rec.autos.simulators

The worse wreck I ever saw...

Greg Dun

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Greg Dun » Sun, 19 Oct 2003 13:12:00



> 1955 Nurburgring I think

It was Pierre Levegh at LeMans 1955.  Footage definitely exists, though
I can't remember exactly where I saw it...
gord

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by gord » Sun, 19 Oct 2003 13:23:29



> moyer) writes:

> >They both pale to Tom Pryce at Kyalami in 1977.  Possibly the most
> >horrific thing ever broadcast live on TV.

> That was a live race?  Wow...yeah, that would have been pretty shocking...

> Eldred
> --

I sadly remember watching the live asphalt midget race on ESPN in 1990 where Rich Vogler
died on live TV. He was running so fast that he almost lapped the whole field. He kept
pushing harder and harder every lap.

"  July 21, 1990: USAC sprint car and midget car driver Rich Vogler (39) was killed in a
crash while leading a sprint car race at the Salem Speedway in Salem, Indiana. With only a
lap left to go, he was declared the posthumous winner of the race. The race was being
broadcast nationally on the Saturday Night Thunder on ESPN. "

Somehow he wound up barrel rolling high into the front stretch catchfence and suffered
fatal head injuries. The cameras didn't catch much of the actual crash but they cut to the
car still rolling slowly down the front stretch. Fortunately you couldn't see Vogler's
body slumped behind the steering wheel but you could clearly see his helmet rolling
alongside his car. I thought for a moment that he was decapitated. He was killed
instantly.

jason moy

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by jason moy » Sun, 19 Oct 2003 14:59:35


Nigel Mansell had a pretty *** crash at Phoenix where he actually
punctured a big hold in the wall.

Jason

jason moy

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by jason moy » Sun, 19 Oct 2003 15:17:07


>Somehow he wound up barrel rolling high into the front stretch catchfence and suffered
>fatal head injuries. The cameras didn't catch much of the actual crash but they cut to the
>car still rolling slowly down the front stretch. Fortunately you couldn't see Vogler's
>body slumped behind the steering wheel but you could clearly see his helmet rolling
>alongside his car. I thought for a moment that he was decapitated. He was killed
>instantly.

That was horrible.  I remember watching that and cheering for Jeff
Gordon (who was running second as I recall) and then that happened.
Definitely one of the worst accidents I've ever seen on an oval.

While it wasn't broadcast on TV, when I think of bad oval wrecks I
always think of Rick Mears at Sanair.  At the time it happened I was
like 6 or 7 years old and had posters with his Morton's champcar
plastered all over my walls.  Another one that I thankfully never saw
was Allison's lap 1 accident at Pocono in...was it  88?  I just
remember seeing black and white photos of it in the local paper
(Pocono and Nazareth were local tracks where I grew up) and wondering
how he wasn't instantly crushed when he got hit.

The worst I've seen in person was Davey Allison at Pocono in 92.
After every restart he was working his lead out to nearly the length
of the frontstretch, and near the end of the race they had a restart
and Darrell Waltrip got into him, sending him flying through the air,
chunks of the car scattered everywhere.  From where I was sitting,
about midway up the stands right before turn 1, it looked like there
was no way he could have survived.  All we could see what this huge
black blur spinning above the trees, and then the helicopter carting
him away and the wreckage of his car being towed up the pitlane.

Jason

Larr

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Larr » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 00:22:55

Yeah, and it's spread out in that picture.

It was actually like a balled up clump of aluminum foil on the track.  The
pile was smaller than in that picture IIRC.

-Larry



(jason
> Oh, SHIT...!
> That was literally my reaction after seeing that picture...  How did he
NOT get
> hurt?!?

> Eldred
> --
> Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
> Member
> Screamers Racing League
> IICC League
> GPLRank -2.4    MoGPL rank +302.38
> ChallengeRank +54.48   MoC +743.77
> Hist. +82.82  MoH in progress
> N2k3 rank:in progress

> Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Larr

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Larr » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 00:26:28

I remember that.  I was just starting to watch that form of racing, and it
kind of spoilded it for me :(

-Larry





(jason
> > moyer) writes:

> > >They both pale to Tom Pryce at Kyalami in 1977.  Possibly the most
> > >horrific thing ever broadcast live on TV.

> > That was a live race?  Wow...yeah, that would have been pretty
shocking...

> > Eldred
> > --

> I sadly remember watching the live asphalt midget race on ESPN in 1990
where Rich Vogler
> died on live TV. He was running so fast that he almost lapped the whole
field. He kept
> pushing harder and harder every lap.

> "  July 21, 1990: USAC sprint car and midget car driver Rich Vogler (39)
was killed in a
> crash while leading a sprint car race at the Salem Speedway in Salem,

Indiana. With only a

- Show quoted text -

Mitch_

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Mitch_ » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 01:37:08

Dont forget the 73' Indy 500.  Sweet Savage lost his life.  It wasnt the
most spectacular crash but it was my first experience with a racing death
live on TV.


Mark Seer

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Mark Seer » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 01:40:33




> I've seen a clip of an Indycar getting cut in half at Phoenix, but I can't
> remember the drivers involved.  Paul Tracy, maybe?

Villeneuve managed to cut the back end off Matsuthita's car a few years
back. Can't remember where this was though

MS

Dan Belch

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Dan Belch » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 03:26:44

You're thinking of Ricardo Paletti.  He didn't burn to death actually--he died
upon impact when he rammed a stalled car, breaking his neck.  The fire was of
little consequence to him in fact...

-----------------------------------------
Dan Belcher
Webmaster,
http://simcrash.fameflame.dk

David Butter

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by David Butter » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:07:52




>>Roger Williamson? I wasn't even born when that happened, and I've
>>*still* had nightmares about it.

> I don't even know who he was...

> Eldred

http://8w.forix.com/williamson.html

--
Above address *is* valid - but snip spamtrap to get me to *read*!

Support the world's oldest motorsport venue!
http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk/future.html

Eldre

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Eldre » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 09:26:05







>> I've seen a clip of an Indycar getting cut in half at Phoenix, but I can't
>> remember the drivers involved.  Paul Tracy, maybe?

>Villeneuve managed to cut the back end off Matsuthita's car a few years
>back. Can't remember where this was though

That might be the one I was thinking of.  Neither driver was hurt(I don't
think), but it was damn spectacular...

Eldred
--
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
Member
Screamers Racing League
IICC League
GPLRank -2.4    MoGPL rank +302.38
ChallengeRank +54.48   MoC +743.77
Hist. +82.82  MoH in progress
N2k3 rank:in progress

Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Eldre

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Eldre » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 09:26:05



>Dont forget the 73' Indy 500.  Sweet Savage lost his life.  It wasnt the
>most spectacular crash but it was my first experience with a racing death
>live on TV.

I was watching that race with my mom(I was 9).  For some reason, I left the
room and missed the crash.  When I came back, They were going through the
rescue attempt and cleanup.  They also never showed a replay, IIRC.  I don't
think I've ever seen this one.

Eldred
--
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
Member
Screamers Racing League
IICC League
GPLRank -2.4    MoGPL rank +302.38
ChallengeRank +54.48   MoC +743.77
Hist. +82.82  MoH in progress
N2k3 rank:in progress

Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

jason moy

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by jason moy » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 11:26:42


A list of every serious injury/fatality since Formula One was brought
back to life in 1950:

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Incidentally, I found this looking for info on the accident at Watkins
Glen Alison Hine describes on her website (Helmut Koinigg 1974 - must
have been ***ing disgusting).

Jason

John DiFoo

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by John DiFoo » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 11:53:14




>>Dont forget the 73' Indy 500.  Sweet Savage lost his life.  It wasnt the
>>most spectacular crash but it was my first experience with a racing death
>>live on TV.

>I was watching that race with my mom(I was 9).  For some reason, I left the
>room and missed the crash.  When I came back, They were going through the
>rescue attempt and cleanup.  They also never showed a replay, IIRC.  I don't
>think I've ever seen this one.

>Eldred

Swede Savage was his name IIRC: swerved off of turn 4 and hard into
the infield wall before pit road.  I remember all the TV news outlets
showing the wreck over and over.  He managed to linger on for almost
a month tho before the burn complications did him in...

       John DiFool

Mark Seer

The worse wreck I ever saw...

by Mark Seer » Mon, 20 Oct 2003 19:01:20



> >I don't even know who he was...

> A list of every serious injury/fatality since Formula One was brought
> back to life in 1950:

Haha.

Some entries in there have to make you laugh. Amongst all the dead, burnt,
mangled and broken bodies, you have Alex Zanardi, listed as having suffered
a chipped tooth in his Spa accident. :-)

MS


rec.autos.simulators is a usenet newsgroup formed in December, 1993. As this group was always unmoderated there may be some spam or off topic articles included. Some links do point back to racesimcentral.net as we could not validate the original address. Please report any pages that you believe warrant deletion from this archive (include the link in your email). RaceSimCentral.net is in no way responsible and does not endorse any of the content herein.