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go_speed_go · 08-12-2005

...Continued-->
As mentioned, I am seeking hypnotherapy to recall the experience. It is pertinent to me to find out some key details that are hazy, so that should I ever be in a similar situation in the future, I might have better presence of mind to try to do more. While there were 4 black streaks leading a good distance up to the fence, I still am not sure that was our car or someone else from another time.

As for the car. If anyone knows someone or a shop on the east coast, or within 1000 miles of NJ that could replace the electronics and, make an effort to prevent corrosion, and get the car back on the road for less the $70/hr, please email or PM me. We really would like to keep the car, but I'm 1000 miles away with less mechanical than driving skill (I heard much worse already), and my father has little mechanical skills and little spare time. If we can't find someone who can get it back on the road, we'll then look into selling it whole or parting it out. I'm already in touch with South Ga Corvettes as a very interested buyer, but he said if someone is willing to offer more than him, we should do that. If the car goes to parts, we really want to see it help keep other ZR1's running. I feel horrible that I've possibly destroyed such a significant car in Corvette history.

That's about all I have. If anyone has questions, I'll answer them as best I can.

Chris
Follow up entries:
------------------------------------------
I really wasn't ready to recount the whole story yet, but when you get a phone call from someone saying "Hey, I saw some pictures of you on the 'web. Are you ok?. I got them from xxxx who got them from xxxx who got them from ......." While composing the post was very difficult, I felt a little better today. It took a good hour after waking up before my stomach knotted up which is better than waking up that way.

One of the people in the chain sent me the link here, and I read on. There wasn't anything I didn't expect, but a few incorrect accounts of what I was doing (staying on the throttle) were flat out wrong. I lost it big, but not like that. I can't stand misinformation. I don't mind being judged, just as long as all the facts were correct.

As I said before, if someone had a good view of what was going on, and they'd like to discuss with me what they saw, email or PM me with your phone number and good times to call. I will contact you.

Also, there will be no insurance contact for 2 reasons.
1. A friend who works there checked the fine print and any timed event off public roads is not covered. They even said they've denied other claims like that in the past.
2. If the company finds out that the car was submerged, they won't care how well the car is repaired/restored, they'll refuse to insure it anymore. We really want to keep it on the road.
------------------------------------------
Over the past few days, my father and I have worked a lot out. He's still in a bit of shock about what could have been. Things are much better between us. The big unknown left at hand is hoping that the gets car back in his garage. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have news that the motor fired up and not that we'll be taking offers for parting it out.

I spoke with Mike Knapp of Raceway Park today to thank him again for all the help and support after my incident. I was very pleased to hear that my mistake was not going to affect autocrossing at this venue. I would have pained me greatly if my error would have cost hundreds to thousands of others the pleasure of autocrossing there.

Then, there was something I feared, but somewhat expected - my skid marks. Mike mentioned that my skid marks disappeared before the impact with the fence. Apparently a bad budget minded habit and panic don't mix

As best I can assume, when I started sliding sideways, I had the clutch in, but wasn't hard on the brakes at all. This is a habit from autocrossing to prevent the flat spotting of tires by allowing them to roll just a little in a skid. This must also have aided in allowing the car to straighten out. After the car straightened out and pointed directly at the fence, the speed I still had and where I was going caused me to most likely freeze. While my right foot was placed on the brake pedal, I bet I didn't have the presence of mind to get it the rest of the way down and give the ABS a chance to do it's thing. Instead, I let whatever remaining thoughts of dread pass through my head as I headed for the water still carrying plenty of speed and doing nothing more.

Several racers have already told me that second guessing what I could have done accomplishes nothing but tear at your insides, especially when you walked away. But, the thought I might have at least kept it shallow had I been a little quicker has not sat well with me today. My only consolation is that had I tried to do more, and done it wrong, I could have gone through sideways instead and risked flipping with worse consequences.

This thought today has indeed been humbling. While I'm a much better driver than I was before I started in autocross, I still have much to learn.
------------------------------------------
Originally Posted by SCCACORNERWORKER
For some reason this post was deleted, but it had a new observation that my brake lights were not on after straightening the car out.

No brake lights would again reinforce my thought that while I had a foot in the brake pedal, I was in no way using it. If you go back and read my previous post, you'll see I've already admitted that. If you read my first post, you're exactly the type of person I've wanted to speak with to put everything back together in my head.

If you didn't see brake lights, I have no qualm saying my foot must have only been resting on the pedal, but I WAS NOT ON THE GAS.

For the record, as the driver of the car that went into the water:

- Course design was indeed very safe
- There will be NO legal action as the only fault was my own
- NNJ SCCA did an outstanding job with the event
- Raceway Park told me this incident will not affect future events. As an SCCA member (albeit 1000 miles away), this was more important to me than the car.
------------------------------------------
Originally Posted by Redmanf1
One thought might be that what happened is that you touched the brake and slipped off onto the accelerator off of it onto the floor board with pressure continued. Just a thought

No, I definately didn't slip off to the throttle. I can vividly remember where my right foot was. The question of how much, if any pressure I was applying had been lingering in my head soon after the incident. I also remember how quiet the car was as I approached the fence. If I were on the throttle at all, I definately would remember hearing the motor/exhaust note.

As I said before, If someone working the course tells me they saw no brake lights, given that I already questioned what I was doing, I don't doubt the possibility that I was only resting in the brake pedal. It would also explain how the car managed to straighten out. If I locked up all 4, I probably would have just kept sliding sideways.

Again:
If you were there, and would like to share your account with me, PM me contact information, and I'll get in touch with you.

08-12-2005	#26
go_speed_go Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 24	...Continued--> As mentioned, I am seeking hypnotherapy to recall the experience. It is pertinent to me to find out some key details that are hazy, so that should I ever be in a similar situation in the future, I might have better presence of mind to try to do more. While there were 4 black streaks leading a good distance up to the fence, I still am not sure that was our car or someone else from another time. As for the car. If anyone knows someone or a shop on the east coast, or within 1000 miles of NJ that could replace the electronics and, make an effort to prevent corrosion, and get the car back on the road for less the $70/hr, please email or PM me. We really would like to keep the car, but I'm 1000 miles away with less mechanical than driving skill (I heard much worse already), and my father has little mechanical skills and little spare time. If we can't find someone who can get it back on the road, we'll then look into selling it whole or parting it out. I'm already in touch with South Ga Corvettes as a very interested buyer, but he said if someone is willing to offer more than him, we should do that. If the car goes to parts, we really want to see it help keep other ZR1's running. I feel horrible that I've possibly destroyed such a significant car in Corvette history. That's about all I have. If anyone has questions, I'll answer them as best I can. Chris Follow up entries: ------------------------------------------ I really wasn't ready to recount the whole story yet, but when you get a phone call from someone saying "Hey, I saw some pictures of you on the 'web. Are you ok?. I got them from xxxx who got them from xxxx who got them from ......." While composing the post was very difficult, I felt a little better today. It took a good hour after waking up before my stomach knotted up which is better than waking up that way. One of the people in the chain sent me the link here, and I read on. There wasn't anything I didn't expect, but a few incorrect accounts of what I was doing (staying on the throttle) were flat out wrong. I lost it big, but not like that. I can't stand misinformation. I don't mind being judged, just as long as all the facts were correct. As I said before, if someone had a good view of what was going on, and they'd like to discuss with me what they saw, email or PM me with your phone number and good times to call. I will contact you. Also, there will be no insurance contact for 2 reasons. 1. A friend who works there checked the fine print and any timed event off public roads is not covered. They even said they've denied other claims like that in the past. 2. If the company finds out that the car was submerged, they won't care how well the car is repaired/restored, they'll refuse to insure it anymore. We really want to keep it on the road. ------------------------------------------ Over the past few days, my father and I have worked a lot out. He's still in a bit of shock about what could have been. Things are much better between us. The big unknown left at hand is hoping that the gets car back in his garage. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have news that the motor fired up and not that we'll be taking offers for parting it out. I spoke with Mike Knapp of Raceway Park today to thank him again for all the help and support after my incident. I was very pleased to hear that my mistake was not going to affect autocrossing at this venue. I would have pained me greatly if my error would have cost hundreds to thousands of others the pleasure of autocrossing there. Then, there was something I feared, but somewhat expected - my skid marks. Mike mentioned that my skid marks disappeared before the impact with the fence. Apparently a bad budget minded habit and panic don't mix As best I can assume, when I started sliding sideways, I had the clutch in, but wasn't hard on the brakes at all. This is a habit from autocrossing to prevent the flat spotting of tires by allowing them to roll just a little in a skid. This must also have aided in allowing the car to straighten out. After the car straightened out and pointed directly at the fence, the speed I still had and where I was going caused me to most likely freeze. While my right foot was placed on the brake pedal, I bet I didn't have the presence of mind to get it the rest of the way down and give the ABS a chance to do it's thing. Instead, I let whatever remaining thoughts of dread pass through my head as I headed for the water still carrying plenty of speed and doing nothing more. Several racers have already told me that second guessing what I could have done accomplishes nothing but tear at your insides, especially when you walked away. But, the thought I might have at least kept it shallow had I been a little quicker has not sat well with me today. My only consolation is that had I tried to do more, and done it wrong, I could have gone through sideways instead and risked flipping with worse consequences. This thought today has indeed been humbling. While I'm a much better driver than I was before I started in autocross, I still have much to learn. ------------------------------------------ Originally Posted by SCCACORNERWORKER For some reason this post was deleted, but it had a new observation that my brake lights were not on after straightening the car out. No brake lights would again reinforce my thought that while I had a foot in the brake pedal, I was in no way using it. If you go back and read my previous post, you'll see I've already admitted that. If you read my first post, you're exactly the type of person I've wanted to speak with to put everything back together in my head. If you didn't see brake lights, I have no qualm saying my foot must have only been resting on the pedal, but I WAS NOT ON THE GAS. For the record, as the driver of the car that went into the water: - Course design was indeed very safe - There will be NO legal action as the only fault was my own - NNJ SCCA did an outstanding job with the event - Raceway Park told me this incident will not affect future events. As an SCCA member (albeit 1000 miles away), this was more important to me than the car. ------------------------------------------ Originally Posted by Redmanf1 One thought might be that what happened is that you touched the brake and slipped off onto the accelerator off of it onto the floor board with pressure continued. Just a thought No, I definately didn't slip off to the throttle. I can vividly remember where my right foot was. The question of how much, if any pressure I was applying had been lingering in my head soon after the incident. I also remember how quiet the car was as I approached the fence. If I were on the throttle at all, I definately would remember hearing the motor/exhaust note. As I said before, If someone working the course tells me they saw no brake lights, given that I already questioned what I was doing, I don't doubt the possibility that I was only resting in the brake pedal. It would also explain how the car managed to straighten out. If I locked up all 4, I probably would have just kept sliding sideways. Again: If you were there, and would like to share your account with me, PM me contact information, and I'll get in touch with you. Last edited by go_speed_go; 08-12-2005 at 08:38 PM.