Who just died in racing?

[Liquidrage]

ESPN just showed footage.
Someone named Martin, said he was 33 but didn't hear the first name.
The crash was obscene. The car just got nailed beyond anything I've ever seen. The driver went into a wall and then came off it to a stop. Then another car goes full speed into the center of the stopped car. It was the guy in the stopped car that died.

[Liquidrage]

Re: Who just died in racing?

n/m
Found a link

http://espn.go.com/rpm/2002/1009/1443506.html

[BigBadB]

Re: Who just died in racing?

Really, really sad. Eric Martin had radioed in he was OK and then gets hit by another car doing 160MPH.

[ortonius]

Re: Who just died in racing?

I don't want to make it a joke but did it jump out at you guys that it was a woman driver that hit him?

[mpattee]

Re: Who just died in racing?

What I found interesting is they were talking about how they had the other racers had been trying to keep her from winning by setting her up and protesting her setup. Makes you wonder what his involvment was in that and if there isn't something deeper going on. You'd hope not but who knows.

[DuffMan420]

Re: Who just died in racing?

That was one of the most horrific accidents I had ever seen. At least he went instantly and felt no pain. My prayers go out to his family. May he rest in peace.

[pk500]

Re: Who just died in racing?

Orton:

The fact that Deborah Renshaw was the driver of the car that hit Martin is irrelevant. She's experienced in late model and some ARCA racing and is talented.

The big question is where was her spotter in all of this? She was on the backstretch when the accident occurred at the exit of Turn 4. That means she had at least five seconds or more to hear her spotter and react. Either the spotter -- experienced driver Bob Schact -- didn't do his job, or Renshaw panicked. Her gender has zero to do with it. A male driver could have made the same mistake, if indeed she erred.

The subsequent post linking a conspiracy to protests of Renshaw's car at Nashville Speedway USA and this accident is ridiculous. That was in NASCAR-sanctioned late model racing. This accident occurred in an ARCA event.

This was a tragic racing accident. Stop trying to play f*cking Oliver Stone with this situation.

Take care,
PK

[jacket1515]

Re: Who just died in racing?

She hit oil on the track causing her to hit the guy, but I'm not sure why she was going full speed.

[mpattee]

Re: Who just died in racing?

I'm not trying to play oliver stone with this. I simply read the article that was there. Admittedly I don't know much about the different racing classes and didn't realize they were different. Now go back and read what they say and put on my ignorant glasses of them being two different leagues.

[RustedWalleye]

Re: Who just died in racing?

PK,

The spotters during practice usually spot from on top of the trailers in the infield or wherever. At Lowe's it is the infield. There are no requirements that they spot from the stands where they normally would during a race. This being said, there were numerous drivers that said a spotter spotting from the infield has numerous blinds spots. As of yesterday this was thought to maybe being the case, that it indeed was a blindspot.

I understand your argument, however, just yet I dont think the entire blame can be put on the spotter. The woman driver in question is probably one of the best women drivers currently in a stock car. She has tremendous talent. She belongs in that car more then a couple of winston drivers do in theirs.

Just wanted to give you a little more info PK and also support your stance on the driver in question.

Walleye

[Heelfan71]

Re: Who just died in racing?

that is why they are called accidents. And an unfortunate one at that. How they know the driver was going 160 was probably a guestimate in my opinion. Either way, the driver was going fast enough to kill him.

[pk500]

Re: Who just died in racing?

Thanks, Walleye.

Yeah, I've done some reading on Deborah Renshaw this summer after the whole late-model flap in Nashville, and she seems to be pretty damn good for someone so inexperienced.

She's easy on the eyes, too.

I hope she recovers physically and mentally from this accident.

Take care,
PK

[BigBadB]

Re: Who just died in racing?

The 160MPH speed estimate came from the story that ESPN was running this morning.