Death at Lime Rock SCCA regional races Friday

[brucesallen]

Our qualifying was shortened by 2 hrs.

Crash At Lime Rock Park Racetrack Claims Life Of Driver
By KELLY GLISTA and ALAINE GRIFFIN http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1/ar ... -76400906/
9:33 pm, June 22, 2013
SALISBURY— A crash at Lime Rock Park has claimed the life of a 70-year-old New York man who was injured when his car ran off the racetrack Friday afternoon, state police said.
Jeffrey Bower, 70, of Chester, N.Y., was fatally injured about 2:30 p.m.
There is a regional race for Sports Car Club of America at the track this weekend, said track spokesman Rick Roso. The track was being used for practice and qualifying rounds on Friday, he said.
Spectators and drivers said Bower was driving a Formula V car, described as an open-wheel car with a Volkswagen engine. While driving down a straight portion of the track at a speed that exceeded 100 mph, Bower did not make a turn and crashed into a wall, spectators said.
Racer Jonathan J. Einhorn was waiting to race in his vintage Austin Healey when track workers told the racers — who at first were unaware there had been a crash — to return to their trailers.
Emergency medical officials and state police investigators then arrived at the track.
About two hours later, Einhorn and the other drivers were called back to the track to resume racing.
While waiting at the start, Einhorn said a flatbed truck carrying the remains of the racer's car covered in a gray tarp passed in front of him.
"It was a very sobering thing to see," said Einhorn, a New Haven lawyer. "It's a reminder of how dangerous this sport can be."
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FYI: Jeff drove a Caldwell D-13 Formula Vee similar to the one pictured. According to track workers it appeared the driver never braked at the end of the Same Posey start/finish straight. This is the fastest section of the race course. The car took a shortcut across the turn 1 apex, crossed track at “big bend”, and then crashed into the tire wall, reaching the outside Armco barrier. We don’t really know if he suffered a heart attack, had a stroke or died as a result of crash injuries. The Formula Vee is a very small open wheel race car and inherently more dangerous than many other types of race cars.

[savage217]

Wow very sad to hear. Allon Simonsen passed this weekend as well. Not a good weekend in Motorsports at least in terms of safety. Definitely brings you back down to reality after hearing about this bad news. Be safe, be fast.