Tragic Accident at Summit Point

[John Ferreira]

Martin, in response to your thoughts regarding:
"They also didn't tell us about Mr. Jackson's condition until after the day's racing had resumed and finished,"

As stated in a previous post, contacting Ronnie's wife had to be done first. This took about 2 hours. During this time an investigation was taking place, involving the state police, eye witnesses and the medical team. Also, wanting to handle this properly and have a moment of silence and prayer took a some time to organize.
I know you understand the difficulty in doing this.

Regarding safety devices, air pillows, AirFence AND all of your posted suggestions. There are 2 members of the WKA National Road Race Committee (NRRC) who monitor this and other discussion forums. We appreciate your input and ALL of your suggestions will be taken into consideration.

An FYI;
The AirFence was deployed AND "race tested" at NHIS at the last WKA National. It did past the test. You may not have noticed the barriers, but they were there at turns 2 and 4.

Regards,
John Ferreira
WKA NRRC Member
An enduro racer,
A very sad person who has lost a friend……

[John Ferreira]

Information Regarding the Ronnie Jackson's Children's Memorial Fund

If you wish to send a card the address is:
The Jackson Family
3054 Weatherford Dr
Trussville AL 35173

The trust fund for the Jackson children is as follows:
(either address is valid)

Ronnie Jackson's Children's Memorial Fund
c/o AmSouth Bank
PO Box 270
Clay, AL 35048
Attn: Kathy Mayfield

OR

AmSouth Bank - Chalkville
2268 Brewster Rd
Birmingham, AL 35235

205-326-5300
205-326-5378
888-272-5900

[Charlie Fox]

An FYI;
The AirFence was deployed AND "race tested" at NHIS at the last WKA National. It did past the test. You may not have noticed the barriers, but they were there at turns 2 and 4.

John,

Thats great that these have been used and tested and they worked. Where were they at Summit point?

[Joe Galyon]

I have seen too many karts with dual brakes that are not redundant due to the way the bias bar is set up.

Test your system by disconnecting the linkage to one of the master cylinders and see if you still have enough peddle to engage the other braking system.

I was guilty of this at one time, but I got away with some broke ribs, busted helmet, etc. If anyone out there is guilty, please fix it. It's simple to do. It could save your life.

Email me if you need help figuring out how to do it.

[Martin Secrest]

Continuing this thought, it occurs to me that crash pillows, an air fence, or whatever kind of deceleration barrier is erected at the danger point of a karting road course ... eventually pays for itself. It does so by reassuring karters that the club and the track are paying attention to their personal safety, and thus increases participation over the long run.

As we speak, many karters who frequent Summit Point in West Virginia must be wondering whether they can continue to race there in the wake of this second death at the same corner.

[Gary Robinson]

On behalf of all the members of the Southwest Roadracing Association, we offer our prayers and condolences to the family and friends of Ronnie Jackson

Gary Robinson, President SWRA

[Mike Weaver]

On behalf of Badger Kart Club, it's members and families, our deepest condolences go out to the family of Mr. Jackson.

There are so many posts here that I don't know if some of the questions were answered, so I'm posting my 2 cents.

There was a lot of talk about crash pillows and fences (yes, they work great btw!). However, when you lease a big track like VIR or RA or Mid-Ohio, you are leasing THEIR track. They set up the safety items the way they deem necessary for their insurance coverage. I'm sure if the club leasing the track wanted to add more safety items at their expense, the track would probably OK it. But keep in mind that it's generally the track that sets up the bails and tires in the first place.

I believe Woodbridge runs the VIR races. If they could afford it, maybe they could purchase some crash pillows or inflatable fences and bring them (and take them home afterwards!) each race. Sort of a pain, but definitely worth it if a corner is really bad!

[Erik Frank]

quote:

---

Originally posted by John Ferreira:
(snip) Regarding safety devices, air pillows, AirFence AND all of your posted suggestions. There are 2 members of the WKA National Road Race Committee (NRRC) who monitor this and other discussion forums. We appreciate your input and ALL of your suggestions will be taken into consideration.
(snip)

Regards,
John Ferreira
WKA NRRC Member
An enduro racer,
A very sad person who has lost a friend……

---

John,

First, thanks for the response. We all share in mourning the loss of a fellow racer.

Second, perhaps one of those committee NRRC members should contact John Ulrich of Roadracing World (or possibly someone at AMA) just to get some feedback about inflatable barriers. It sounds like it is going to be up to the individual racetracks to store and deploy air fencing. In some cases, I believe that Ulrich/AMA/Motorcycle groups have already gone through some of the legwork of getting these tracks involved. It might simply be a matter of identifying which tracks are now capable of deploying these barriers, and then simply asking for it (and paying) next time the karts race there. Case in point is Loudon.

If nothing else, it might establish a safety dialog between the two types of racing. I firmly believe that there is a lot of safety technology that is being developed for M/C racing that could be utilized for kart racing to great effect.

thanks,
-erik

[Tom Stephens]

Charlie and all, here's the email response from Airfence:

"July 24, 2001 - Your safety barrier has been brought up on the
premier Karting forum at http://www.ekartingnews.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000008
It would be extremely helpful to our sport if you could promote yourselves
on this safety-oriented post. This post was the result of a karter who was
killed on July 21st and would most likely be alive today with your barrier.
Normally a company showing up to post on a forum can be considered "spam",
but in this case the posters seem to be VERY interested in how the Airfence
could be applied at the tracks they run at.
Please feel free to contact me regarding this matter. I have added your
link on our site.
Sincerely,
Tom Stephens www.kartfinder.com

"Dear Tom,
Thanks for your contact. I don't know if you are aware but our barriers have
been adapted for kart racing and we are in the final throws of gaining
approval for them from the Australian Karting Association after exhaustive
testing and trialling. We are also in communication with NAKA about the
barriers.
Please let us know about specific needs you may have identified and I will
check out your forum ASAP.
Let's keep in touch.
regards,
Andy Coffey
director

Airfence Safety Systems (Australia)
P.O. Box 7161, Geelong West.
Victoria 3218 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 (0)3 5229 1311 Fax: +61 (0)3 5229 2544
email: airfence@airfence.com
Web: www.airfence.com "


It would be nice if Andy would post some more information here on the Airfence , perhaps with some kart tracks who have used the fence successfully.
Does NAKA have anything to add?

Tom Stephens
www.kartfinder.com

[Paul Ciannavei]

The pursuit of air fence protection sounds to be well worthwhile.

However, I think there is another very important lesson to be learned that has not yet been raised:

I can all to easily recall 3 fatalities in enduro events on the East Coast over the last ten or so years. In all three instances, brake failure has been the root cause. Furthermore, in at least two of the accidents (and I don't know about the third)crew members subsequently reported that the driver was aware of problems, having either radioed to the crew, or made pit stops to investigate.

Consequently, I would suggest making a brake inspection a post-race (in addition, of course, to a pre-race) tech item. Even if a driver can "safely" nurse a vehicle with brake problems to the finish, if a DQ is going to be the result, there is no incentive to take the risk.

I hate to use this language, but if there has been anything "fortunate" about these incidents, at least no other competitors were involved.

[George Sunderland]

My two cents:

I certainly feel bad for Ronnie's family. Although I didn't know him, I certainly feel terrible whenver I hear a karter is killed which brings several things to mind as a b-stock/250racer with 20 years experience.
1) Why is there no single memorial/site for karters killed in action? In this information age, it seems the least we can do. Unfortunately I can think of 5 right off the bat. A few months ago, Fred Clarke's (killed at NHIS) sister put a post on the BSRRS board lookng for people who raced with him. Sadly, I was the only one to respond to her.
2) I don't know about you guys, but having a wife and a young child has certainly changed my view and on-track style. This is not an attack on Ronnie or anyone else but its only for a piece of wood guys. Whenever I run Summit, I always tap the brakes 3/4 down the straight to make sure they're with me. Call me chicken and I've been passed there, but my son and wife need me to come home.
3) Would it be possible to have a mechanical brake (like a clutch level to the side) that operates a mechanical caliper and/or a parachute on karts? I had an old DAP kart with mechanical brakes that weren't the best but were also failproof, it wuold be nice to have along as insurance.
4) I'll always love karting and will never quit but I won't fight you if you're crazier than I am.
5) Slowing karts down isn't necessarily the answer--if that was the case, stock briggs on dirt would produce no injuries. The answer is common sense safety and the realization that this is for a plaque and most of us are too old to make it a career.
6) Would it be possible to go halves with WERA or some other group on these pillows?

[Martin Secrest]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paul Ciannavei:
[QB

Consequently, I would suggest making a brake inspection a post-race (in addition, of course, to a pre-race) tech item. Even if a driver can "safely" nurse a vehicle with brake problems to the finish, if a DQ is going to be the result, there is no incentive to take the risk.

QB]

---

Paul, this is an outstanding idea. If a karter comes in actively dripping brake fluid, or with a pedal that's mushy, he should be DQ'd. No questions asked. As others have noted, it's not just for his own safety. (I don't even want to think about being the guy in front of the guy who can't stop his kart at the end of a full speed straightaway.) Let a few frontrunners get DQ'd this way, and see how fast the attitude changes.


George S., I also like your idea of mechanical brakes, though I'm not sure how they'd be configured or whether they'd be effective. Perhaps they could be set up as a hand brake on linkage totally separate from the foot brake. I'd think a chute would be pretty much out of the question, though. For one thing, it would do you no good if you had someone close behind you, and it might take him out too.

Keep the ideas coming guys. This is a very useful discussion.

[Henrik Thun Rasmussen]

I too was at summit last weekend and was deeply saddened to hear about the incident. I didn't know Ronnie but I have a couple pictures I took of his kart at lowes last year and there is a picture of him in a WKA magazine that says "legendary B-stock racer" he was one top drivers with years experience top equipment and than something this shocking happens. A freind of mine lost his brakes fri in that turn running an unlimited an I have heard many stories of people loosing their brakes in that turn. he said the cotter pin holding the pedal on the frame fell of and and the pedal disconected from the frame. On my kart I am gonna put a peice of angle alum ther so if the pin falls out the pedal will be blocked frome falling out. I am going to get rid of the bias bare mentioned in an earlier post and get the solid one and I am going to attach a back up cable going from the brake pedal tube going straight to the MC's in case a cottery key, clevis pin, brake rod, or bias, or the weld on the brake pedal bracket should fail. I also think it might be good to have all the brake brackets on the frame and brake pedal be magnefluxed once a year. I also had an old dap kart with manual cable brakes set up. it would make a nice backup system to use in case or a hydraulic failure like airplanes do. I still have the brake set migh try to make sometinng dont know if it will have enough room maybee the brake companies can come up with a hydraulic and mechanical caliper in one unit. also I have gotten socalled grade eight bolts from some hardware stores being used in stead off a clvis pin and thet got bent pretty fast. I think the backup mechanical system for the rear would work the best what do you guys think thanks HTR

[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: Henrik Thun Rasmussen ]

[George Sunderland]

I agree with Paul. I certainly remember at least one fatality where the guy came in to "investigate" the brakes. Unfortunately, there's been a lot more than three fatalities. It is extremely rare for brakes to go out all at once. Usually they fade or go spungy over several laps. I admit it, I am personally guilty of :nursing" a kart with bad brakes. But, I haven't done that in years. In fact, I have parked my kart twice at Summit when I felt the brlaes had gone suspect. You're right, its one thing to risk your own tail but it takes a true jerk to risk te lives of all the other guys on the track. PS: I don't know the ins and outs of Ronnie's crash so pleasde don't take this as specualtion of what happened this one instance. Remember, its all for a piece of wood you'll lose in the basement. And, though its a blast to run a fast enduro, people won't remember you were champ two years later so enjoy it but keep risks within reason.

[George Sunderland]

Regarding pedals and cotter keys---always scared me. That's why I use solid pedals and thread the ends so I can put a nut and wire on them---like the Zip pedals. I know many are going to say a mechanical caliper won't stop you fast enough. Keep in mind, you don't need to "stop" to survive....you only need to scrub enough speed off to make the corner. Your passenger car has a mechanical emergency brake and you don't go as fast in it so why wouldn't we all have a mechanical backup on our karts. I for one am going to work all off season to get one rigged. While we're on this topic--you are insane I repeat INSANE, if you run a shifter without either a sprag unit or axle clutch!!!