Big Bend ...

2 cars got together and one spun off on driver's left about 2/3 the way through Big Bend. In the process, a lot of grass, mud and moisture was spread across the track, right at apex.

The spinning car managed to get going again and took off.

Glenn and I both looked at the corner worker station just before Big Bend and they never threw the debris flag. It's possible no one realized that there was debris on the track because BB is kind of in a hole.

A few cars came through and wiggled, but all recovered.

A pack of 4 racers entered BB. The lead car, a red Valkyrie racing Porsche did a tank slapper, with teh driver constantly trying to catch it and recover. It finally spun in the middle-outside of the track at about the crest of the hill.

Still no flag at the corner worker station.

Car 2 went low, car 3 went high, car 4 ... had no place to go.

Car 4 hit the red car broad side. I can only speculate that the 4th car was caught unaware as the 2 cars split in front of him leaving him a windshield full of 911 Porsche sitting sideways in the track.

It was a HARD impact.

The 4th car had the front of the car flush with the front tires. And the red car was hit just behind the front tire.

The driver of the red car had to be cut out of the car and was careflighted out as a precaution. The announcement was that he was OK, it was just a precaution.

The driver in the 4th car sat in his car for a long, long, LONG time. No one was attending to him, so I can only assume he was gathering his emotions after what had just happened.

Both cars are scrap.

Several things came up for me seeing all this unfold.

First ... I witnessed the driver in the red car fight hard to recover and maintain position. And in the end it damn near cost him his life. I see too many of us doing the same thing, losing control, fighting the car and trying to maintain position, ultimately spinning across the track in front of traffic. Folks scoff under their breath about HPDE. But that is where I was taught to drive it off, get out of the way of traffic and then rejoin. Remember, it's just a piece of plastic we're racing for.

Second ... I watched the driver in the 4th car sit in his vehicle for an excruciatingly long time ... probably 30 minutes. He saw everything from the front row. And I bet he knew the driver of the red car. I can only imagine the emotions I would feel if I were to hit someone in this group of comrades.

Third ... There was never a debris flag shown, just a standing yellow. It was pulled when the original, spinning car got moving again. Never a debris flag.

And after the accident, it was a solid 2 minutes before the red flag was shown. And then another 3 or 4 minutes before fire and rescue arrived. A corner worker was able to run from entry of LITTLE bend to the accident scene before Fire and rescue was 1/2 way there. Granted, it was muddy and they couldn't cut across the track. But, a red flag should have immediately been waving and Fire and rescue drive the 300 yards against the grain of the racers to get to the drivers involved. Thank the good Lord above there wasn't a fire.

Fourth ... Kudos to PCA for taking care of the family. We were at the clubhouse and the folks wearing yellow Tee shirts already had a plan in place shuttling wife and kids to the hospital before CareFlight ever left.

Fifth ...

Clifton, Todd, Adrian, David, Al, Glenn ...

Is there any kind of information conduit between the different sanctioning bodies to share lessons learned? As a racer, I would certainly like to see some sort of information sharing about what went wrong and what went right in these terrible situations and pray to God we never ever again have to put this plan into action.