Scary crash at the 24 Hours of LeMons Thompson race


Life got in the way and my teammates and I are skipping most of this year’s 24 Hours of Lemons season. But like any good show, the race goes on. This weekend at the Thompson, CT there was one very dangerous wreck. For an unknown reason the brakes on the 420 410 Integra gave out. In the video you can see the driver pumping the brakes with no result. Crap. 
Most importantly, the driver was fine. He actually went to work the next day. This video is amazing for many reasons:

  • First, the driver remained cool, he didn’t panic. 
  • Despite not being able to slow down or basically turn the vehicle, he didn’t hit anyone else in the crowded field. That’s amazing. 
  • The high quality video shows how fast everything actually happens. There is no time to think, it’s all instinctual. 
  • Both feet in. 
  • Front hit, as opposed to a side hit, minimized potential injury to the driver. 
  • Cage, race seat, harness, helmet, HANS – they all worked as designed. Remarkable. 
  • The kill switch was within easy access. 

Many of race these junkers and don’t really think of something like this happening but it clearly can. It’s scary. Perhaps this is a reminder not to skimp on safety devices. Perhaps it is also a reminder to practice flipping the safety switch and exiting your vehicle as if it’s on fire. Like everything seen here, it all has to be instinctual. 
Good luck and stay safe, everyone. 

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5 responses to “Scary crash at the 24 Hours of LeMons Thompson race”

  1. mdharrell Avatar

    “… practice flipping the safety switch and exiting your vehicle as if it’s on fire.”
    By all means, yes, these actions should be practiced. It would have been nice to see the switch flipped a bit sooner even though in this case no harm came of it.
    It’s worth emphasizing, however, that in the absence of evidence of a fire the driver did the right thing by remaining in the car. Climbing out needlessly in the middle of a race is the greater danger.
    Glad he’s okay.

  2. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Wow. That could have been a disaster. He fortunately needled through traffic with no collisions, but I wonder how much was calculated and how much was dumb luck. My bet is on the latter. I’m just glad everyone is ok.

  3. jeepjeff Avatar
    jeepjeff

    The 888 car got a video of the incident from the back of the pack that the Integra shot through. Don’t blink. You’ll miss it.

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Off topic… I don’t think there’s an Any Two Wheels meet this year. I ran into Sam at Hotel Utah a while ago and he seemed hopeful ’cause the girl he organizes with was working at the Speakeasy Brewery. Nowadays, though, there’s not much coming out of Speakeasy and Sam doesn’t work with City Bike anymore. It’s all in limbo.

  4. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    Why not turn left? save having to cross the pack in the corner