There was an accident at PMI on Sunday with the MRA. A spectator got hurt and now is in the hospital with a broken leg.

Wish him well to heal up soon.

http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forum...ad.php?t=15983

After pm'ing David about this I asked him what the SCCA does with spectators. I know at 2nd creek you couldn't even go across the pit lane during a race to get to the main set of bleachers without a racer or worker badge.

It seems the MRA let people park along one of the turns outside of the fence where the bleachers are. I marked approximately where the bleachers and fence are on this map. I know they are a bit too far south from where they actually are. It is also marked where a couple of cars were parked.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...kbleachers.gif

What are the requirements for the NASA spectators? Are they the same as what SCCA and most likely other clubs have in place?

I know pueblo has been catering a lot more to motorcycles this year since La Junta has basically banned motorcycles to run on that track any more. MRA couldn't get even one date to run there.

 

Wow!!! Wish him a full recovery! Here is what I read from the link you added:

I know there also a bleacher right after T6A and before T7. That is where Dave90TT & my wife sat during the last HPDE Safety Class David hosted for us.

 

1. Sign a waiver absolving the track of all responsibility (and get a wristband you have to wear all day)

2. Don't be dumb. By this I mean don't go into the hot pit area unless authorized (only NASA workers), stay off the track, etc...

The reality is that there are some dangerous areas to spectate from, but are still legal to be in, and you have to judge for yourself whether it is worth the risk or not. In any motorsport, involving multi-tons of steel (or even a couple hundred lbs of bike) moving at high speed, there is going to be some risk. I'm not trying to sound preachy, and I know you know all of this, Darrel, but some don't. They think it is all safe.

Anyways, off my soapbox. My best wishes to the injured folk, and I hope they get better quickly.

Dave

Edit: Thiking of it, as well, sportbikes are going to be inherently more dangerous for spectators due to both the higher rates of speed, and the tendency of a sportbike to fly higher and further than a heavy car.

 

Was this the same group that had one of their riders killed at La Junta last year in a collision? I thought that was MRA as well. The sport bike crowd just might be the single largest contributor to negative press when it comes to race tracks. This is a shame. I hope the gentleman has a full recovery.

Will

 

Yes, it was an MRA event. The La Junta accident last year claimed 2 lives. One rider was attempting to cross the track to go into the paddock from the infield when another ran into him. It did not happen during a race. It happened on friday test and tune which was not sanctioned.

I know we all wish that you could plan for all contingencies, but when I get chased off of that portion of the sidelines on an open test and tune, I would think the track would have the same rules for all clubs that run the track.

The only good thing to come out of this is that the track will be safer in the long run and that all groups will have to follow the same rules.

The bad, the insurance will only go up on all track events.

 

First of all, best wishes to the injured spectator.

Dave pretty well covered the NASA policy for spectators. SCCA, NASA, and (apparently) MRA all seem to follow the same regulations: sign the waiver before you enter the track, don't enter restricted areas without proper credentials (hot pits, pre-grid, etc) and don't be a moron about where you choose to watch the action. Of course if an official sees someone in an unsafe/restricted area, they'll chase them off, but you couldn't cover all of PMI with even 300 officials...at some point common sense and personal accountability have to take over.

You can access the turn 7 spectator area at NASA and SCCA events with no problem, the same way you can at an MRA event and any other event I've ever been to at Pueblo. From the area that Darrel highlighted, though, it looks like they weren't quite in the normal spectator area in this case, filled with bleachers, that's separated from the track by a fence, about a hundred or more feet of runoff, and the exit road from T2, but were actually standing by the access road at the track-out of T7. Darrel - were they really standing on the access road at track-out of T7, or is it possible that your diagram is maybe a little off? And were you actually chased out of the bleachered area, or was it instead the T7 exit area at the test-n-tune that you mention? I ask because there's a BIG difference between the 2 locations in terms of safety, even though they're not very far from each other.

This was an unfortunate, freak accident, that wasn't helped by the fact that it was a bike that went off, threw the rider, and kept on going, as things with inertia often do. I've seen dozens of cars go off at that corner, and never seen one come close to hitting the designated spectator area (it would either take an unconscious driver, the dreaded 'stuck throttle', or some other bizarre mechanical failure for that to happen.)

As for SCCA regs about crossing the hot pits at SCR when the track was hot, that was something I only saw enforced the last year (or maybe two) that SCR was open...before that you could come and go as you pleased.

Again, best wishes to the injured spectator for a speedy recovery.

 

Yes, they all sign waivers, but MRA seems to be a little more liberal on where they can spectate from. They say they are behind a berm, but as you know it is nothing more than a ditch made by a scraper, unless theychanged it from last year.

Yes they were parked to the east side of the access road and apparently MRA drew a line in the dirt at a "safe" distance. They had their trucks and cars backed up to the line. The person hit was sitting on the tail gate.

I drew the bleachers and fence(approx), one of the guys that was there drew in where he was parked at the arrow.

When they ran me off I was not in the bleacher area. No problem as i knew I wasn't supposed to be there anyway. This was from last year at one of david's classes he put on.

I do hope that this will be a lesson learned for the track and the MRA. Everyone here knows where it is and isn't safe. And there will always be the freak accident. The only way to keep the spectators safe is to keep them well away from the track.

If the MRA wants spectators to be that close to the exit of t-7 then the least they could do is put some hay bales in the ditch and on top of the "berm".

 

Those riders were not at a sanctioned MRA event, they had just rented the track for themselves that day.

My brother races in the MRA and I've attended several events. They are no more lenient with rules and safety than any other motor sport organization. And I would argue that the MRA is no more responsible for this incident than NASA or SCCA would be for me getting in a car accident driving to the grocery store.

PMP on the other hand, might consider more substantial, more visible barriers. People hang out at that burm on a regular basis. Regardless, a freak incident can take it's toll just about anywhere.

Joel

 

When the accident happened last year I said it was not a MRA sanctioned practice. At least one of the riders was an MRA rider.

The MRA is the one who marked out the line where the trucks and spectators could park. During an SCCA event and other car clubs, that area is off limits. I don't know why MRA lets spectators or parking in that area. If PMI chased me out of that area during a test and tune day, then the same rule should apply to ALL clubs, motorcycle and car.

I'm sure David could ask Erleane about what happened and find out what they will do in the future so no other spectators get hurt.

I put "berm" in quotation marks because that is in no way a safety berm. I would call it a drainage scrape if you will. You see that all the time on dirt roads to control runoff. The earth is not built up like a regular berm. It was just scraped at an angle from the track down and the dirt spread and leveled out.