Fatality at 24 hours of Lemons

[Andy]

Shit. This is no good.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/11/repor...ons-crash/

[Hunter]

Oh no!

I've always worried about safety in a race where everyone is trying to build the cheapest and most hilarious racecar possible. From the updates on jalopnik it sounds like it might have been some sort of mechanical failure, maybe a steering failure?

I'd be surprised if they actually continued racing today, in fact it casts some doubts on the future of the 24 hours of lemons.

UPDATE #4: The folks over at Bryan's Message Board have been chronicling the adventures of "Team Porcubimmer" ÔÇö as such, a few of the forum fan-boys (and girls) were in the stands at Altamont. Here's one of their recaps of what happened:

he shot forward and sped up right before the turn, and went head on into the wall. didn't break, didn't turn...i didn't see anyone bump him. best guess is that he passed out and his foot just acted like a lead weight... but that's just based on the fact that he blasted forward so suddenly and made a beeline for the wall...took them forever to get a fucking tarp up. i was up in the stands with my dad, and he was really upset that it took them so long to do that.

Yes, of course it's speculation ÔÇö but the rest of the account helps provide more verification for what we've been told was seen out at the track.

[Mike]

I've always worried about safety in a race where everyone is trying to build the cheapest and most hilarious racecar possible.

safety is not part of the budget in things like this. they have to meet pretty much the same rules as a regular race car.

[Hunter]

safety is not part of the budget in things like this. they have to meet pretty much the same rules as a regular race car.

I realize that, but how many people really spend $4k on a custom cage when the rest of the car is less than $1k? Especially when it's only used for one race. Even though it's certainly not discouraged, not everyone will go all out on safety items like they might for a car that they race 15+ times a year.

I wasn't really that specific, but what I really meant by safety was also all the wear items that are most than likely near or at the end of their life, aka. brake components, suspension/steering, etc.

Either way, it's a tragic situation and my deepest sympathies go out to his family. They posted this update a little while ago...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://jalopnik.com/389323/details-driver-name-emerge-in-tragic-altamont-lemons-crash">http://jalopnik.com/389323/details-driv ... mons-crash</a><!-- m -->

While Murilee and the rest of Team V8olvo musters on with thoughts still on yesterday's tragedy at the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Altamont, we here at the Jalopnik Detroit bureau are lending a helping hand with coverage. We've just received news from the Gulf 39 team on the identity of their teammate behind the wheel of the Volvo 242 Turbo along with a little more detail on the preliminary on-scene investigation by the California Highway Patrol. We'd indicated to the team we only wanted to know the name after they'd had the opportunity to notify family, so although we're assuming that's been done already, we still wanted to make sure to include the name after the fold of this post to make certain it's been taken care of already. With that in mind ÔÇö the short, but full, e-mail after the jump.

The CHP reported that the car was in working order. No mechanical failure seems to have appeared...the impact was estimated at 50 to 60 MPH...Cort Summerfield was 46 years old (02/01/1961)

Again, our deepest sympathies go out to Mr. Summerfield's family, friends and teammates and we fervently hope the accident doesn't harm what until this point was one of the great examples of grassroots motorsports in action.

[TheDudeAbides]

weather your racing jalopies or dale earnhearts car its still possible that things like this can happen. Doesnt make it suck any less but lets not blame the nature of this perticular race.

[Evan]

I've always worried about safety in a race where everyone is trying to build the cheapest and most hilarious racecar possible.

safety is not part of the budget in things like this. they have to meet pretty much the same rules as a regular race car.

you're kidding yourself.
no team is spending a ton of money on a nice cage and saftey equipment when the best case scenario is the car gets trashed after one race, and more than likely gets trashed before the race is even over.

combined with the 'mad max' attitude and atmosphere which has teams welding saw blades to their cars, and the lack of any racing experience required for these events, and you are seriously smoking something if you think this race is as safe as any other.

[Andy]

Turns out it was a heart attack and not a car failure.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/13/trage...-bit-more/

[BLINGMW]

"It was really just something that he was happy doing. I'm sure the way he went, he was happy."

No joke man, I can't think of a better way to go :bow:

[JackdaMak]

"It was really just something that he was happy doing. I'm sure the way he went, he was happy."

No joke man, I can't think of a better way to go :bow:

personally I don't think anyone's happy with the pain a heart attack can cause. But probably seconds before? probably.

god i sound like an alumni now.

[Evan]

For the record, if I die racing, and anyone says about me "im sure its how he wanted to go" my ghost is going to come down from (hopefully) heaven and bitch slap somebody.

Fuck that, I dont want to die, period. If God told me that Im going to die racing Id never look at another racecar again. There are more important things in life.

[HAULN-SS]

If the other options on the list were "in a fire, 2 years of cancer, drowning, or plane crash" you might...I dunno

[BLINGMW]

hahaha ok Evan, good to know.

I think there's a distinct difference between

"At least he died doing something he loved"

and

"I'm sure the fact that he was doing something he loved means he's glad he died"

*edit* and as Deersty posted, yeah, I think that's what people mean, man. You have to die. Might as well be doing something fun while you're at it. I hope they'll still accept me on the WRC circuit when I'm 85. I plan on running without a cage or fire system. :lol: OOOH! Or maybe we'll have F-0 by then!

[.RJ]

Fuck that, I dont want to die, period.

Hate to break it to you, but...

[Dave]

I hope they'll still accept me on the WRC circuit when I'm 85. I plan on running without a cage or fire system. :lol: OOOH! Or maybe we'll have F-0 by then!

Sign me up to be your co-pilot as long as we split the driving time.