Home > Fireball-day-six-radar-detector-review-test

Fireball Day Six – Smack Into the Wall!

Track Day Two – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Today was track day number two and the Fireballers headed out the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At 9:30 m we had our driver’s meeting and were broken down into two groups; professional and intermediate.

I was scheduled to be in the intermediate morning group running against another two Beamers and an Audi. Prior to the timed race, we were allowed three low speed track runs to identify the line of the track.

As my group was the last of the morning races, I had the opportunity to watch the other racers and identify the tricky areas of the course and to speak with the professional race car drivers on how they maneuvered the two mile track. Turn one was the sharpest of the turns and was at the end of a half mile straight away. Several cars ran off the track into the gravel safety area as they braked and turned too late while entering this area of the track. I set up a visual marker on this turn where the more successful drivers were beginning their braking maneuvers and their turning apex.

I was the third car in my group of four and my only two goals in this race were to keep the car on the track and to keep enough distance between car four and myself. Each car had a ten second break between them from the starting line. The green flag fell and I was off. As lap one was not a timed lap, I took this as a final opportunity to test the visual markers I had made along the track. As I approached lap two, I opened up the 540i to full throttle on the straight away, set up my line for turn one and successfully maneuvered through this area. Feeling more comfortable I picked up speed for my final two laps and crossed the checkered flag on the straight away at 87 mph.

We then broke for lunch and Bob starting getting ready for his afternoon run.

Race one for the afternoon run was the sports class. Car number 29 was a 2004 Dodge Viper with team members Artie Malesci – Florida, Jeffrey Donovan – California and Rich Minga – San Diego. At this juncture of the rally they were ranked eight overall and second for sports car class.

After the warm up lap the race began and the cars were off. As the Viper was speeding up coming out of the final turn, the driver lost control and slammed into the cement retaining wall.

The front end of the Viper exploded upon impact sending engine parts and debris just short of the timing booth. The cement barrier was pushed back four feet and the Viper spun into the center field of the track.

Gasps streamed from contestants and bystanders while the red flag was waived to stop the race. An on seen ambulance that was parked on the opposite side of the wall drove infield as the driver stuck his hand out the window with a thumbs up, indicating that he was ok.

Track staff immediately went to work, first assisting the driver, then removing the oil and debris field on the track and then removed what was left of the Viper onto a flat bed truck.

Looking around at the Fireballers, I noticed many visibly shaken at witnessing such a horrific accident thinking they may have lost a fellow driver.

The Fireball staff shut down the race for an hour until they were able to recoup and have another drivers meeting. Several of the drivers in the intermediate class decided that they would drop after watching such an experienced team wash out into the wall.