Gary,
I just talked to my Dad, Tom Overbaugh, car #426. He said no one there know anything either. (About #404) The 404 car was running toward the back of the pack, so very few people actually saw it happen.
He did say he saw several cars off the road. There were a few Mustangs off the road, and a blue car he said was buried in vegetation up to the windows with the driver sitting on the hood waiting for a tow.
He also said the roads today were really rough. Rough in general, but then compounded by the hurricane damage. It was tough driving. Word is that tomorrow's even tougher.
(UPDATE EDIT)
Gary, Looks like I wrote you too soon. I got ahold of our mechanic. He came across #303 a green, silver & red Porsche on the side of the road broken down, so he loaded them up on the trailer. That threw him to the back of the pack, so he got to see all the accidents. Good news on the yellow Lincoln (#404), our mechanic's information was that the driver, Brad Kaplan, walked away from the wreck, and co-piloto Derek Dwyer had some minor cuts and bruises. They took him to the hospital to be checked out. Again, the safety gear built into these cars is amazing. Too bad they had to cut the roof off for that, but cars can be replaced. People can't.
Jake Shuttlesworth wrecked his car, the Ford Fairline #376 and is out of competition. It took out the whole passenger side. No injuries from that one. The Hudson, I think car #109 hit a wall and wrecked pretty badly. No injuries there either. The day before, during prequalification, there were quite a few mishaps. Spin outs, a couple of accidents, one car lost a wheel. That threw off several of the cars. The #11 car, Vance Stewart III and Vance Stewart II, which is running in Turismo de Produccion, and is a fast fast car, ended up behind my Dad, who took it real easy. Vance II thinks they got mixed up with all the psin outs and ran the track four times instead of three. Everyone said the roads were really rough today
I have also heard from other teams that the roads are in HORRIBLE shape. It was also mentioned that a lot of cars were stuck along the uphill climb in what appeared to be overheating. Not confirmed yet but I also heard the beautiful red Galaxie crashed but that's all I heard. No report yet if any damage or not.
ReplyDeleteThe Hudson 109 is from "los gorditos" Paco Marquez and Araceli Ramirez and they are in perfect condition in Oaxaca. I just talked to them. So I guess it was another Hudson... if any.
ReplyDeleteCar 109 arrived to Oaxaca without incident, as reported by GFrancisco Marquez via Facebook. So the Hudson is in perfect condition for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteGreat news about Derek!
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteI was one of the last to get to Oaxaca. On the last speed stage about 2km from B-control my left front wheel bearing just got welded together and I slid with that whell for about 75 meters. Thankfully not down the cliff. Stopped some meters from it.
But as I was standing there I saw all the wonderful cars pass by, and after that I saw all the ones that where crashed and had problems. I must say that this is the worst 1 day I have seen. The heat killed a few too.
Try to get some more news to you.
Ralf