First off, know that Carlos is okay but a bit sore, and is planning on coming with us on the rest of Rocky Mountain Race Week behind the wheel of a daily driver or something. Also know that we post these photos with his blessing, as we are normally not the guys trying to take advantage of someone else’s misfortune. Lucky for you, Cole Reynolds was on track shooting his ass of when things went horribly wrong with Carlos in his awesome G Body Malibu wagon that we LOVE here at BANGshift.com. Carlos is known for occasionally sending it for a high flying wheelstand, but this one had nothing to do with two wheels being in the air and instead was about getting all four off the ground by at least 6 feet, maybe more.
We are not sure what happened at this point to cause Carlos to make a hard left out on track here in Great Bend Kansas, but the car hit the left side wall almost head on. He had started in the right lane and this track is pretty wide, so the impact was insane. The impact caused the car to launch through, over, and well above the guardrail and sent Carlos on one hell of a ride. When Cole asked him what it was like Carlos replied “I knew it was going to crash so I just closed my eyes and held on!” In these photos you will see the car in every stage of the crash, including a really big fire at the end. The good news is that you’ll notice the passenger side door is open in those photos, because Carlos got out on his own and in a hurry. We were so glad to see that, because again Carlos is a great dude and we hate to see anyone tear up their stuff.
All the photos are below in the photo gallery, but this one is particular interesting as you’ll see the nitrous bottle flying through the left rear window of this bitchin wagon, but ultimately staying attached to the car by the stainless AN line. The forces in this crash are pretty amazing, and a couple hours later Carlos was definitely starting to feel sore. We’re sure tomorrow will be much the same, but hope he can continue on with us.
On final note, we want to personally thank the crew at SRCA Dragstrip here in Great Bend. They are an all volunteer crew who ALWAYS put on a great show and do a great job. It is a true pleasure to visit this place and we appreciate their hospitality, their amazingly quick response to this crash, and their attitude in getting the wall repaired and us back racing. If you pay attention to a couple of the photos, you’ll see that the safety crew is already hauling ass towards Carlos before the car has even landed! Great job guys and gals. And thank you again.
Great to know Carlos is OK and only sore.
Here’s the real problem with that track: they are using Jersey barriers as walls. They are known to launch cars with their design. Don’t care if you disagree with me or not, I’ve seen it happen before. A paved oval track I used to run at added Jersey barriers on the back stretch to separate the racing surface from a newly-created motocross track. A handful of cars ended up in the wall and went over in about the period of a month. Racers bitched (justifiably) and the promoter removed the wall (smart move). The ramped design at the bottom of a Jersey barrier is designed for stability while sitting on a highway. Most race tracks use a flat, vertical wall. In the event of an impact with the wall, the vehicle is not launched up since the tire/wheel doesn’t impact a ramp. Cole got one image (perfectly)when Carlos’ left front tire is just lifting off the earth after contacting the barrier. Not good. But glad Carlos is OK!