Bob Lembcke RIP

[Fred Veenschoten]

It is with great sadness that I have to say that my good friend Bob Lembcke passed away this past Thursday. A tire exploded in his shop while he was inflating it. I found him Thurs. morning. Bob was well known all through the car community and was active on this forum. He will be missed.
Fred V

[T-Tom]

So sad! He will be missed by many!!!

Please post the arrangements.

[E1pix]

Very sorry to read this, and for the loss of your friend.

[Garey Guzman]

Oh, geez, this is sad. Had only become email friends with him but he was such a kind an generous person with his experience and knowledge. Prayers for his family and other friends. A true car-crazy guy, always helpful and always with great information. Missed saying hi at a track back in 2019, now just missed.

[Steve Davis]

It is with great sadness that I have to say that my good friend Bob Lembcke passed away this past Thursday. A tire exploded in his shop while he was inflating it. I found him Thurs. morning. Bob was well known all through the car community and was active on this forum. He will be missed.
Fred V

Fred,
I hesitate to ask this, but do you have more details of what kind of tire and really what happened? Putting air in tires is pretty common for racers .. was this, maybe, a TRUCK or motorhome tire? Of course there are always WARNINGS about what CAN happen, but it's pretty rare that is does happen... Is there something the rest of us can learn about this tragedy that might help avoid another one?

Condolences on the loss of your buddy.
Steve, FV80

[Fred Veenschoten]

Thanks for your thoughts. He was an amazing and unusual person. I'll post whatever I find out. He had a shop full of 23 cars and everything else you can imagine.
Fred

[Fred Veenschoten]

I just received his obituary:

Robert McNaughton Lembcke died suddenly on July 20, 2022, in Pensacola, Florida. He was born February 6, 1952, in Columbus, Ohio. Much of his childhood was spent in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he graduated from Nathan Hale High School. He then attended Oklahoma State University and graduated in 1974 with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for many years as an engineer at Monsato, in St. Louis, MO and Pensacola, Florida. He had been an active member of ASME since 1975, and served on several committees over the years. His passion was cars, especially vintage sports cars. He loved working on them, racing them, and talking shop about them. He was a member of SCCA, and participated in races in many states. His many friends knew him as “Okie” or “Pokie Okie”. He attended the local Christian Science Church. He was a proud member of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, he attended as many council meetings and stomp dances as possible. He will be buried in the tribe’s cemetery near his ancestors, in Miami, Oklahoma. He is survived by his sister, Mary (Kenneth) L. Davey of Stillwater, OK, niece: Kristen Gillman (John Ray), nephews: Garret Davey (Erin), Mark Davey, Jay Davey (Amber), and great nieces Camryn Davey, Everly Davey and Emerson Davey and great nephews Colson Davey and Noah Davey. Services will be arranged by Faith Chapel Funeral Home South, 100 Beverly Parkway Pensacola, Florida 32505 on Friday, July 29, 2022. The family will receive friends at 12 noon, and the service will begin at 2:00pm.

Fred

[T-Tom]

Thank you Fred!

[T-Tom]

Link to his obituary with picture.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries...ry?id=36020433

[Steve Demeter]

WOW so sad.

[Fred Veenschoten]

Fred,
I hesitate to ask this, but do you have more details of what kind of tire and really what happened? Putting air in tires is pretty common for racers .. was this, maybe, a TRUCK or motorhome tire? Of course there are always WARNINGS about what CAN happen, but it's pretty rare that is does happen... Is there something the rest of us can learn about this tragedy that might help avoid another one?

Condolences on the loss of your buddy.
Steve, FV80

He was getting wheels to put on the Super V so he could take it to the chassis dyno next week.I found out last night that the Mag wheel rim had split so a piece of it had hit Bob. He was using old tires for the dyno work and had new tires for racing. I still am not certain how much pressure we are talking about with this.

He must have been trying to seat the bead and maybe the bead popped against the edge of the rim and caused it to brake off. He did survive the initial injury as there were 2 other spots in the shop with smaller pools of blood and drops on the floor in between. It must have happened Wed. night from the dryness of it all and I found him Thurs morning. We were to have lunch together. Where I found him it looks like he was trying to get his pants off to try and stop the bleeding. Lousy way to go.
Fred V

[stonebridge20]

I watched a Goodyear tire guy get knocked on his butt and unconscious and the top half of a Panasport wheel go across the paddock and bounce off the hood of a state troopers car one day at Limerock. The explosive force was absolutely incredible.

Witnessing that changed forever how I seat tires on alloy wheels.

God speed Bob.

[E1pix]

What a tragedy, though always good to know what to watch out for.

So sorry, Fred. I didn’t know Bob, but that doesn’t matter — very sorry for he and you both.

Take care.

[T644HU07]

I had known Bob for 47 years, ever since we both belonged to the St. Louis Region, SCCA. I raced him, crewed for him, and he crewed for me. I kept in touch when he moved to Pensacola and we got together at various race tracks and a couple of times at the PRI show. Bob knew a lot of people; Whenever we walked together through the paddock we had to stop many times for conversations with his friends. He was a good example of the fine people in the racing community whose friendships last a lifetime.

[SteveFried]

I didn’t know Bob but this is really sad to go like that and also very sad that his friend discovered it, that’s not something you’d ever forget.
When I was first starting out on my automotive journey as a teenager long before my racing I worked 12 years at a tire store wrenching and changing tires. Over the years I’ve been guilty of WAY OVER INFLATING tires to seat stubborn beads, if it doesn’t seat RIGHT AWAY I always stand back 3 feet before it seats. This is a good reminder for all of us especially really inspecting the wheels for cracks, just a shame that this reminds us. God’s Speed

[stonebridge20]

This is probably a good place to leave this.

My procedure for seating stubborn beads is that I have a locking air chuck that I put on the Schrader valve that's hooked up to my airline that's not plugged into quick release air source yet. I put the wheel/tire outside my shop on the other side of the wall and plug the airline into a quick connect inside the shop while holding the release so as soon as I hear the bead seat, I can quickly pull the airline from the quick release.

I do this with any tire that I have to go over 30psi to seat.

[M.Sauce]

After being in the tire business for 40 plus years and selling race tires for 20 plus years I can tell you this from my experience, tire failures are very rare.What usually fails is the wheel and that's when bad things can happen.Take pride and care in your wheels especially if they are vintage or have been used a lot especially when cars have been crashed.I am very sorry to hear about Bob. R.I.P.