My Son's last trip on a 600 F4 at the drag strip, (Gross pic)
My Son's last trip on a 600 F4 at the drag strip, (Gross pic)
This happened on 01 Oct 05 at Cayuga Drag Strip. He was making about his 12 pass down the track and got into a tank slapper at the line, couldn't save it and hit the wall around 220km/h. Results weren't good but he is lucky to be alive and will be able to walk again.
Dislocated shoulder and multiple fracture of the tibia. 4 operations and 5 weeks later he is home on crutches and with any luck will be back to work in March.
This is his description of the picture: "The round part is the skin graft where I lost all the skin on my leg. The slices down each side are cuts made for cleaning the area and allowing the plate to be installed (titanium baby). The area on my thigh has whats called "Scarlet Red" thats not blood or bruised. That is where the skin graft was taken from and that eventually grows off the skin as it repairs it self. On the lower part of the leg that is all bruising where it's red however."
So, whats the lesson to be learned from this? Keep 4 wheels under you at the strip.
Dislocated shoulder and multiple fracture of the tibia. 4 operations and 5 weeks later he is home on crutches and with any luck will be back to work in March.
This is his description of the picture: "The round part is the skin graft where I lost all the skin on my leg. The slices down each side are cuts made for cleaning the area and allowing the plate to be installed (titanium baby). The area on my thigh has whats called "Scarlet Red" thats not blood or bruised. That is where the skin graft was taken from and that eventually grows off the skin as it repairs it self. On the lower part of the leg that is all bruising where it's red however."
So, whats the lesson to be learned from this? Keep 4 wheels under you at the strip.
That pic is disgusting. That must have been a difficult thing to watch happen (if you were there), especially it being your son. I'm glad he will recover fully. One more reason for me to never think about getting a bike. Did he give up his escapades with his Eclipse?
Lucky for me I wasn't there to watch although I was planning on going that day. It took almost 8 hours to get him to a hospital because it was on a weekend and they needed an orthapedic surgeon and they couldn't find a hospital that had one available to operate. This increased the chances of infection greatly and that was their biggest concern. It took 4 days to determine his shoulder was dislocated they spend all their time concentrating on his leg. That meant that even when he did get the leg somewhat on the mend he couldn't use crutches because of the shoulder. The did one operation a week for the first 4 weeks and the wound wasn't finally closed until after the 5th week.
The Talon he sold in the spring to buy the bikes, one for him and one for his wife. He had spent all winter rebuilding the motor and trans and had a low 11 sec car that he didn't even take to the track but instead sold it and bought the bikes. He just sold Erin's bike yesterday, his has a broken frame and will have to be parted out.
The titanium plate is in his lower leg and is about 6 in long and they had to cut his leathers off but they were pretty demolished anyway. Boots and helmet werent too bad.
It was pretty rough on us for a quite a while, his Mom is still pretty shaken about it especially when we know what could have happened.
His wife went to the hospital every day, either for the whole day or after work when she couldn't get the day off and the hospital is over 45 mins away from home.
One good thing that happened was that one of the people who saw him fall at the track either knew or belonged to an organization called DRAW which I had never heard of before. DRAW (Drag Racing Association of Women) is an organization that helps people who are hurt in racing accidents and cannot go back to work. He is presently being sent a check by them every 2 weeks (nice check too) until he can go back to work and he gets cards and letter from people in the organization who say they are thinking and praying for him. All this from an organization we had never knew existed.
http://www.drawfasthelp.org/
The Talon he sold in the spring to buy the bikes, one for him and one for his wife. He had spent all winter rebuilding the motor and trans and had a low 11 sec car that he didn't even take to the track but instead sold it and bought the bikes. He just sold Erin's bike yesterday, his has a broken frame and will have to be parted out.
The titanium plate is in his lower leg and is about 6 in long and they had to cut his leathers off but they were pretty demolished anyway. Boots and helmet werent too bad.
It was pretty rough on us for a quite a while, his Mom is still pretty shaken about it especially when we know what could have happened.
His wife went to the hospital every day, either for the whole day or after work when she couldn't get the day off and the hospital is over 45 mins away from home.
One good thing that happened was that one of the people who saw him fall at the track either knew or belonged to an organization called DRAW which I had never heard of before. DRAW (Drag Racing Association of Women) is an organization that helps people who are hurt in racing accidents and cannot go back to work. He is presently being sent a check by them every 2 weeks (nice check too) until he can go back to work and he gets cards and letter from people in the organization who say they are thinking and praying for him. All this from an organization we had never knew existed.
http://www.drawfasthelp.org/
wow, that is just $hitty! i wish him the best luck in a speedy recovery. Btw i didnt know he sold his talon? i knew he kinda fell off the map on dsmtuners because we used to talk every once and a while also when i had my eclipse but wow he sold it for bikes? i loved his car man!!
-Ryan
-Ryan
I can only hope for a speedy recovery. I'm glad to hear that DRAW is helping out; this is the first time I've heard of them as well. Good luck to your son and family. Perhaps this is too early, but does he have any plans for future projects? I can't imagine getting on a bike after something like that, but maybe he has a car in mind already? I know I'd already have something lined up in my mind...again, good luck.
Glad to hear your son and your family are slowly getting back into things and that he is actually alive and able to still walk. God was on his side. Sad to hear the bad news but happy to hear the outcome.
Jime, that's horrible. I'll certainly never get a bike, seen too many aftermaths like these (and sometimes, regretably, worse). But he's alive, that's what matters. Hope he recovers fast and well.
oh man... ouch...
glad to hear he's doing okay though. unfortunately, that's the risk in racing. he got bit. the worst I've ever done at the track is blow an engine-- and that's nothing compared to personal injury (or worse).
It's also good to hear about groups like DRAW helping out in situations like this. I'm sure the medical bills are piling up, and I have a feeling his medical insurance is going to try to deny payment because it was done while racing.
glad to hear he's doing okay though. unfortunately, that's the risk in racing. he got bit. the worst I've ever done at the track is blow an engine-- and that's nothing compared to personal injury (or worse).
It's also good to hear about groups like DRAW helping out in situations like this. I'm sure the medical bills are piling up, and I have a feeling his medical insurance is going to try to deny payment because it was done while racing.
Originally Posted by JClaw
Jime, that's horrible. I'll certainly never get a bike, seen too many aftermaths like these (and sometimes, regretably, worse). But he's alive, that's what matters. Hope he recovers fast and well.
it just means that you take the required saftey precautions when operating a motorcycle and obtain the proper training..
motorcycle fatalities are so high because of idiots who buy bikes to big for them.. idiots who don't wear the right gear.. and idiots who don't go to MSF training.
Originally Posted by Matt93SE
oh man... ouch...
glad to hear he's doing okay though. unfortunately, that's the risk in racing. he got bit. the worst I've ever done at the track is blow an engine-- and that's nothing compared to personal injury (or worse).
It's also good to hear about groups like DRAW helping out in situations like this. I'm sure the medical bills are piling up, and I have a feeling his medical insurance is going to try to deny payment because it was done while racing.
glad to hear he's doing okay though. unfortunately, that's the risk in racing. he got bit. the worst I've ever done at the track is blow an engine-- and that's nothing compared to personal injury (or worse).
It's also good to hear about groups like DRAW helping out in situations like this. I'm sure the medical bills are piling up, and I have a feeling his medical insurance is going to try to deny payment because it was done while racing.
Anyways Jime, good luck to your son. What happened to his DSM? Tell him to stick to unreliable DSMs instead.
Originally Posted by kingrukus
Anyways Jime, good luck to your son. What happened to his DSM? Tell him to stick to unreliable DSMs instead.
The Talon he sold in the spring to buy the bikes, one for him and one for his wife. He had spent all winter rebuilding the motor and trans and had a low 11 sec car that he didn't even take to the track but instead sold it and bought the bikes. He just sold Erin's bike yesterday, his has a broken frame and will have to be parted out.
Glad to hear that he's alive... and sorry to hear it happened. At least it was on the track. Too many kids fool around on the street... and end up worse off. Just another testimony as to why bike's are dangerous.
Originally Posted by Sprint™
so are cars
Originally Posted by JClaw
Jime, that's horrible. I'll certainly never get a bike, seen too many aftermaths like these (and sometimes, regretably, worse). But he's alive, that's what matters. Hope he recovers fast and well.
Glad it wasn't worse Jim. Here's hoping for the best recovery possible.
Originally Posted by DandyMax
Glad it wasn't worse Jim. Here's hoping for the best recovery possible.
His wife is going out west on a business trip next week so he is coming up here for 3 or 4 days to stay with us. He gets around on the crutches ok but still pretty hard to look after himself. It will be a while before they let him start to put a little weight on the leg.
He lost 18 lbs in the hospital in 5 weeks so his Mom will try and fatten him up a little. He only weighed 162 when he went in so he's looking a little skinny considering he's 5' 12" (almost 6') like his Dad.
PS Thank you all for your concern and well wishes, sure makes a difficult time a lot easier.
Originally Posted by Jime
He seems to be coming along okay Dan. Caught a virus in the hospital and it caused a lot of trouble his first few days out of the hospital but seems to be ok now.
His wife is going out west on a business trip next week so he is coming up here for 3 or 4 days to stay with us. He gets around on the crutches ok but still pretty hard to look after himself. It will be a while before they let him start to put a little weight on the leg.
He lost 18 lbs in the hospital in 5 weeks so his Mom will try and fatten him up a little. He only weighed 162 when he went in so he's looking a little skinny considering he's 5' 12" (almost 6') like his Dad.
His wife is going out west on a business trip next week so he is coming up here for 3 or 4 days to stay with us. He gets around on the crutches ok but still pretty hard to look after himself. It will be a while before they let him start to put a little weight on the leg.
He lost 18 lbs in the hospital in 5 weeks so his Mom will try and fatten him up a little. He only weighed 162 when he went in so he's looking a little skinny considering he's 5' 12" (almost 6') like his Dad.
Just a bit of an update. He went to visit the surgeon that performed the surgery yesterday and he said that it would be another 6 weeks before he can put any weight on it at all. Jimmy wasn't too happy with the news, he thought he was going to be able to put weight on it starting today.
He also got a pic of the titanium plate and screws in his leg which I thought was interesting. I wonder what type of thread is on those titanium screws?
The multiple fracture is in the area around and above the 2 angled screws that you can see with the heads on, they were screwed in from the inside if the bone vs from the plate where the others are.
He also got a pic of the titanium plate and screws in his leg which I thought was interesting. I wonder what type of thread is on those titanium screws?
The multiple fracture is in the area around and above the 2 angled screws that you can see with the heads on, they were screwed in from the inside if the bone vs from the plate where the others are.