THSCC Forums

Hi All,

Below is an email I received via the New Mexico Region of the SCCA, a group that I autocrossed with for 15 years prior to moving to NC. Clubs are small enough in NM that they all share events. The accident occured Sunday, September 24 at a PCA autocross held at the Farmington, NM (Four Corners Area) Police Driver Training Facility. The car involved was a Factory Five Cobra replica and for those of you that are not aware of the term an "arroyo" is a drainage ditch carved by heavy runoff from thunderstorms. I did not know the driver, Joe Minnehan, as he must have started with the club after I left, but the author of the email was a friend.

Fortunately, this is not something that comes up often in autocross, so when it does, it is such a shock. Reading Clark's description of the accident there doesn't appear as if there was anything that could have been done differently to keep this from happening so I'm not sure what can be learned from it, other than life is so very fragile.

Be safe out there,

Tom Herbert

Tom
I know you have heard of the tragedy last Sunday at the PCA event,,, but I don't know from who you heard it so I'll give you my view. I want the true picture to be the story for fear creativity might be cause for false ideas to spread. The event was at the Farmington City Safety Training Center west of town several miles. The PCA is the only organization that is cleared to use it for non-city activity. Brant Thrower (PCA) was the chairman. The course was a high energy and challenging design but none of us saw or raised formal (or otherwise) thoughts about the intrinsic safety of the layout. I think we were comfortable with what we saw and knewthe areas where one needed to use good sense. Drivers meeting was focused on safety and a lengthy discussion of the potential for off-course possibilities was prime material. I felt the organization and job assignments for worker positions was done very well.

Joe was in the first run group (of a 4 car grouping that PCA routinely
uses) and I believe had just finished his 3rd or 4th run when, after
crossing the lights at the finish, let off to slow for the grid re-entry lane. That lift probably instigated the right rotation drift that immediately ensued after the lights. He attempted to catch the drift with light throttle (from the sounds of the exhaust note) and then suddenly the engine went into strong thrust (this probably in 2nd gear; my guess). The car then launched left heading off track, heading for the arroyo (the only arroyo on the south perimeter of the complex). He impacted the far bank of the arroyo at considerable speed at that point resulting in the car going air-borne in what most of us that I talked to assumed was 2 full flips, end-over-end, landing on the wheels under a tree. I say assumed 2 flips as there was a tremendous cloud of dust upon impact hiding the car but not the many parts and componentsth at flew out from the cloud. That demonstrated the rate of rotation the car took in that cloud.

I was watching Joe's run including the finish and following off-track
excursion from one of the 9ft berms built up around the pistol range center portion of this facility. It was a point on the facility where one could see almost every section of the upper half and all of the lower section of the track. The finish was in the lower portion of the facility. There were at least 10-12 of us that were at Joe's side within 10-15 seconds; the fear of fire first in my mind and I'm sure others also. Dr. Don Vichick was there and with others got Joe out of the car (fear of fire and no pulse; need for immediate resuscitation attempt) as he guided the head-neck area during that process. We knew Joe needed immediate CPR under
the circumstances and what I saw was a very professional (though none
of us were EMT's, I don't think) application of the technique (I still am
current in my CPR training though was only observing and manning the fire extinguisher).


Don and 2 others (PCA members I think) worked on Joe for about 5-7 minutes when emergency personnel arrived and took over. It wasn't long before the Medical staff (EMT's and Don) terminated there attempts as Joe was pronounced dead a few minutes later. From a non-professionals view, I saw Joe in the car with what surely looked like a broken neck from the impact. There was also evidence that he had massive internal injuries in the upper torso. The impact was as if a bomb went off as the car was very abruptly stopped by the bank of the arroyo. I'm just guessing that 50-100 G's or more at impact time that no one could have survived. His harness kept him in the car as designed and helmet was still on his head and there was no contact of the roll bar with ground or anything else. Joe was a dear friend to me and just about anyone at the events that had the chance to talk to him. He was a fellow Bp driver and new to our sport in a strong (and beautiful) car. I spent time with him in a school or two the first year he came out mostly to make sure he got hooked and became
a regular. That part was successful,,, he did love driving that car and
always had a big smile on his face whenever that 427 was running!

It was the saddest day of my 43 years of Sports Car Club activities. I
have seen 4 pilots die at the air races in the past 12 years I've been
involved there but this really hit home and I still have trouble sleeping with the visions still fresh in my mind. I know Joe really loved what he was doing but I'm also sure that he never intended to die at it. I have always been impressed and proud of the safety ethic in our organization and some time things just happen no matter how hard we try,,, it is a risk activity that we pursue (or we most likely wouldn't do it).

My heart is still very heavy and I have attached a picture of Joe and the
Cobra just minutes before he headed out on his first run that morning. His smile tells all!
-Clark Thompson-

After reading the title, but before reading the text, I first thought "out of control car ran over a worker or spectator". But based upon the description, I would think either the driver had some type of medical issue at the end of the run or a stuck throttle?

As always my thoughts go out to the family when I hear about something lke this.

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Just curious...does anyone know if this is the same site they had a ProSolo two years ago?


--Donnie

No, I believe that site was in the parking lot at San Juan Downs, the local horse race track/slot machine casino. That lot is used by more clubs as the city driver training facility (where the accident occured) was only used by PCA.

Tom Herbert

This has gotten me thinking about life insurance and various grassroots motorsports activities. I know professional drivers (NASCAR, etc) can get mega buck policies (for mega dollars in premiums, I'm sure) that cover them while they are driving, but how does the garden variety insurance such as employer provided group life and the normal life insurance policies that some of us buy treat participation in autocross, HPDE's and time trials? I think I saw a policy one time that denied coverage if death occured in a "speed contest" (as well as an act of war or nuclear bombing). How would insurance companies look at autocross and time trials? Would a HPDE be looked at differently since it is not a timed competition? I don't want my family to have any surprises if something should happen. Has anyone checked into this before? Sorry to bring up a downer subject but inquiring minds want to know! Thanks for any light you all can shed on this subject.

Tom Herbert

The answer to the insurance policy question is simple: Read your policy. The point of your post is that we should all know, though, and you'd be correct. Everyone should read their policy to make sure you're covered against *any* "dangerous" activity you might be participating in.

And thanks for the clarification on the site. I didn't go out there, but was curious since my guess is the SCCA may go there again. I'm betting nobody will ever autocross again at the police training facility. That's pretty inconsequential compared to a loss of life, but I was curious.


--Donnie

I have not ever participated in a PCA event, but they do have their own rule book and safety regulations that differ from SCCA. I don't know obviously if the finish runoff area was/would have been sufficient in size.
My immediate feeling is this was a direct result of driver error and indirectly a result of the proximity of physical obstacle to the course.
Trying to "save" a spin is ALWAYS a driver error PERIOD!!! Trying to save one AFTER the finish by application of throttle (in a 427 Cobra replica ) was DEFINITELY a MAJOR (unfortunately fatal in this case) error!
A similar driver error at an SCCA national event in Ft Meyers resulted in a nearly totalled Subaru.
My sympathies go out to the family and friends of the unfortunate driver, but this accident could/would have been avoidied had the driver followed the # 1 AX safety mantra: IN A SPIN, BOTH FEET IN!!! Let this be a tragic lesson for all.

_________________
SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.