Gagliardo killed in t/a wreck

[Heeltoe6]

http://www.speedvision.com/pub/artic...d/010520e.html


this is really gonna be tough on Gigliotti; during the red flag he couldn't even speak with calvin fish. Prayers for him and Gagliardo's family

[Crash Test]

That is very sad news indeed... After all the safety improvements they have made to Mosport, there is no safety device on any track in the world that will stop a t-bone....

Another one gone to the big race track in the sky

[Liz]

We were at the race. It was a horrible wreck - there were 3 cars involved but fortunately the third driver was not injured. The cars were shrouded on the breakdown trucks, which instantly told us that something was amiss - they had to get a cutting torch to get Gary out of his car, and he is in the hospital with spinal cord injuries but is still listed as critical condition but conscious and alert. There were pictures of the cars in today's paper and they were shredded.

But a little bit of better news - a Panoz hit the wall hard in testing, and the guy was wearing the HANS device and was only shaken up by the accident, when it would have been much worse if he had not been wearing it. So although motor racing is still dangerous, it is not so dangerous as it was.....

I have the autographs of both men, and Gary was sweet and friendly, and Mike and i had a chat about whether the new track configuration was better than the old one ... he said "Well the old one was bumpy and it made your car go off, and the new one is very smooth and makes your car go off!") and then he laughed.

Another driver I have chatted up just before he was killed. I hate that. But anyway I remember them both as charming guys and they were very fan-friendly as all the Trans Am guys were. God bless the race drivers, one and all.

[Chris S]

Originally posted by Liz
But a little bit of better news - a Panoz hit the wall hard in testing, and the guy was wearing the HANS device and was only shaken up by the accident, when it would have been much worse if he had not been wearing it. So although motor racing is still dangerous, it is not so dangerous as it was.....

The car that hit the wall on Friday was Leighton Reese's 2001 "Banner Engineering" Corvette, being driven by Kenny Wilden. Leighton formerly drove the "Minnetonka Missle" Pontiac and was a winner last year at Texas. Kenny borrowed Leighton's HANS device, not having his own. The accident was severe enough to break the HANS device. Kenny was complaining of lower back pain, but the borrowed HANS device may have saved his life. You may remember Kenny as the driver who gave Jim Deerhag's team its first TA win last year in California.

If you saw the race, you will note that the Banner Engineering logo was carried by Johnny Archer's Viper. Leighton and the Archers are old ice racing buddies, and as Banner Engineering had a large group at Mosport to watch the race, the Viper carried Leighton's sponsor colors during the race.

My husband and I were at home watching the race on television. We saw the Ambulance Now signals from the workers, and when the Jaws of Life signal was given, we started praying that what we thought happened didn't.

Our prayers to the LG Motorsports team, particularly Lou Gigliotti (Gag's teammate and friend) and Mike's wife and children, and to Greg Longo and his wife, and Greg's teammate, Kerry Alexander. Lou had just come from his most recent Trans Am win at Long Beach less than a month ago.

Chris Safranek

[Liz]

OK, that was a Corvette - I heard it was a Panoz but didn't see the accident. Thanks for the further information. We'd heard that Kenny Wilden was quite stiff and sore from the accident, but did hear interviews with him throughout the weekend so thankfully he is on the way to a full recovery and can get back in the car again. (or some car.)

And isn't his name Gary, not Greg? But there is some talk among some of the drivers that the track marshalls were slow in getting to the scene. Did you see any visible delay on the television? We were running down to the corner to see what was happening and by the time we got there, everyone seemed to be about their assigned tasks.

UPDATE: I have just been told that Gary Longo has had an operation to fuse the C2 vertabra in his spine and that he has full movement - he had a bruised spinal chord, but is expected to make a complete recovery.

Thanks be to God.

[Heeltoe6]

The concern voiced by Justin Bell in the red flag interview was not so much track marshalls, but medical personnel, and it was a valid one. When the wreck hit, three marshalls were right there, plus two more quickly joined. But an ambulance did not arrive for some time, nor did i see a doctor/medical sedan either during this interim


btw it would be tommy archer not johnny

[Crash Test]

I know I shouldn't be the one promoting other forums, but there are some very interesting comments from other people who at the track in the SCCA forums..

[enemy-ace]

My prayers go out to "Gags" and all that knew and loved him! A very tragic accident. One never knows when GOD will take you into his arms!
In relation to Wilden's accident, he had just recently got his helmet back from having the HANS clips installed. My thanks go out to all the people that strive to make our sport a safe one. Hopefully one day we'll never have to mourn another drivers passing.