ChampCar driver hits deer while testing & is in critical condition!

[Nazgul]

Vince, tell her she has a choice, going to the track or a snake???

Good idea Joe.

 

[Nazgul]

da Matta continues to improve, he still has a very long way to go though.
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=10770

 

[d'kid]

Naz...
Thanks for the update on da Matta... have been keeping him in my thoughts... Guess sometimes we all deal with things like this by talking about other things, my mind can only take so much bad news before I mentally just shut down. Seems like this year it's just been one lost, or someone we know or know of, after another.

and that python... it was dark, but headlights picked him up in both lanes... I'd say a good 15-18 foot... and the truck bounced going over him. we went looking the next morning, found where he left the road... but didn't want to go jungle stomping to find him

 

[T.Smith]

Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI is a wicked fast road course up in the forests of Wisconsin. Tons of deer up there.

Cristiano da Matta use to drive for our homies down the street, Newman/Haas Racing, before he went to Toyota to drive there F1 car. He was very well liked there.

Also, for those of you that have been Route 66 Raceway, if you stayed at a hotel on Rt53 and I55 or Weber Road and I55, on your way to the track on the left of the expressway is Dale Coyne Racing, that who Cristiano drove for in the beginning of the season.

A track near here in Byron, IL had a deer run out onto the track. Some guy driving a Super Comp dragster hit the deer and was killed. The family of the driver sued the track owner.

 

[Paul]

There has to be a way to keep the deer out of the track! If you build a ten foot fence around the track there is no way a deer is going to jump over that. I have seen deer barely clear a 6 foot fence.

 

[Toejam]

Got me thinking......Can you imagine what a Crow or Pigeon would do to a FC windshield at 300 MPH????

 

[Rollout96]

Now that must have been a big python!

I wish I had a python (wife won't let me... she'd let me do anything you can think of before she'd let me have a snake within 5 miles of her). I had a "ball python" when I was in the Air Force, ball python's don't get very large... maybe 4 feet at the most (and that might be stretching it---no pun intended). Mine was about 2.5 to 3 feet long, his name was Nico (pronouced: knee-co).

wow... talk about a thread derail. Hopefully da Matta is still improving, I haven't heard anything since Sundays race... I'll have to go surf for the latest info.

We have a ball python Naz. We named him.... Ready?.... MONTE! Monte Python! :::snicker:::

 

[ozfuel]

2 or 3 yrs back at our biggest touring car race at Bathurst, one of the leading cars was taken out by a stray kangaroo on live TV.
Wasn't a pretty sight .....

Mark.

 

[Nazgul]

okay, one more thread derailment

We have a ball python Naz. We named him.... Ready?.... MONTE! Monte Python! :::snicker:::

That's funny Jay.

I wish I could get another one. One day I Nico with me while I ran errands or something like that. He was wrapped around my arm as I was driving... I got weird looks from those who noticed.

I stopped at a 7-11 for a softdrink that day not thinking anything of the snake clinging around my forearm, I go to pay and the lady behind the counter doesn't notice him initially, but when she gives me my change, the snake is looking right at her & she screams her head off while jumping back 8 feet. I felt so bad & must have apologized a dozen times. The folks in line behind me were laughing pretty hard, but I really did feel bad. I didn't mean to scare the lady half to death.

My snake was also a good ice breaker, we'd have parties in the dorms, I'd bring him out and attract a crowd of people all the time. That's actually how I met my ex-wife----she came to one of the dorm parties and noticed Nico & I standing in front of my room with a small crowd around us when she pulled up with her girlfriends. pssst...(Don't tell my wife that, or then she'll hate snakes even more.)

 

[Rollout96]

That's funny Jay.

I wish I could get another one. One day I Nico with me while I ran errands or something like that. He was wrapped around my arm as I was driving... I got weird looks from those who noticed.

That is a cool thing about them. They'll just hang out in one place like that. I used to have a Snow (albino) Corn Snake and when you hold them they are just constantly trying to get away.

 

[knightrider]

Michael Waltrip went that FAST??????????

Yea he did, back when he was still driving the no15 for Dale jr. Now he can't hit his ass with 2bass fiddles.

 

[Nazgul]

da Matta moved out of intensive care unit

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060821/SPORTS01/608210352/1052


http://www.eurosport.com/cart/champ-car/2006/sport_sto947071.shtml

It's ironic that in my Sept. issue of RACER magazine there is an article on da Matta talking about his transition with another top team (RuSport), and the expectations he & the team had.

I sure wish him all the best & pray for a full recovery.

 

[d'kid]

Thanks for the update Naz... I see he still has a very long road ahead of him, and still not fully conscious yet. We'll keep praying and let the man upstairs do what HE thinks best.

 

[none]

A head injury like that can take years if ever to fully recover from. Look at Jerry Nadeu<sp> & Steve Park from NASCAR. You could see it in Steve Parks speech for a long time that he just wasn't quite all back. I wish him the best of luck.

 

[.]

A track near here in Byron, IL had a deer run out onto the track. Some guy driving a Super Comp dragster hit the deer and was killed. The family of the driver sued the track owner.

I knew I'd heard of one incident taking place somewhere around the IL area but I couldn't remember where. I knew for sure it wasn't Cordova but just couldn't name the track. It wasn't all that long ago, was it...within the past 5 - 10 years?

 

[willy]

Here in Iowa it's out of control. You see the remnants of a deer blast every half mile or so on the interstate. They are running out of room..and they propagate at the rate of rabbits..(so it seems)..and we have a massive legal kill during the deer hunting season(s).

They even came up with a bill in Iowa City to allow expert bow hunters access to within 100 ft of residential property to shoot one. That'll piss off all these wacos that are feeding the deer..which is part of the problem..duh.

It's a shame that these incidents happen at a race of any kind. I'd be posting snipers around the grounds..hehe.

 

[Nazgul]

Improvement continues

da Matta walking & talking again.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060831/SPORTS01/608310448/1004/SPORTS

 

[T.Smith]

I knew I'd heard of one incident taking place somewhere around the IL area but I couldn't remember where. I knew for sure it wasn't Cordova but just couldn't name the track. It wasn't all that long ago, was it...within the past 5 - 10 years?

I think more like 15-20 years.

 

[d'kid]

Great news Naz... Thanks for the update

 

[Kelly Andersen]

there was a superbike rider that hit a wild turkey at road america also, he got hit right in the top of the helmet and only suffered a concussion but it split his helmet right down the middle , luckily he did'nt go down either. guess they need taller fences there!!!