OT: Fatality on track at NASA event at MSR Cresson TX

[Andy M]

Folks,

There was a very unfortunate racing accident this past weekend at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson (the one near Dallas). Please keep this guy's family in your hearts and prayers. Something like this really makes you think and certainly makes you realize just how short a time we all have on this planet. Make sure you hug the ones you love and let them know how important they are in your lives.

http://www.corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28254

 

[b4409]

Very sad. My condolences to the family. It's hard to imagine the impact on the life of the young children.

 

[mrmustang]

This is from Balir, the photographer at the track. I'll post this to help dispell whatever rumors might be floating around. Certainly what I heard initially was not accurate:

The official cause of death was heart failure, resulting from internal
secondary injuries from the accident. He was wearing a HANS. According to
doctors at the receiving hospital, Greg Bruder's aortic vessel collapsed
momentarily after impact.

This was announced by NASA officials at the racer's meeting Sunday morning.
It, needless to say, was very somber.

According to witnesses and reports from the accident scene (MSR officials,
emergency officials, NASA Texas officials and other safety crew), there was
no helmet damage/marks, nor any other visible external bodily damage.
Besides the standard EMS crew, there was an ambulance on scene. There was
also a Fort Worth Harris Methodist ER doctor (who was a driver in the
Formula Vee run group) on scene. Then, there was Care Flight on scene.

Greg did have to be extracted from the cockpit of his FM. The driver's
compartment was deformed, but not breached. It was a right side impact on
Greg's FM, and a rear impact on Austin's car. Again, information from the
officials on the scene, as well as visual evidence.

There's a lot of documentation on this incident, despite rumors of the
opposite, as well as rumors of the incident happening different than what
Jack put out in his email to the membership. From corner workers (one being
our very own Michael W), to track position/lap timing records (which Michael
helped out with as well), to trackside video, and some of my photography,
there was a lot of things to pull into the investigation. It's an area that
everyone at MSR and NASA Texas has never had to deal with.

Myself, I was photographing the race moving around Rattlesnake and Wagon
Wheel on the four wheeler. I had a track radio for communication.
Afterward, I talked with a lot of the corner workers, and had to answer to
track and race officials in the investigation, both Saturday and Sunday.

My last image of Greg was one lap (possibly two) before the incident,
according to my camera date/time. About 7 cars after he passed me, I had to
go in to download the memory cards. On the way, I heard about the incident.

It's a little weird having the last image ever made of Greg. I'm donating
all the images for a slideshow at the funeral, as well as a matted/framed
poster of this image to his wife and family. Greg and Ellen have three
daughters. Don't know all their ages. His wife and one daughter, age 13,
were there that I know of. I also heard his father was there.

Greg (driver of the #11 FM) and Austin (driver of the #64 FM) have been/are
customers of mine.

R.I.P. Greg Bruder

 

[kevin]

very sorry to hear this.

can anyone explain to me how an aortic vessel collapses (without knowing any medical conditions that may have existed - detected or not)? fred?

 

[Andy M]

As a father of two wonderful young daughters myself, I am deeply moved and saddened by what this family must be feeling at the moment. My deepest condolences go out to his wife, children, parents, and all other family and friends.

 

[ac427cobra]

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.

God Speed!

 

[blk94cobra]

It is a sad day when we lose a fellow NASA racer. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and his NASA-TX family who also are probably having second thoughts about why we do this. If there is any consolation out of this tragic event I hope he died doing what he loved to do. If my time is up, I would want to go doing something that I love to do.

Also if any of you guys know the answer chime in - Is this not the first fatality at a NASA event? I've been involved about five years with NASA and have never heard of one but I'm not certain.

 

[Andy M]

Jim,

Amen to that!! I always think in the back of my mind "Could this session be my last?" ... every time I get out on track. But as with most all of us who love this insanely fun sport, we do it despite the dangers. It is just very tragic for his family, especially his wife and kids. Makes me want to call my mother more often and tell all the ones I love how much they mean to me... even more than I do now. You just never know which day the man upstairs has picked out for you to go. I for one, would certainly want to go doing something I am passionate about.

Although I did not know Greg personally, I feel a huge sense of loss. After all, we ARE all family.

R.I.P. Greg

 

[93SVTCobra]

Also if any of you guys know the answer chime in - Is this not the first fatality at a NASA event? I've been involved about five years with NASA and have never heard of one but I'm not certain.

I do remember at least one fatality that happened out west that involved someone driving an ASA stockcar I believe. A quick search on the internet didn't pull up anything else.

<rant on>

With some of the stuff I have seen and heard about at NASA events I'm honestly not surprised there aren't more.

<rant off>

 

[Flying Fred]

can anyone explain to me how an aortic vessel collapses (without knowing any medical conditions that may have existed - detected or not)? fred?

Geez Kevin, you had to pick me??? I'm still shaking in my boots and wondering why the h... I am racing. I feel horrible for Greg's family, friends and everyone affected by this. I do not want to be disrespectful or gruesome. I don't know the facts and am NOT speculating what happened in this case. To answer your question, a severe blunt chest injury (e.g. steering wheel) can cause a traumatic thoracic aneurysm with or without rupture. Once ruptured, all pressure/volume within the aorta are gone (hence it "collapses").

I hope my answer to Kevin's medical question is not offensive. If so, please accept my apologies. I will be happy to remove it if asked.

 

[kevin]

Geez Kevin, you had to pick me??? I'm still shaking in my boots and wondering why the h... I am racing. I feel horrible for Greg's family, friends and everyone affected by this. I do not want to be disrespectful or gruesome. I don't know the facts and am NOT speculating what happened in this case. To answer your question, a severe blunt chest injury (e.g. steering wheel) can cause a traumatic thoracic aneurysm with or without rupture. Once ruptured, all pressure/volume within the aorta are gone (hence it "collapses").

I hope my answer to Kevin's medical question is not offensive. If so, please accept my apologies. I will be happy to remove it if asked.

fred, i hope all in here know i would not ask to be gruesome. i was wondering to see if there was anything i could learn. god forbid anything happens to any of us. thanks fred for your explaination.

 

[blk94cobra]

With some of the stuff I have seen and heard about at NASA events I'm honestly not surprised there aren't more.

Yea Mark your right. Last year at one of our events we had a low turnout of racers so they decided to have one race with big bore and small bore cars. What a cluster f**k that was. There were hondas diving into the corners (into the grass sometimes) to get around mustangs who couldn't see them and then they would get to the straights and the mustangs and corvettes would be held up. The honda challenge guys will bump each other during their races so then they started bumping some of the mustangs. After the race, there were several choice words said between drivers and I'm really surprised there wasn't a riot between the drivers.

 

[03'Darin]

What a tragedy! Sure we're doing the thing we love, but with one daughter being 13 I would say this guy was way to young to die. Sure I want to die doing what I love, but I hope I'm like 80 years old when it happens. I was racing at Summit Point several years ago and one of the open wheel class car drivers was killed. I'll never forget that weekend and the emotional roller coaster for the next couple of days. The worst thing about these tragedies are the family and friends that have to accept that you died doing what you love.

My thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends.

Darin

 

[REDBLITZ]

Damn...my grand parents live very near there and we pass through cresson all the time. what a bummer.