F1 Fallen

[Eric E.]

F1 Fallen

Who is the driver trying to save Williamson's life? Heart-wrenching .

[dc]

http://rubycabernet.members.beeb.net/rogerw.htm

[Paddy O'Brien]

The only driver who stopped to help Williamson was British ex army paratroper David Purley. He really was an amazing guy, as a 14 year old Purley was Britians youngest licenced pilot. He joined the military and saw action in Aden and was wounded and decorated for valor several times as I recall. He won some F3 and f5000 races mostly at tracks that required bravery, and later he survived the worst racing crash ever,as measured by G force (175+!). His legs were crushed but against the odds he walked again only to die in the late 1980's while practicing stunts in his Pitts airplane. I followed his carear closely because my dad took me to Monaco for the F1 race on a Page and Moy tour which Purley had booked as well, except David was also making his GP debut in a private March. He sat at our table each night with his gorgous wife and he usually ordered for all of us , including the wine selection,and he ordered in perfect French. Charming,brave and a nice down to earth guy,and a hero.

[Eric E.]

Thanks guys for the info.

[Bob Coury]

I pitted for a friend years ago at a drivers school at the Glen. A man and two women with english accents came to speak to us while we were working on his Royale. During the course of the conversation we found that the couple had someting to do with some sort of motorsports museum in England; the other women was Roger Williamsons sister. She told us of the day she received the call and the things that happened afterwards. Small world.

[Lee Racing 8]

Having had an experience close to some of the ones shown here at Portland this year. I am very glad for the saftey precautions that are taken and the corner workers who risk their lives for us. At the F2000 Cooper race in Portland last month towards the end of race 2 there was one of the worst accidents I have ever seen. As the field came onto the backstraight Chris Hundley launched up the rear of Dwight Rider's Zetec. (Dwight was fine, his car...not so much) Hundley's car then flew about 10-15 ft in the air, barrel rolled and landed 2 or 3 cars ahead of where he started his flight. (note this is while the field was under caution and the field was doing about 50 mph) He came down on the car of Noah Bystrom (luckily all Noah got was some banged up bodywork and a chipped helmet) Hundley then continued to roll several times. When he landed on the pavement I could see his head move violently, and he ended up stopping upside down in the grass. I knew I was the last car in the field and after what I just saw I pulled over and got out as fast as possible. Hundley's teammate John Lombardo also stopped, John's car didn't have a scratch on it because Hundley had flown clear over top of him. As I ran to Chris I wondered if I was going to find him dead or alive. (if you had seen the wreck you would have too) Thankfully when I got to the car he was breathing, he had the wind knocked out of him but he was alive thank God. I didn't know what was broken so I didn't move him, but he undid his belts himself. At that time Lombardo came running over and we pulled him out from under the car and pulled him a few feet away. I turned the master switch off and by that time there were a good number of corner workers at the scene. Chris ended up with a broken collar bone and some bruises, how I don't know. The roll bar on the car had compressed about an 1''-1 1/2'', and the top of Hundley's helmet was all scratched up. The next weekend the series officials told us how similarly Chris Hundley's accident was to one of Adrian Fernandez. Without a HANS Device the researched showed the Chris would probably be dead. So is $1000 worth it? I'd say so.

I havent talked to Chris and don't know what happened on his end. Whether he didn't see the yellow flags, or was checking his gauges or just had a brain fade, the effects were horrific.

Double check all your saftey equipment, because you never know when something is going to fail, or someone makes the slightest mistake and you're in a big big mess.