Your worst crash?

[unforgivenracing]

Most recent one hurt pretty bad.
 
This past spring: Broke Right shoulder blade lenghtwise (top-bottom).  And sprained L3 and L4.

Worst one as far as damage to machine was in 96' aboard  900rr.  Was proof that the Dragon sometimes wins.  only part of bike that survived is hanging on my shop wall, and broke off on impacked without a scratch. it was the left side/center/ front fairing.  caused by front tire failure.
I have never used bridgestone since.

[taz]

Highside Turn 8 at Loudon.  Evidently, I drifted wide on the entrance but I don't remember any of it.  I remember bits and pieces of the ride to the track hospital and the the ambulance ride to the Concord hospital.

Originally they thought I broke 3 ribs and had a concussion.   Then I found out 2 days later I had broken my scapula as well.  Found out 4 months later that I had actually broken 6 ribs.  1 in 2 places.

When I woke up,  I was only worried about 3 things,

That my wife knew where I was,  
The status of the bike,  
Not letting the paramedics cut my leathers off. I guess I stood up and took them off myself (don't remember that too well either)

[chris_chops]

Four red bulls, two packs of gummy bears, then WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its all over.  I'm crashin big time. :P :P ;D

[picman]

high side turn 4 loudon....... free ride to hospital...woke up with 9 broken ribs and collarbone.  that one hurt! :P

[Jeff]

Anto Connor had a classic crash on a CRF-150 one day in 04.  We were riding trails which had SUPER deep ruts.  I was on my 450 and he was on the 150.  He was going HARD.  Like 5th gear WFO.

I come around a corner and through a deep rut and turn around just in time to see Anto hit the rut and the bike instantly wedged into it throwing him off like a catapult.  It was a piece of beauty.  I laughed so hard I fell over.  His bike was wedged upright, still running with the rear wheel turning.

No injuries.  A bit of dirt-burn, but nothing big.  I don't know how he didn't leave his bells on the handlebars, but he managed to keep them in tact.

[tshort]

No kidding, Tom. You are lucky. Never seen a guy crash so much and so big and not get hurt.

So, are you officially retired?

Yes, I am lucky  - bouncing well is definitely a good thing if you're gonna be crashing much.  (touch wood).  Funny thing was, I did those and more (mostly lowsides) my first year as an AM - and then the next year as an EX did about half the races all season long, and made it to the last turn of the last lap of the last race of the season at BFR without a single crash.  And lowsided!  ??? ::)

Retired? No way.  "I'll be back."

[Team-G]

I built a third-wheel rig (pseudo side car) for my little Honda in high school so I could ride all winter.  I used an old Honda 50 rear swingarm with the wheel, made a frame out of fence posts, and attached it with hose clamps.

With no counter weight, I rode around the driveway nearly hitting the house, car, and the swing set.

At that point, I decided to test my newly found skill at highway speeds.  The last thing I remembered before seeing stars were little twigs brushing my helmet shield before a mind-numbing THWACK...my face hitting a tree.  I have no idea how long I was unconcious, but I managed to collect all the pieces, get the bike started, and limp it home.  I looked in the mirror to discover the right side of my face was replaced with tree sap and bark.

This happened a few years after I tried tobogganing off our barn roof....but that's another story.

[L8brake731]

COOL!! WAR STORIES :o
Firebird Main, Chandler, Arizona, September, 2003. T-6B, ULGP, 02' GSXR 750, speed 70-80.
Had a friend pass on the inside, on the exit, his back end stepped out taking out my front wheel.
He missed T-7 and T-8 almost taking out the grandstands.
I of course missed T-7 since I was now a Tomahawk missle seeing only the clear Arizona sky. I remember the last thing I was thinking as I saw Kane's rear wheel whisping small puffs of smoke; "SH*T, this is gonna hurt!". The next thing I remember was laying there, waiting for a wheel or cornerworker to get to me as I tried in to spit hay (yeah, like the kind horses eat) out of my mouth.
The cost of that one? 3 fractured vertibrea, C-2, C-3, C-4, some roadrash on my back, one set of leathers and a cool modified Shoei for my collection. Had to sit out the rest of season.
The best part to this one; my daughter's friend Tristan was behind me and wittnessed the maylay! Coming over to me in the pits later and telling me how awsome it was. PRICELESS ;D

[KBOlsen]

Ya'all's crashes are way more spectacular than mine,  but I did whack my head pretty good a coupla times (might 'splain a lot, LOL!)

First was the summer of '02, at Blackhawk, in the GTO during the Wegman weekend.  I was havin' the time of my life when my brane fart farted:  Bearing down on Turn 1, clickin' thru the gears when I thought I'd hit a false neutral... CLICK into first gear at 80 mph... the big twin SCREAMED it's displeasure and before my brane could begin to wrap around the concept, I discovered the "new-to-me" sensation of my feet coming up around over my head.  THUNK! landing squarely on my right shoulder and head.  Cornerworkers said I was out for a little bit but I don't remember... all I knew was my shoulder HURT and I was mad as hell 'cuz I'd screwed up what had been my best performance EVER.  Came out of the med shed and proceeded to self-medicate with some Advil and beer, and enjoy the auction.

The next morning, I had roughly 25% movement in my arm, so I figured some X-rays might be in order.  Asked if John wanted to drive me but he declined, so I gingerly eased myself into the car and away I went.  Now, Highland Park Hospital is located in one of the 'toniest' of the North Shore suburbs, and they're pretty cool.  Walked up to the gal behind the counter and said I'd hurt my shoulder and would like some X-rays.  "What happened?" she asked - I just told her I'd hit my shoulder pretty hard.  She gave me a clipboard and I filled out the requisite paperwork.  Mind you, this was my first experience with "racing-related" injury, and I wasn't too sure if our provider would take kindly to knowing ALL the details.

Shortly thereafter, the nurse brought me into the exam area, and helped me slip into one of their stylish cotton gowns.  "So, how did you hurt yourself?"

"I fell on my shoulder".  

"But HOW did you fall?"

"I fell - I landed on it... Look, I fell on it, and just want to get it X-rayed, please."

Nurse finishes taking my vitals, gives me a funny look and leaves the room.  About five minutes later, another woman comes in, sits down, pats me on the hand and says, "Honey, it's okay.  You're safe here, now.  You can tell me what happened."

At this point, I figure out what's going on (and realized WHY John let me go to the ER by myself) and start laughing hysterically.  Then, the doctors came in and, still LMFAO, I explained to them EXACTLY what happened ("I let the clutch out, and proceeded to turn my body into a downward missle").

At THAT point, they wanted to administer a CAT scan to my brane! :D :D

Second time was during a Friday practice in May of '04... spun up my wore-out H2 exiting T7 at Blackhawk and BANG - landed squarely on my head somewhere north of 90 mph.  Happened so fast I didn't even have time for the "OH" in "OH SHIT".  Boy, did I see STARS after THAT one!  Of course, John had the bike back together and ready to go before the lunch break ended...

[G 97]

 After fighting with the typical fat-head-syndrome-plagued NESBA control rider, . (??!!)  -helmet.

Give me a break.  Yeah NESBA sucks.   ::)

[Chris760]

Worst one I had was 10-9-99 down in Missouri riding a rally with the Honda Sport Touring Assoc.  I remember getting stuck behind a semi on some really good roads, finally got a chance to get around him and took off to catch one of my buddies that had gotten around the semi earlier.  After that I remember waking up in a ditch and the guy who was riding behind me is kneeling down asking me how I feel.....  I didn't feel any pain at the time, but I had a broken wrist, ankle, and a messed up shoulder that I couldn't hardly move for about a week or so.  The guy that found me said it looked like an airplane crash, my Superhawk was totaled.

Worst one racing was at Gateway in Sept or Oct 2000.  I had just started racing and learned how tires let loose once they have a days racing on them.  I was coming onto the straight and spun the rear wheel up, I remember rolling off the throttle and thinking this thing has to hook up sometime, I felt like I did a 180.  I got high sided, landed on my head, jumped up, ran towards the bike and realized I was seeing two.  I was cross eyed for what seemed like forever.  The corner worker asked me if I was OK, I told him yes, Other than seeing double I feel fine.  I guess he thought I was joking since he never called the EMT's over.

Chris

[Old808]

I'm thinking it might be the time I went under a parked Trans-Am after the mother of all tankslappers.

Or maybe when my RC51 highsided me, then ran me over at Summit Point.

Of course there was the time I snapped my neck, but the damage on the bike suggests the crash itself wasn't to bad.  I wish I could remember it.