Bobo, Pew, Herrington & Jaeger in BIG crash at Montreal

[dalyduo]

Wow,

What a great start to an ill fated lap. A perfectly timed start netting 3 positions at the drop of the flag... Outstanding!

You are struck by how completely blind they are to what is coming and how John is in the only place he could be when he's collected by the car to his right. It's over very quickly as the tire barrier saves him from a potentially devastating nose-in impact with the Armco while the soft barrier then snags the car sending it into that helicopter rotation we saw on the initial distant amateur video.

As violent as it is all the rotating and shedding of parts saves him from more serious injury. His hands remain on the steering wheel through the impact and departure of the front wheels and suspension. He only moves his hands up to his head after what appear to be several violent hits. You really see the value of a HANS here as the range of motion of the helmet is extremely limited. You could imagine having a massive headache with a HANS and something unimaginable without it.

Touching to see Gerardo in there checking his eyes to see if he's ok and the way they comfort each other after realizing how lucky they are to survive such a very violent event.

We give thanks for everyones safety.

[macdod]

John,

It was very hard sitting there in the hairpin watching the monitors of the crash not knowing what had happen to all of you. Cleary the incident was a great deal "harder" on you than us. I was sitting there there in the grandstands thinking about what you said when I asked you, "are you having a good time?" Your answer was, "not as much fun as I'll be having two hours from now!"
Something tells me you didn't have a helicopter ride (or should I say two helicopter rides) in mind at the time.

[GEORGE]

I know this is so very late, but I wanted to offer thanks that the injuries were not more severe.
WOW ! that in car was frightening and quite amazing how these cars hold up under such a crash.

Nice to see Gerardo come into the shot, always helping the other guy.
Just now reading Chris Economaki's book. Makes me think about how many of his racing friends are no longer around. Racing will never be perfectly safe, but thank god for the safety built into these cars today.
Sorry this is such a late post, but I sure have been thinking about you guys lately, just didnt know what to say, the rest of this group express themselves so well

[cdh]

More Montreal Mazda video, this time from Charles Anti's onboard camera.

video 3:08

Some notes - if Charles hadn't had that small 2-off in turn 2, he would have been right in the middle of the wreck, sometimes what looks like a setback turns out to be a blessing.

Also, thank God that partial brake caliper/control arm missed him!!! Whoa, that was too close!

Good driving Charles.

.

[dalyduo]

Nice job threading the needle Charles... Woof! What a mess... Pretty wild start even before the big shunt.

Interesting that the front wing was strong enough to punt that rear wheel assembly out of your way and not be seriously damaged.

Glad you made it through OK.

[999]

WOW! That accident never ceases to amaze me. Interesting to see that the yellow flags were already out... seems like a good response time.

I must admit to laughing a bit at the guy in the red (orange?) car right in front of Charles that locks wheels and sticks it into the wall on his own!

Charlie... was that blind luck that you weaved your way thru that mess?? Hard to believe you made it through.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Interesting that the front wing was strong enough to punt that rear wheel assembly out of your way and not be seriously damaged.

My guess is the nose punted the wheel out of the way, much more sturdy than those wings, they are tucked back pretty well under the nose.

Slomo shows he hit wheel pretty much dead on - a stout snout


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[Charlie25]

The first time I saw the yellow I figured the front of the field had gotten to the chicane already and they got tangled up there. When I saw the second yellow I figured I should lift. I don't know why, just a gut feeling something else was up. When I came around the corner I felt like I was looking through the gates of hell. All there was was dust and dirt and Herrington's car getting smacked in the middle of the track. I got on the brakes as hard as I could without locking and started looking for a hole. Clearly Herrington was in the middle, and I saw a car go off to the right. How's the left? All dirt and dust, I can't see a car, I'll try it...

I never saw the peice of debris that hit the shock cover. I felt something hit my hand but it may have been a knock on the inside of the car, and my first thought after I made it through was "Damn, I wish I hadn't bumped that guy cuz it would have looked really cool to make it through all that without hitting anything."

Sometimes we don't know how lucky we are...

[jp56]

Great heads up driving , Charlie..

I still see Brad Jaeger at our races. He's still not allowed in a car. His head took a pretty big hit. Perhaps he can get in for our last two races.

[Quentin]

Did you notice it took Gerardo 24 seconds to get out of his car and check on John. He is a real live hero.

[jcraige]

Wow. Nice job, Charles, not ending up as a statistic!