Good to see the update.

 

Well, well, David's back on board and offering his usual good advice like always.

That's a great sign!!

WELCOME BACK, BRUTTHUH!!

 

Glad to see you finally posted. Glad to hear the recovery is going well.

Side note, sternum, took a hit the other day on my mountain bike. Basically gave myself a chest compression , wow it still hurts after a week.

 

Great to hear that you're ok! Reading only slightly what you've been through makes me appreciate how lucky I am from my wreck at Road Atlanta last August.

Did you hit a tire-wall, concrete wall, guard rail, or some trees? I hit a concrete wall around 80ish, but it was a glancing blow. The airbags, stock 3point, and helmet did their job the best they could and I came out unharmed. So I'm curious to know if your chest got hurt from the seat-belt or maybe even steering wheel?

Speaking of Hans device.... once I was checked out of not having any major injuries, the track paramedic told me
-"So, if you plan on doing this again I would recommend a 5 or 6 pt harness along with a Hans device, with an up to date seat and secure mounting points for the harness."
I tell him...
-"Yeah...... I actually have all of that..... in my other car."
he says
-"oohhhhh......well that sucks."


I don't know if you've been in other major track incidents, but it's taken me some time to "get back onto the horse". Building some confidence back up might take time, even with someone with a lot experience like yourself. It's been tough for me to come to terms with: "It's ok if I dial it back a few notches this session." So if you find yourself in a similar position, remember you're not alone #trackrecoveryanonymous

 

Sorry for the late response, but your last question deserves a response. I can only speculate, but it appears that my body was thrown forward and towards the passenger side during the actual impact. Seatbelts stretch quite a bit and my chest and upper body injuries were probably the result of hitting the center waterfall (good thing for the helmet) and gearshift ****. The SOLID impact was with a bolted tire bundle fronting a concrete wall, so all that kinetic energy generated by the rapid stop generated significant injuries, which I continue to recover from.

Good luck with your return to racing. My next waypoint is a check in June with my spinal specialist to critically examine how my fractures have healed.

 

Dave,

I'll glad to hear that you're on a path to healing. Broken/bruised ribs and sternum take a while to heal. Sneezing, coughing, or laughing is very painful. I've been in a train wreck (while traveling in another country), which resulted in a fractured rib. It was not nearly as serious as your injuries, but wow, it seemed like eternity before it healed!

I'm looking forward to reading up your thoughts on safety after this experience, but I speculate that this incident is due to circumstances that could not have been prevented on your part. I hope that after the lawsuit that you'll be able to share what went wrong. I'm paranoid, and that's why I install all components in my car myself (except the roll bar).

Would you say that a cage, racing seats, harnesses, Hans, fire suppression, etc could have reduced the severity of the injuries?...I know, the answer seems quite obvious, but it would reinforce the idea of investing on safety before performance upgrades. Will you be advising all DE drivers dial down their driving of vehicles without such safety upgrades? The recent deaths of a driving student and instructor in Las Vegas also come to mind.
I install every component in my car (suspension, replacement hubs, brake set, brake pads, control arms) myself to help prevent mechanical failure.

 

Wow- that's a long list of items to comment on. The simple answer is that having properly installed safety equipment will, of course, reduce the severity of injuries in the event of an accident. But what's also true is what I see on a regular basis as a tech inspector: rollcages improperly welded, five or six-point harnesses with shoulder belt mounting points too low (spinal compression fracture), racing seats with weak attachment points, etc.

In any case, what I advise all drivers (and not just DE) is to warm up their cars and feel what both their cars and the track is communicating to them. Nothing wrong with learning what the limits are and slowly working on them as you progress throughout the day. Nobody is scouting you for a F1 drive or Indy 500 seat, so don't make the mistake of going too big, too fast, too soon.

It's great that you're taking the time to install your performance equipment to not only save on labor, but to gain a better understanding of how they work and why. The same concept is equally (if not more) important when installing safety equipment. One bit of advice to pass along is to examine the racing rulebooks (FIA, SCCA, NASA, etc.) on how to properly install racing seats, harnesses, HANS devices, fire systems BEFORE you end up buying the stuff. The rules do a pretty good job of laying out why the installation is as critical as the device(s) themselves.

 

David. So glad you're on the mend, take care my brother!

 

Sorry to have to update this thread. After four months of recovery, I'm headed back to the hospital tomorrow. While bones have mended, my lungs have not. After a recent exam and testing, it was found that I only have 48-52% of my lungs capacity working. So I went for a CT scan, which showed a large pulmonary effusion and the need for immediate intervention.

The steps tomorrow will involve a large needle (I know- no need to say more) and potentially more surgery after that. Hoping to be back on the board shortly, but no guarantees... Sure the hell wish I was going racing instead, but that looks pretty far off from where I sit tonight.

 

You are a legend in this community. Please be strong and we are all behind you.

 

Tell you what David, you get through this and get yerseff back to 100% breathing (but I'm hoping for a 140% boosted range) and that dinner we talked about last night is ON ME. You know what I'm talking about. Hahahahaha.

And yes, I'm S-E-R-I-O-U-S. See you (and that ace number ONE caregiver of yours ) in Yountville.

 

Good luck, #7

 

Been through that procedure myself, David. Not pleasant but 20 yrs later I'm healthy and turning my own wrenches. All the best, my friend!

 

Give 'em hell DK!

Thoughts and Prayers

 

Made me cringe thinking about a chest tube. That sucked badly, that was 11 years ago.

 

Good luck, and get well soon, Z'bro.











- Matt

 

Hope all goes well man! And Mic you treating him to some of that good ole French laundry? he def deserves it when he recovers completely

 

Good news- bad news to report. First, I'm back from the hospital and the big needle. They extracted over 1,700 cc of serasanguinous (sp?) fluid from the area between my lung and the ribcage. That's almost FOUR pounds of weight that looked like fruit punch. Ugh- not a beverage I'll be craving anytime soon. Almost passed out towards the end of the pressurized extraction with a vagal reaction, but managed to get though it. Do I feel better? A bit, but the process left me sore and tired.

Bad news is, and I'm dropping all the medical terminology BS here, the scans also revealed I have a thickening and scarring of the lining of my lungs. This damage may need further and extensive surgery to correct. Right now, I'm trying not to worry too much about that- just enjoy the fact I made it through this part of the process for now.

Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes and thoughts! They all mean a lot to me.

 

Hang in there, my friend! I hope you're on the mend soon!

 

Is that the same process (needle to lungs) that Niki Lauda went through when he got in that bad accident and burned his lungs? ugh...well you have something in common with him...