two races the SPEED World Challenge GT Race and Grand Prix of Sonoma (main event). I did take over 200 photos so I need some time to sorth out my photos. Although I have some teasers for you all ! ! ENJOY !
Stay tuned for more pics either posted by Glen or me(kokonutjc).
Here is the C5 Galaxy Cargo Plane.
We stayed from 8am-12:30pm and only have photos from two races the SPEED World Challenge GT Race and Grand Prix of Sonoma (main event). I did take over 200 photos so I need some time to sorth out my photos. Although I have some teasers for you all ! ! ENJOY !
Stay tuned for more pics either posted by Glen or me(kokonutjc).
07-18-04, 11:13 PM
#21
you guys have no clue how far my heart sank when they broke in on the race with a special update. when they flashed juniors pic up there, i was like "damn, no again". i can remember waking up after the '01 daytona 500 and hearing the dale sr had died. luckily, jr wasnt hurt. but the crash looked scary. here are some pics..........
you can see him slumped over in this one...
the carnage...
Doc
you can see him slumped over in this one...
the carnage...
Doc
Last edited by DrRick; 07-18-04 at 11:14 PM.
07-18-04, 11:24 PM
#22
Welcome to NorCal Doc. and thanks for visiting.
Yeah it must of been scary for you to see that news flash.
Believe me watching it live, I really felt bad thinking about what might happen if he didn't come out of there in the next 30 seconds.
That would be history that I would not be happy saying that I was there.
They didn't even take him back in the ambulance, which is the ONLY reason why I calmed down afterwards.
We got VERY little updates from the track announcers otherwise.
They covered the car in a body bag before bringing it back.
You would worry a lot of spectators if they saw the remains of the car.
Probably less than a hundred of us saw the wreckage before it got covered up.
The public didn't see the car, till it was televised that afternoon, after JR's condition was already known.
Yeah it must of been scary for you to see that news flash.
Believe me watching it live, I really felt bad thinking about what might happen if he didn't come out of there in the next 30 seconds.
That would be history that I would not be happy saying that I was there.
They didn't even take him back in the ambulance, which is the ONLY reason why I calmed down afterwards.
We got VERY little updates from the track announcers otherwise.
They covered the car in a body bag before bringing it back.
You would worry a lot of spectators if they saw the remains of the car.
Probably less than a hundred of us saw the wreckage before it got covered up.
The public didn't see the car, till it was televised that afternoon, after JR's condition was already known.
07-19-04, 05:03 PM
#24
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This was my 3rd time at the Sonoma Grand Prix and it never fails to disappoint. Lots of exciting racing action with the 4 classes in the ALMS race. The GT and Touring races from the Speed World Challenge series was also fantastic. I finally met up with Glen after the ALMS race. It was tough to communicate as Glen mentioned early. Once the race starts forget about using your cell phone, especially in the echoing grandstand area. Way LOUD!!
If the wifey allows it, I might also attend the Laguna Seca race in Monterey. Let's get more CL members to go! Too bad there weren't any Lexus race cars. I hope the Lexus factory teams come to this series soon. They seem to be doing pretty well in the Rolex series, but that's too far away for me to attend easily. Probably the best Lexus at the speedway was Glen's RMM parked near turn 7.
I was saddened to hear the news about junior as well. When I was rolling into the raceway I smelled this foul odor that reminded me of cow dung(I'm from UC Davis..so I know about this *****). I arrived around 8:50am so it must have been the residual smoke from the accident.
Anyways here are a few pics that I took. Since kokonutjc has posted some very professional looking pics of cars, I'll post some candid photos of the people involved in this great event.
The first one shows a mechanic checking the tire pressure on Pete Cunningham's Nissan Sentra SE-R 2.4L I-4:
Here's a dude fueling up Auberlen's Turner Motorsport BMW 325i 2.5L I6 under their tent:
I caught a glimpse of Pierre Kleinubing a couple of hours before the race start. He probably chugs down these 3 bottles of blue Powerade to prepare for the race I assume:
Wow! That's Phil McClure from 3R-Racing Chevy Corvette Z06 5.8L V8 2nd place winner GT class.
I wanted to personally shake Auberlen's hand for doing this:
More to come later....
If the wifey allows it, I might also attend the Laguna Seca race in Monterey. Let's get more CL members to go! Too bad there weren't any Lexus race cars. I hope the Lexus factory teams come to this series soon. They seem to be doing pretty well in the Rolex series, but that's too far away for me to attend easily. Probably the best Lexus at the speedway was Glen's RMM parked near turn 7.
I was saddened to hear the news about junior as well. When I was rolling into the raceway I smelled this foul odor that reminded me of cow dung(I'm from UC Davis..so I know about this *****). I arrived around 8:50am so it must have been the residual smoke from the accident.
Anyways here are a few pics that I took. Since kokonutjc has posted some very professional looking pics of cars, I'll post some candid photos of the people involved in this great event.
The first one shows a mechanic checking the tire pressure on Pete Cunningham's Nissan Sentra SE-R 2.4L I-4:
Here's a dude fueling up Auberlen's Turner Motorsport BMW 325i 2.5L I6 under their tent:
I caught a glimpse of Pierre Kleinubing a couple of hours before the race start. He probably chugs down these 3 bottles of blue Powerade to prepare for the race I assume:
Wow! That's Phil McClure from 3R-Racing Chevy Corvette Z06 5.8L V8 2nd place winner GT class.
I wanted to personally shake Auberlen's hand for doing this:
More to come later....
07-19-04, 06:07 PM
#25
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gsfour those great pics. I wish i had stayed to shoot the other 2 races of the afternoon. I hope you have some pics of them to share.
Here's where I was the rest of the afternoon....
Here's where I was the rest of the afternoon....
07-19-04, 09:47 PM
#27
Lexus Connoisseur
Booo. I hate the A's. GO GIANTS!!! Hey is that #5 Jose Uribe??? 
Last edited by flipside909; 07-19-04 at 09:48 PM.
07-20-04, 10:56 AM
#28
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Great pictures of the race. We were there as well and I discovered that my digital camera just wasn't fast enough to take any quality race pictures. The Audi R8 was clearly the fastest car out there. The big C5-R, #4, was rumbling through the field as well until it crashed. The porsches sound like a swarm of angry bees..and next time, ear muffs. It was way too loud. GT touring was pretty competitve with the BMWs taking 1-2-3.
BTW, did anyone get a picture of the blond model that they were taking pictures of near turn 11(I think it was 11)? She was wearing a black dress and was pretty sexy looking when the photographers were asking her to pose.
BTW, my friend and I arrived in the yellow mini that was parked near the road with the ten other minis. Not the best spot because of the sand blowing up from the road.
BTW, did anyone get a picture of the blond model that they were taking pictures of near turn 11(I think it was 11)? She was wearing a black dress and was pretty sexy looking when the photographers were asking her to pose.
BTW, my friend and I arrived in the yellow mini that was parked near the road with the ten other minis. Not the best spot because of the sand blowing up from the road.
07-20-04, 05:55 PM
#29
Originally posted by meanboy
Great pictures of the race. We were there as well and I discovered that my digital camera just wasn't fast enough to take any quality race pictures. The Audi R8 was clearly the fastest car out there. The big C5-R, #4, was rumbling through the field as well until it crashed. The porsches sound like a swarm of angry bees..and next time, ear muffs. It was way too loud. GT touring was pretty competitve with the BMWs taking 1-2-3.
BTW, did anyone get a picture of the blond model that they were taking pictures of near turn 11(I think it was 11)? She was wearing a black dress and was pretty sexy looking when the photographers were asking her to pose.
BTW, my friend and I arrived in the yellow mini that was parked near the road with the ten other minis. Not the best spot because of the sand blowing up from the road.
Great pictures of the race. We were there as well and I discovered that my digital camera just wasn't fast enough to take any quality race pictures. The Audi R8 was clearly the fastest car out there. The big C5-R, #4, was rumbling through the field as well until it crashed. The porsches sound like a swarm of angry bees..and next time, ear muffs. It was way too loud. GT touring was pretty competitve with the BMWs taking 1-2-3.
BTW, did anyone get a picture of the blond model that they were taking pictures of near turn 11(I think it was 11)? She was wearing a black dress and was pretty sexy looking when the photographers were asking her to pose.
BTW, my friend and I arrived in the yellow mini that was parked near the road with the ten other minis. Not the best spot because of the sand blowing up from the road.
The damage will only show up when you get old, so take care of your ears people.
meanboy, you should have hooked up with us. We also knew several people in the car corrals. We knew Manuel with the red mini and also the yellow beetle from Team Hokori and John (rexracer) with the VW golf.
I might try to get a car corral for Clublexus for the next race in Monterey. It's still way better than parking your car in the public lots. Way more dust and dirt.
