1983 SCCA runoff crash

racervette69

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This damn near took out the whole field of GT1 cars,,, mine got through because of being in the back and Paul saw the smoke. A storm wet the track in this one turn,,

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlNlODBzeo[/ame]
 
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Why don't people slow up when they see an ambulance on the track, cars and parts scattered everywhere or a damn fire?
 
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Do you have a larger picture of this?
 
the white car (still on the ground) is Bill Murray from CO...still racing a Cobra (in vintage) and still mighty quick....btw, that "dip" in the track is gone, reconfigured by the current owner. I raced Road Atlanta once with and once without the dip, I liked the dip better although I was never very fast there.
H.
 
Harrison, the one in the air, was involved in
both accidents, the video and the still photo.
 
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the white car (still on the ground) is Bill Murray from CO...still racing a Cobra (in vintage) and still mighty quick....btw, that "dip" in the track is gone, reconfigured by the current owner. I raced Road Atlanta once with and once without the dip, I liked the dip better although I was never very fast there.
H.

I raced there a number of Runoffs with the dip and in IMSA Lites there the last few years without it. To me the dip wasn't the issue it was the speed you carried to the bridge. I saw a guy in an Atlantic get killed there. The car disintegrated after hitting the bridge.

One year I came out from under the bridge with another car tucked under my rear and a car had spun and was sitting sideways half way down the hill. When I hit my breaks, the car behind me pushed me out of control and I took off a couple corners on my car by hitting the car that was sitting sideways. Nobody was hurt, but the other car was a smoking hulk with 3 of the 4 corners ripped off I still can see that image in my mind. I really like Road Atlanta. It's fast and there are so many places to find speed.

I won in the rain there last time I raced at Road Atlanta. Coming down that hill in the pouring rain is always exciting.

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This ones not me, but this was the race.
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Mike Harrison, the one in the air, was involved in
both accidents, the video and the still photo. He currently is building engines for vette racers. I met him at Carolina Motorsports a few years ago, he was hanging out with Greer and Rich Shaffer of Cool Shirts..

He was lucky, he was knock out with his car burning, he never new who pulled him out. broke his back and legs. dont think he ever raced again.

His injuries were not that severe...he did race after that for several years in a Coupe (appears as a 1982 GT-1). I drive the car from time to time now in some vintage events. We have almost completed restoration of the "roadster" in the photos. I met Mike when I was in High School (mid 70s) and practiced/developed my Corvette collision repair skills on his racecars. He's still a great friend and we still plan on going racing together, with both of the #11 cars at the same time...
 
here's a still from the Newman crash,, you can see the corvette hood clearly on his Z. The car in the air was a Gt1 c3

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The hood on Newmans car, is Newmans hood...he had run into the back of someone and pushed his hood up over his windshield. Because of who he was he didn't want to stop on the side of the track like us regular folks had to do and instead proceeded towards the pits, at a considerably reduced rate of speed, in the racing line. When Mike lifted and moved to avoid running into the back of Newman, the Cobra tried to pass Mike, and hit him in the right quarter and turned him into the tire wall. The rest as they say is history...
 
It`s not what you know or who you know BUT who knows you.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Wrong on some facts, not the first time,, wont be the last.. Glad we have someone that was there first hand. I dont know any racers that old, that would have been racing at the run offs in 83,,lol
 
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Can you fill us in on the details of what lead up to the crash and some of the racers involved. Do you know who was in the camaro everyone was hitting and ending up in the trees? Which car caught fire first. I sold him some BBS wheels years ago, lost his info. He was in Southern CA..

Who pulled Mike out of his car or was he thrown out. Always heard he ended up on the guard rail. Would like more details, would find it interesting to hear it from someone who witnessed it or was there. My info was second hand. Are you the owner of Rocket Roy, Vintage Dirt racing? Did you and Mike race together at the 83 runoffs?

So the 82 GT1 is being race by you now? where you guys racing at, what series. Would enjoy seeing the cars run together.
 
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Mike Harrison, the one in the air, was involved in
both accidents, the video and the still photo. He currently is building engines for vette racers. I met him at Carolina Motorsports a few years ago, he was hanging out with Greer and Rich Shaffer of Cool Shirts..

He was lucky, he was knock out with his car burning, he never new who pulled him out. broke his back and legs. dont think he ever raced again.

His injuries were not that severe...he did race after that for several years in a Coupe (appears as a 1982 GT-1). I drive the car from time to time now in some vintage events. We have almost completed restoration of the "roadster" in the photos. I met Mike when I was in High School (mid 70s) and practiced/developed my Corvette collision repair skills on his racecars. He's still a great friend and we still plan on going racing together, with both of the #11 cars at the same time...

Can you fill us in on the details of what lead up to the crash and some of the racers involved. Do you know who was in the camaro everyone was hitting and ending up in the trees? Which car caught fire first. I sold him some BBS wheels years ago, lost his info. He was in Southern CA..

Who pulled Mike out of his car or was he thrown out. Always heard he ended up on the guard rail. Would like more details, would find it interesting to hear it from someone who witnessed it or was there. My info was second hand. Are you the owner of Rocket Roy, Vintage Dirt racing? Did you and Mike race together at the 83 runoffs?

So the 82 GT1 is being race by you now? where you guys racing at, what series. Would enjoy seeing the cars run together.

I apologize for the slow response, but that's a bunch of questions...I am the owner of "Rocket Roy" along with other strange junk, I teach a High School Motorsports Technology program, and we will work on or build whatever the kids are interested in (within reason).
The photo with Newman (PL) was at the bridge in the 1983 runoffs, the video(?) of the fire was in the spring of '84, after the Roadster was rebuilt after the PL event. I was not at either of these races, but was invlolved in the repair/rebuild of the cars. The Spring pile up resulted from a sudden rain shower (read, torential down pour) almost exclusivly in turn 7 (?) that took everyone by surprise...especially 17 of the 20 race participants. I've got newspaper articles in a scrap book about both events. I'll try to get Mike to sign in here and tell the WHOLE story.
I've never been on the racetrack at the same time with Mike, I just hung out and helped when I could and over the years he has probably been one of the real true friends in my life. He's about 15 years older than I am so I used to look to him for "fatherly" advise from time to time...I had no idea until later in life how dangerous that was.
I try to run the coupe at least once a year just for the sake of driving the car...for me it is such and honor...and Mike always shows up to help, and it's always a blast. In my opinion he is one of the most knowledgable people I know when it comes to running a race car. There may be a lot of stuff he don't know, but he KNOWS how to get a car around a racetrack, by whatever means neccessary. Back in the day he was very intense when he was in "Race Mode" and even today he can be relentless, even when he doesn't feel well. I love the old dude, he's a hoot to hang with, once you get to know him.
 
Mike Harrison, the one in the air, was involved in
both accidents, the video and the still photo. He currently is building engines for vette racers. I met him at Carolina Motorsports a few years ago, he was hanging out with Greer and Rich Shaffer of Cool Shirts..

He was lucky, he was knock out with his car burning, he never new who pulled him out. broke his back and legs. dont think he ever raced again.

His injuries were not that severe...he did race after that for several years in a Coupe (appears as a 1982 GT-1). I drive the car from time to time now in some vintage events. We have almost completed restoration of the "roadster" in the photos. I met Mike when I was in High School (mid 70s) and practiced/developed my Corvette collision repair skills on his racecars. He's still a great friend and we still plan on going racing together, with both of the #11 cars at the same time...

Can you fill us in on the details of what lead up to the crash and some of the racers involved. Do you know who was in the camaro everyone was hitting and ending up in the trees? Which car caught fire first. I sold him some BBS wheels years ago, lost his info. He was in Southern CA..

Who pulled Mike out of his car or was he thrown out. Always heard he ended up on the guard rail. Would like more details, would find it interesting to hear it from someone who witnessed it or was there. My info was second hand. Are you the owner of Rocket Roy, Vintage Dirt racing? Did you and Mike race together at the 83 runoffs?

So the 82 GT1 is being race by you now? where you guys racing at, what series. Would enjoy seeing the cars run together.

I apologize for the slow response, but that's a bunch of questions...I am the owner of "Rocket Roy" along with other strange junk, I teach a High School Motorsports Technology program, and we will work on or build whatever the kids are interested in (within reason).
The photo with Newman (PL) was at the bridge in the 1983 runoffs, the video(?) of the fire was in the spring of '84, after the Roadster was rebuilt after the PL event. I was not at either of these races, but was invlolved in the repair/rebuild of the cars. The Spring pile up resulted from a sudden rain shower (read, torential down pour) almost exclusivly in turn 7 (?) that took everyone by surprise...especially 17 of the 20 race participants. I've got newspaper articles in a scrap book about both events. I'll try to get Mike to sign in here and tell the WHOLE story.
I've never been on the racetrack at the same time with Mike, I just hung out and helped when I could and over the years he has probably been one of the real true friends in my life. He's about 15 years older than I am so I used to look to him for "fatherly" advise from time to time...I had no idea until later in life how dangerous that was.
I try to run the coupe at least once a year just for the sake of driving the car...for me it is such and honor...and Mike always shows up to help, and it's always a blast. In my opinion he is one of the most knowledgable people I know when it comes to running a race car. There may be a lot of stuff he don't know, but he KNOWS how to get a car around a racetrack, by whatever means neccessary. Back in the day he was very intense when he was in "Race Mode" and even today he can be relentless, even when he doesn't feel well. I love the old dude, he's a hoot to hang with, once you get to know him.

As Butch says in his bio,, http://www.b-k-racing.com/crew/crew.htm he's older than dirt..lol, but possibly one of the best out there. I had heard of his health issues. He was doing engines for most of my friends c3. Last time I saw him was at CMP. I'm not sure if he would remember me. Is he still able to go to races? Reason I'm so interested in this, my car got through the crash, dont know how, maybe he saw the yellow early, or was so far back. Only to end up on its top at R.A. after the dip. bottomed out, took out the upper left ball joint. in the early 90's

You got any pictures of the #11's you could post?

The photo of the coupe was at Robeling, spring '09 SVRA event, L-R Lujay (one of my kids), Me, Frank (his son sales safety equipment) and the "World Famous Hartel"...that's a joke that is so old, that we don't even remember how it started...but that is Mike. I talked to him on the phone today and I told him to check in, he's a great historian and a wealth of Corvette racing knowledge. The photo of the roadster is at the Greater Works, Inc. shop, we were supposed to build molds off of what appears to be a body there, but I got busy with a summer program for at-risk-youth, so we didn't get to do it last summer, but I plan on doing it this spring.
Whos car did you end up with?


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Thanks for the pictures,, Butch's old car. A 69 that was bodied as a 82, now back to 69. Getting ready to be a 427 AP car for Vintage class,, hillclimbing. Picked up the engine today. came out of this car. A few years ago.

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what replace the engine I got.. just love this car.. It finished 6th back in the 80's at the 24 hours of Daytona.

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It seems like I remember being a CMP, maybe passing through on business, visiting with Mike, I don't recall who he was helping, but it seems like your car was there, maybe it was you. It was about 7 or 9 years ago(?) it seems ya'll were trying to figure out how to get more air in the motor...is that the car, and is that why there is a hole in the hood now?

You're right, these cars are great...

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old Roadsters

I got some old photos of the Roadster I'll try to scan in and post, ain't nothin' cooler looking to me than a c3 roadster with fender flares and a short windscreen :thumbs:
Your car looks sharp!!!
 
The way it was/is

I got involved with these particular cars when I was about 17 years old, they've been a relative constant in my life, along with the original owner/builder/driver, for over 35 years...gr6, gr10, gr99...it's about getting a chance to drive what in my opinion are the coolest racecars in the world. Does that sound like a kid talking? That's how I feel working on and driving these cars. As I stated in an earlier post, it's an honor to drive these cars. It's even cooler 'cause "The Famous Hartel" shows up to make sure I don't do nutin' stoopid!!! It's great!!!
 
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to each his own but I find it interesting that anyone would restore this car with big brakes, wide nose and a big back window considering what it`s competition would be in gr-10....I would think the driver would be happier running in gr-6.



This car has not been restored...It has pretty much been raced since it was built in the early 80s. It's just been serviced and repaired as needed, I'll "fog" a coat of paint on it from time-to-time to hide any "previous crash damage" and it's ready to go back to war. I don't fore see ever "Restoring" this car...I'll just repair it and race it as long as Jesus permits me to do so.

my invisible FRIEND created me...John 1:3
 
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WOW....It's amazing what you can find -thanks to the internet.

I was there -21 years old-and remember the torrential rain. I also remember track officials grabbing cameras not allowing anyone to take pictures.

That video brought chills up my back....

Richard
 
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