Nate's Official Roll Over Thread

[DerbyN8-128]

As most of you know, during the race yesterday, on lap 75 I rolled my #128 car in turn one with the help of another car.

First, I would like to thank all the people who quickly came to my aid, and the officials for quickly stopping the race to prevent me from being hit by any other cars. Also any driver who came up to me and asked how I was doing afterwards, thanks, it was appreciated.

As far as injuries, immediately after rolling I felt a little dizzy, but who wouldn’t after rolling twice? Also my shoulders, neck, chest and back were slightly sore. I want to mention that my car DOES have a main hoop behind the driver seat, I was using a Kirkey Racing seat, 5 point harness, Snell approved FULL FACE helmet, and a neck brace. I feel the combination of this safety equipment helped prevent any further injuries. The only thing else I wish I would have had was a FULL cage, rather than just the main hoop.
When I rolled, the driver side roof was the first thing to hit the ground (remember, I rolled PASSENGER side first, the passenger side did not hit the ground at all). When this happened, the roof was pushed down in front of the main hoop, against my helmet. This of course caused the pain in my neck and back. Also the force of the roll over and being pressed into the seat did a number on my chest, and the 5th point of the harness…well… let’s just say it caused some discomfort down there.

I would strongly suggest all drivers consider using AT LEAST a main hoop in their car. At the bottom of this post you will find a link to some pictures of my car’s roof to give everyone an idea of just how much this can really do for you. Also, I feel my neck brace helped a lot in preventing any more injury to my neck. They are not expensive, and definitely serve their purpose.

In the future, I’d actually like to see NEETS consider making roll cages, or a main hoop at least, MANDATORY. It really isn’t that big of an expense, and what would you rather have, 200 dollars less because you bought a main hoop, or spend the rest of your life in a wheel chair because you got your head pushed down between your shoulders? I know most drivers are thinking “this will never happen to me”, and I thought the same thing. But take this into consideration; I was running my own race, slightly off the pace and a few laps down. I was doing my best to stay out of the lead lap car’s way, and staying out of their line. I was pushed by another car, for unknown reasons, going into turn one, causing my car to go sideways and the driver continued to push until my car rolled. There was NOTHING I could have done to prevent this. It can happen to anyone, slow car, fast car, doesn’t matter. It happens, and it happens FAST.

Again, thanks to all the drivers who came up to me afterwards, everyone else who raced me clean all day, all the safety and push truck drivers, and all NEETS officials who helped in any way. I had a great time other than the roll over, and hope to be back racing in the near future.

Pictures of how the roll bar prevented my roof from collapsing can be found here (http://www.heffnermotorsports.com/RollOver6_21_2009.php)

[CJfilms]

Nate....fix the links!!! I'm trying to see the marked images!

Unless the 'view original image' is the only link?

[CJfilms]

Nate, very well said...

NEETS is concerned more about safety than anything else....no one wants to see a driver leave in the ambulance or worse...... I'm glad you are ok, I would have to say though you should be expecting to hurt a little anyways, that was a FAST HARD FLIP!

Spending money on safety....OR NOT....is like arguing with your doctor about your health......WHO ARE YOU HURTING??? YOU!!!!! The only person affected by a less safe car is the driver. We ask for a minimum amount of safety equipment to be installed in the car and worn by the driver. Anyone who wants to do more will not be penalized for OVER-SAFETY! Nate is a shining example of OVER-SAFETY. Nate has spent the money and walked away from a nasty wreck.

Now...Nate has even admitted he was not the fastest car out there and that he was racing his own race.........how many people reading this now have said that to themselves that they were only going out there to have fun and their car wasn't going to be the fastest car out there.....how many people have purposely overlooked safety items they felt they would not need because of that? I can tell you at least one person here had that though about being out there to have fun, but he took the high road and went safe.....and for that Nate walked away in one piece to live the "Playboy" life again!

As for the car that flipped Nate, I would hope we don't start going back and forth on here about who did it and why they did it and what is going to happen next time......yada yada yada.....it happened, it's over. I'm sorry it happened to you Nate, but let's all move on with it for now and keep the peace. Let's make amends and be thankful no one was hurt during the flip or afterwards!

Nate, I will be in touch with you regarding the images on your site.........

[tbirdracer]

you don't know me but i am glad that you are ok. i did the same thing in an enduro race years ago. i scares the crap out of you. i was lucky i had 4-point roll bar also. i am glad you walked away. take two asprins and soak in warm tub for 20-30 mins and take a lazy day. it helps.

[EnduroFromDE]

HIGHLIGHTS ARE UP!!!!!!!!!!
and they have Nate on there doing his thing...

[CJfilms]

The highlights:
http://gspvideo.com/2009/06/grandview-speedway-june-21-2009/#more-406

Well....the video clears up a few things...

1. we knew the #17 was the car that got into it with you Nate, although we did not know if there was any issues behind the curtain....such as a stuck throttle or no brakes, etc...

2. From what the video showed us, it was not an intentional dump. Art hit your bumper at the right time, your car went to the infield, but with that lip in the dirt, you went airborn! This was not a case of one driver plowing through another.....it was a racing incident.

3. We had some issues regarding the #17 going after the #82 direclty after the flip....this gave us the impression that mechanical failure was the cause of this incident. In fact, he did what he had to do to get around your car rather than hit you again after you landed.

Seeing is believing....watch the video, EVERYONE, before you make a judgement call about something. Our call yesterday was that the #17 intentionally dumped Nate then proceeded to go after the #82. This would result in the #17 being DQ'd from the event and receiving no points. As it would be understood now, the #17 and #128 got together, the result was Nate flipped. The #17 did not proceed to ram the #82, he swerved out of the way from hitting Nate a second time. The finish will be altered to read xth place #128 and then following that xth place #17. Regardless of intent, he wrecked a car out of the race so he could not continue....wrecked to the extent it could have caused harm.

The reason I italicized that phrase is because I know Art and his Brother Bob Kulik VERY well....they have both been racing with NEETS for a long time. Our officials know how they race, their fellow drivers know how they race... When it comes down to it, neither Art or Bob would intentionally ram/flip/spin another car. This was a racing incident. It happens....it happened yesterday and it will happen again...bottom line....

[DerbyN8-128]

Okay, a lot to cover here.

First of all I edited out any mention of the other driver in my statement above, reason being at the track I was told he pushed me causing the roll. Unlike NASCAR there are no instant replays so I went by what officials, fans, and other drivers saw happen.
Either way, I will continue, as always, to be out there having fun and racing my own race. I will NOT retaliate, in ANY way. It's just not my style. I want all other drivers to know that, as well as Joe, and the rest of the officials. I'm into racing clean, and that's the way it is going to be.

Second, I can't believe they got that on the video. I also can't believe that it looks just as violent as it felt! I literally got goose bumps watching the video.

Third, Joe, our website is hosted by godaddy using their photo album tool, which I have yet to figure out. So for now, clicking "view original" is the only way to view it until I get someone who knows what they are doing to fix it :lol::lol:

Fourth, hmmm...not sure what else to say. I summed it up pretty good in my first post :cool:

[CJfilms]

1. It looks like I found someone else who likes to make numbered lists!
2. I know Nate....Art is the same way, he would never intentionally spin someone and I know from watching you as well that you are just as clean!
3. I could probably fix the image for you.....of course, I was thinking you had a smaller sized version that was uploaded but just not linked....that's what I meant by that...
4....yeah, kind of running out of things to list....

[DerbyN8-128]

:lol:

I was using my Nikon D60 for those pictures, that REAL originals are actually TWICE that size! I resized them by 50% and they still came out that huge.

[AK17]

I wanted to chime in here and explain what happened. Nate, I want you to know that the entire incident was unintentional and that I never drive angry or intentionally take out another car. I found that if you ever want to get even with someone, go out there and beat them (I’m still working on that).
As I remember it…I was coming out of turn 4 and you were ahead of me about halfway down the front stretch in the center grove. You had the 82 in front of you up high close to the wall. You passed the 82 and came down slightly into turn 1 (not your fault, it was your spot to take). I was on the inside planning to pass both of you but I went in way too hot! When you started into the turn I knew I was in trouble and instead of cutting the wheel hard left and easing on the brakes, I jumped on the brakes, the wheels locked and I slid straight into you. It sucks that you hit that inside ditch at just the right angle to cause your car to go over.
Joe was right in that I was avoiding hitting you again when I got into the 82. There was nothing going on there, I was just trying to get to a stop while looking over my shoulder at the accident.
I was upset for being black flagged but after looking at the video clip 100 times, I can see where there was a perception of the incident being intentional. So, Joe made the only call he could and got me out of the race. I can live with that.
I hope you are OK and I feel real bad for tearing up your ride.
The bottom line is that I screwed up and you paid the price for it and I apologize for that.
I hope to see you out there at the next race (with all four wheels on the ground).
ART

[critter]

glad your ok nate , see ya next race on all 4 wheels

[DerbyN8-128]

.
ART

Thanks for posting. I didn't remember ever seeing you posting here before, so I was going to wait until the next race and find you there to introduce myself and let you know that I'm completely fine with what happened, and not going to make a big deal, or any deal at all, about this. It sucks, a lot, lol because my car it pretty crushed up, but hey, that's racing.

I'm glad that it wasn't intentional, and as soon as I saw the video, I could see that. Everything went just right, to make things go really wrong. If I would have been a little bit higher on the track, I probably would have spun around in a circle, then went back to racing and we BOTH could have had a good finish. But things didn't work out that way, so we will get them next time :lol:

Anyways, as you may have read already, don't expect any trouble from me or anything. I'm just there to have fun, this is a minor bump in the road, everything will be fine.

See you in July...as long as I get my car fixed :wave:

[DerbyN8-128]

Today I pressure washed the whole car to get all the mud off the body and out of everywhere it got stuck while rolling over. Also, with help from a guy at work, we got the roof pulled back up to where it is somewhat straight, or straight enough so I can sit right in the car again. I'm also working on cutting/bending/welding some bars to make the current roll bar into a full cage. There is a ton of work left to do, but if things keep going as good as they did today...I SHOULD have the car back and ready to go racing for the July Grandview race.

Also, as far as myself, almost all the pain went away although I still am a little sore between my shoulder blades, but it is only noticeable while lifting heavy objects or when I bend the wrong way. Other than that, I am as good as I was before this happened. Every time I think about it, I remember how lucky I am that I had that main hoop in the car.

[EnduroFromDE]

The pain in the shoulders are most likly from the shoulder straps. I had pain there for about 3 weeks after I hit a stopped car at bridgeport doing full speed, about 60-65, the belts held but left some bruises and pain for about awhile:( that was the end of that car too...on the bright side my next race after that was here back with NEETS