C7 Z06 - Willow Springs

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Damn that race car driv'n looks so easy..............

https://www.motorious.com/articles/news/c7-corvette-z06-wrecks/

[Side-Oilers]

And he f'd up on what is possibly the easiest part of the entire track.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

And he f'd up on what is possibly the easiest part of the entire track.

How do you mansplain to your buddies that you crashed on the inside of a turn?

[shelbydoug]

How do you explain this to the insurance company?

[FL SAAC]

This would have "NEVER" happened in the much superior "C8"  capiche !

[98SVT - was 06GT]

How do you explain this to the insurance company?

I know of a car that was crashed at Willow Springs then trailered to the road toward Tehachapi where it was unloaded and an insurable accident was staged.

[deathsled]

That Vette got demolished. Wow!

[TA Coupe]

How do you explain this to the insurance company?

I know of a car that was crashed at Willow Springs then trailered to the road toward Tehachapi where it was unloaded and an insurable accident was staged.

Was the car you're talking about owned by a Nor Cal SAAC member? I remember talking with one of them about that exact scenario but he didn't say which track he was talking about.
I was with Jack Schroll in his BOSS 351 going down the back straight when a guy giving Lynn Park a ride in his buddies 911 Porsche with a 350 Chevy in back went off and rolled a few times a couple of hundred yards in front of us and landed on it's lid about 30 yards off course.

       Roy

[shelbydoug]

How do you explain this to the insurance company?

I know of a car that was crashed at Willow Springs then trailered to the road toward Tehachapi where it was unloaded and an insurable accident was staged.

I kind of expected someone to say this but an insurance company doesn't have to pay off if they suspect fraud.

Not having anyone witness the wreck dumping these days is tough. Seems like everyone has a smartphone and takes pictures and videos of everyone else?

The days of the "Morrison Dump" are kind of difficult to replicate now.

[557]

Zigged when he shoulda zagged...

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Was the car you're talking about owned by a Nor Cal SAAC member? I remember talking with one of them about that exact scenario but he didn't say which track he was talking about.
I was with Jack Schroll in his BOSS 351 going down the back straight when a guy giving Lynn Park a ride in his buddies 911 Porsche with a 350 Chevy in back went off and rolled a few times a couple of hundred yards in front of us and landed on it's lid about 30 yards off course.

I don't remember who it was the mid 70s. It could have been a NorCal guy because that's a route they would take to get home.

The 911 was crashed by Rod Simpson - I think he still builds the engine swap kits. He suffered a severe head injury when the A pillar collapsed and pinned his helmet between the roof and roll bar. Lynn was a bloodied but otherwise OK. That was the last Willow held without an ambulance on site.

I have a picture somewhere (TA Coupe took it). I found this in Renlist about the crash. I had thought it was Rod's own car:

And then, my own car had a terrible crash at Willow Springs, with Rod Simpson (the "father" of the "Porschev" movement) driving it and Lynn Park, then president of the Cobra Owner's club riding...left turn 8/turn 9 complex at 180mph. In those days, some drunk had had gone across the desert in an American car and killed himself on the track at night. The solution was to build giant "berms", out of dirt, to keep people from being able to get onto the track. These turned out to be "sloped launching pads" from the track side. The car went ~100 feet straight up, doing "door rolls" and came straight back down, landing hood first in the berm. Rod Simpson's father (just retired from the Califonia Highway Patrol) and my really good friend, Jack Murphy, were the first ones to the crash scene. They parked their car on the track and started running the 150 yards to the car, when Rod's dad grabbed Jack's arm, stopped him and said: "I've been to thousands and thousands of crash scenes, in my career. Prepare yourself...there's no chance anyone is alive in that car."

People's lives were changed forever, on that day, although both guys survived. They survived because there were two paramedics watching the Cobra Club Event (no safety/rescue people/ambulance required at the track, in those days) and those two guys rescued those two friends, got airways cleared, revived them, and got them stable enough to transport to the hospital. Altered my friend's lives, but they lived.

[TA Coupe]

The above story is about %95 pure fiction. When I have a little more time I will write what really happened.

          Roy

[427heaven]

I wouldnt say it is 95% fiction, because according to those that participated MOST of it is as they remember. Only a few variations to the story as I was told from the source, the car veered off track and hit a 2-3 foot berm launching the car into the desert. Dont know if it went 100 feet up or out, but none the less it had severe consequences for the driver for many years. It changed the lives of those in the PORSHEV as well as those that watched. Get the best built cage you can afford!

[98SVT - was 06GT]

It changed the lives of those in the PORSHEV as well as those that watched. Get the best built cage you can afford!

So true. I was near the pit exit and saw the cloud of dust when it went off. As I said the A pillar collapsed and caused Rod to get a severe brain injury. Fortunately one of the best SoCal neuro surgeons lived locally and he got the best of care.

[Side-Oilers]

^^^ What year was that?  I remember hearing about the crash, but I wasn't at that event.