NASA racer

Ben Kea was one of the nicest guys I ever met and a true enthusiast...it's easy to sluff off these images thinking "oh well, some idiot who didn't know what he was doing" but Ben was an intelligent and passionate car enthusiast who happened to be smart enough to make the money required to buy that car. He was not some "rich idiot".

Lets remember the track is NOT a "safe" place and do what is necessary to at least give ourselves a fighting chance. We choose to take these risks but lets never minimize or forget about the reality of the risks.

I'm too stunned at the moment to feel as bad as I'm going to feel tomorrow :-/<ul><li><a href="http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4562562/detail.html">http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4562562/detail.html</a</li></ul>

s4wood

Damn..doesn't look like much damage either..but then again...K walls aren't very forgiving....

DeutschDriver

and details about what happened?

Silver Streakin'

all tracks should use the "safer barrier". it takes up so much more of the impact.

ddg=shinebox racing

I'm really sorry you lost your friend.
I got my father to come out and watch me run at the streets of Willow, his 1st. comment was "I wish you'd pick a safer hobby"... I'm 39, he's 69....
Take solace in the fact your friend was having the time of his life, and hopefully, he never knew what happend....

lanemeyer

Just read through both the threads I've listed below. Sounds like the entire thing boils down to confusion with a car entering the track. A few tiny errors that we all know could hapen in the blink of an eye on any track that we've ever run on. Be careful out there folks.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61677&amp;page=1&amp;pp=20

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=ca06b440672864396abb6c8b49956997& amp;threadid=27660&amp;perpage=15&amp;pagenumber=1

Nogaro

This is why that was one of the worse comment I've heard about track events on AW. Even if you do know what you are doing there are wayy too much other people that don't know. And yes their screw up will cause accidents on your side, and a track day are not cars with racing safety equipments.

Nogaro

Gravel trap. Not sure why its not popular in US.

Krisko

<center><img src="http://images.ibsys.com/2005/0602/4562689_320X240.jpg"></center><p>First of all, it's impossible to know what really happened until the investigation is complete. The initial rumors were that it happened during touring laps, someone else said the Ferrari entered the track without being told to by a starter.

The latest is that the Ferrari was waved onto track by a starter and that the Carrera GT had to avoid him. This opens up a ton of other questions of course...did the starter see the C-GT and think it wasn't an issue or maybe he didn't even look for him? Did the Ferrari enter the track on an irresponsible line? Was the C-GT driving too fast around pit exit (I know I'm always looking for cars exiting the pits)?

Regardless it's a terrible story, the man left behind a new wife and month-old baby girl. One lesson that should be learned by the rich and powerful...take the supercar to Rodeo drive and use a dedicated track car with safety equipment for track days.

Pat-SoCal

Looks like T8, the chicane, where he went off. A Lightning running in an HPDE went off in T8 in March. Guy walked away a little embarassed but his truck was a wreck. It's very sad that your friend couldn't have just been a little red in the face and the joke of the paddock the next morning...

Any more info regarding exactly where on the track he went off and other circumstances?<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/racing/msgs/38146.phtml">Post from two days earlier </a></li></ul>