Now this is a weird one. During the Funny Car Chaos event at MoKan Dragway last weekend racer Ron Ooms was beginning a burnout in his beautiful Camaro bodied funny car when things went wrong in a way we have never seen at the drag strip before. As the car began to spin the tires, the rear end started to rotate and continued to rotate until the car was perpendicular to the racing surface and sliding sideways out of control.
This seems bad but it only gets worse because what ended up happening was that the car, in a full broadside, smashed into the end of a protective guardrail used to keep the Christmas Tree from getting hit by wayward cars. Because of the side impact and the minimal protection for a driver in this bizarre circumstance, Ooms was severely injured to the tune of having his leg broken in five places, among other problems.
This is the kind of freak accident that falls into the “you think you’ve seen it all” category and, well, clearly you haven’t.
We have seen some other views of this crash from cell phone cameras but this is the first “real” angle we have seen of it and its even scarier when the whole business is happening inches from the camera! Sean has had some close calls over the years but this one may be his closest.
Ooms who does not have comprehensive health coverage has received support from concerned parties who started a GoFundMe on his behalf to help defray the cost of the medical treatment he is and will continue to receive. Tough, tough deal.
“You pays your nickle and you takes your chances” is an old saying from a better, freer, America. Why the hell is “comprehensive health coverage” even mentioned here? We doin’ politics now?
No, I brought it up because the guy has no insurance, is a truck driver and is looking for help to pay the medical bills.
Yeah, hard to imagine such injury could happen at that speed.
It says: “does not have comprehensive health coverage” – Nothing about politics, the guy is injured and some people like to help.
🙁
It’s too bad for this guy, but I’m puzzled as to why the track crew just walked up. There didn’t seem to be any urgency. And I’ve seen this on videos of other accidents in other forms of racing. Are people getting so used to seeing accidents in person or on youtube that it’s becoming commonplace? Yes, it was a low speed accident, but consider this guy’s injury.
I’ve been around racing a long time and seen some strange ones but we will never ever see this kind of ugly again. And to add to the comment above one of the down sides to racing is that we never think we’re going to be hurt and volunteer or weekend cornerworkers/line crews don’t react like professionals. Not to slag anybody as I’ve always thanked crews/volunteers while I’ve been announcing, but I’ve seen fires, cars driven into while staged, motorcycle offs and most crews/cornerworkers tend to stop and watch instead of react, much like a crash on the highway. I’ve also found some race control personnel incredibly slow to throw red flags or call safety because of the reactive stance they take. Not all, but some. Safety crew at a National event would have been moving before the Camaro stopped moving and that’s because they’re trained to be proactive. Mears ago at SIR Friday night brackets a Dart had it’s convertor explode on the line and I was a couple of cars back so I saw most of it, as I started to get out of my car the crew kind of mosied on up, driver wasn’t moving, like time had stood still. By the time I had walked up to the car the guy behind the wheel looked like he was in shock, the carnage inside the car was unbelievable with shrapnel and tranny fluid everywhere and this guy didn’t have a mark on him. But it was the slowness of everyone around that sticks out, if the guy had been a bleeder that slow response might have been the difference between a calming drink or a handshake with the Reaper later. Sure changed how I cornerworked or approached any crash after that. Maybe it’s time we started paying crews enough that they became regulars and invested in some more indepth training for emergencies. And a last word on insurance, in the world we live in now if you can’t afford the time off or don’t have extended health and compete in what could be a life threatening sport, well, that kind of answers itself……..”It’ll never happen to me,” does happen unfortunately.
Thats just horrible bad luck in that it looks like that guardrail poked right into his leg.
Prayers for a speedy recovery! Ron is a great guy and would help anyone else in a similar time of need. It’s crazy how awkward this incident was. Such a terrible freak accident.
Everybody that has anything to do with cars or bikes know things can go Wrong Real fast. Is is a risk you take when you race or work on cars. I myself sometimes Forget the danger due to Many years experience. And when shit goes Wrong its a reminder that we need to be alert at all times on the track or in the shop. Ive been around a few accidents in the shop that could have ended badly.
However i feel we all need to help each other out in case of an accident where guys dont have insurence. I know some Might Think he is a fool for not having insurence with a dangerous hobby like this. But i hope others will help me one day if i have problems, so ill contribute with what i can spare and hope others will do the same. Its not a matter of politics but a matter of helping a felow hotrodder out so he can be back in racing for the rest of us to enjoy.
I’ve known Ron for many years
He loves his racing ,always said if he’s going out ,he will go out happy ,while racing and doing what he loves . He has had race cars for many, many years . From street rods up to the Alcohol funny cars . He is not an amateur…