Bad accident at the Mitty

Right, and I don't disagree, but operating a modern LMP car requires far more technical expertise and is much more expensive. And, spares are hard, if not impossible, to come by.

CW

 

Yea, those videos are flat out SCARY. I have some in-car videos of me in a F2000 car (where I'm going maybe 120-130 MAX) and it looks positively slow. You know the reality is the opposite, but the video has a way of making it look different.

Not so in the videos you posted...HOLY CRAP! That's positively scary, I would NEVER want to drive something that fast. I can only imagine what the crash was like, thankfully he's alive.

Thoughts and prayers to Craig Bennett - here's to a quick recovery.

 

Not so much the Formula LeMans sports racers. Crate motor (Chevy) and standard electronics package...

 

Craig's shoulder was successfully operated on yesterday and they will be operating every other day until May 3 to repair wrist, arms, legs and feet. Hold him in your prayers...

 

thanks for the updates. best wishes to him-that's a lot a surgery, and a lot of pain, and will require a lot of endurance.

 

Sorry to hear this sad news. 20 or so years ago one of the Bennetts ran an evil black McLaren late Can Am car ... I think it was a 1970 or '71 M8D Batmobile. That car was blindingly fast and well-driven.
I was at Daytona when a vintage Chevy Intrepid GTP car crashed at the busstop chicane and also when Memo crashed 1 1/2 years ago. Both were straight on collisions, and I am thankful each driver survived.
Best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.

 

This car was driven by my friend Dave Handy. I think he thought long and hard, but I know that he said that Craig would have wanted the remaining car out there. It was his choice.

 

Maybe they missed something in the rush to get the car ready?

 

That is pure speculation.

No one knows definitively what happened that caused Craig and the DN4 to leave the road, and it's not our job to do the forensics without access to the car or him.

RM Automotive of Wixon, Michigan, IS the preeminent prep shop for this type of car in North America. With experience building, rebuilding, preparing and racing dozens of those cars over the last two and a half decades, there are few I would trust more.

Craig is one of the very few drivers on the grid who could strip this car and put it back together properly and optimally HIMSELF, and as an owner of the business (and a top level driver of powerful F1, GTP and Can-Am cars for years) I know the competent and very capable crew would take extra time to make sure the t's were crossed and the i's are dotted. I have seen the lifing and NDT logs for some of the cars they work on and their rigor mirrors FAA requirements and near current prototype manufacturer levels of detail.

I don't mean to sound prickly, and certainly, there may be human factors involved, but these are cars that severely injured and killed people back in the day. You can prepare the best you can and still, there is no room for error, no time to fix it and a small piece of tire rubber or debris can easily, if it lands in the right place, prevent the slides from returning to closed position, all while on track.

I'm sure more will become clear as time goes on. It's normal for the human mind to obsessively examine and dig for root cause in events like this, if only to reduce the variables that exist that may combine to cause these type of accidents in the future.

But this is not a game. Any time you put a car on track, it requires full attention. Before, during and after...

Prayers to Craig, Leah, his parents and father in law, Jim Bartel, and the whole crew at RM.

 

+1

 

Which is why everyone - including 'haters' - were shocked when Earnhardt died in 2001.
Car hit at an angle - really didn't look like a huge hit, but it was enough to snap his neck, though.
By comparison, you look at Gordon Smiley's wreck at Indy, you knew he was dead before
the car came to a stop.

 

I was watching when that happened. It's still the most obviously-fatal accident I've ever seen.

 

any update on his condition?

 

From the UOP Shadow Tribute page...
Craig's Road to Recovery -May 10 2016
Craig spent the day having surgery on his right ankle and foot. Damage was extensive and the surgery lasted over 6 hours but was judged a success by the medical team. He will now rest until at least Thursday before undergoing his final surgery, which is on his right knee. He will then be free of the metal rods you see in his photos. He will however not be able to place any weight on his legs and feet for 12 weeks.

 

thanks for the update...found the page and he seems in good spirits. good news indeed!

 

Very good news...fingers crossed..for last surgery