Livengood Update...Please Read!!!

[MightyDuc Racing]

Dawn-Please sticky this to the top...Thanks!

From Vicky and Leo Sulpy as posted on the WERA board:

As you all know, Brian Livengood crashed at Road Atlanta on Friday, May 16, 2003 during Qualifying for the AMA race. Brian was life flighted to Grady Hospital in Atlanta, GA. Brian has been in the Intensive Care Unit and on a respirator since he was admitted to Grady Hospital due to substantial contusions or bruising of the lungs. We were hoping he would be getting off the respirator as he had started to breathe a good deal on his own.

However, new CT scans that were just taken have shown that Brian has broken his back in two places and will require surgery. This surgery will take place at Grady Hospital on Tuesday, May 27, 2003. We are not yet sure exactly how long Brian's recuperation period will be. Brian has insurance but as we all know, insurance doesn't pay for everything.

I am asking all of you, as fellow racers and friends, to make a contribution to Brian Livengood from your heart and wallet. All monies will go towards Brian's medical bills. After Brian's medical bills are paid, any monies that are left will be donated to the Road Racing World Air Fence Fund.

You may make a donation to Brian Livengood via Pay Pal (www.paypal.com) at Blivengood@att.net or checks may be made out to Brian Livengood and mailed to Brian at 2834 Shane Drive, Snellville, GA 30078. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. I will start off the contributions with $200.00. Would anyone like to make a matching donation?

Thank you in advance for your contribution.

Vicki and Leo Sulpy
Photo Chick and #413

[james-redsv]

I think the AMA should be sued,  made to pay all his bills plus more for lost income etc. That wall should have been made safe with airfence or something. They have a good case againt the AMA becaue of neglegence. It was pretty easy for the AMA to protect that wall and they chose not to.  :'(

[racer865]

Brian was aware of the danger and chose to race. No one put a gun to his head and forced him to race. I'm sorry he got hurt and I think RA is a dangerous track that needs safety improvements but lawsuits are not the answer. The track owners need to break out the bulldozers and remove the embankments and walls and make more runoff. Airfence is better than nothing but it is a bandaid not a real fix. If racers start sueing tracks and sanctioning bodies the sport of roadracing in america is doomed. Every rider has to make the judgement if a particular track is one they are willing to race at. If they feel its too unsafe don't grid up. We are all responsible for our own actions and the conseqences of those actions. I hope brian has a speedy and complete recovery.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Brian was aware of the danger and chose to race. No one put a gun to his head and forced him to race. I'm sorry he got hurt and I think RA is a dangerous track that needs safety improvements but lawsuits are not the answer. The track owners need to break out the bulldozers and remove the embankments and walls and make more runoff. Airfence is better than nothing but it is a bandaid not a real fix. If racers start sueing tracks and sanctioning bodies the sport of roadracing in america is doomed. Every rider has to make the judgement if a particular track is one they are willing to race at. If they feel its too unsafe don't grid up. We are all responsible for our own actions and the conseqences of those actions. I hope brian has a speedy and complete recovery.

Very well said. :) :)

[james-redsv]

Maybe a lawsuit would wake up the AMA and they would make the tracks safer, wouldnt you think? Then when the tracks are safer then more people will race. Maybe, maybe not, but it sucks that someone gets busted up for life because someone else's failure to reasonably protect its racers.  ???

[Gixxer124]

Dawn-Please sticky this to the top...Thanks!

Dawn's racing in Iowa this weekend. ;)

[james-redsv]

I had Woody Deathridge mixed up with Livengood, Woody was th one who hiot the wall. ;D

[bmfgsxr]

Brian was aware of the danger and chose to race. No one put a gun to his head and forced him to race. I'm sorry he got hurt and I think RA is a dangerous track that needs safety improvements but lawsuits are not the answer. The track owners need to break out the bulldozers and remove the embankments and walls and make more runoff. Airfence is better than nothing but it is a bandaid not a real fix. If racers start sueing tracks and sanctioning bodies the sport of roadracing in america is doomed. Every rider has to make the judgement if a particular track is one they are willing to race at. If they feel its too unsafe don't grid up. We are all responsible for our own actions and the conseqences of those actions. I hope brian has a speedy and complete recovery.

very true.  

[the_weggie_man]

If anyone has a case of negligence against AMA or Road Atlanta it's woody because of the previous crash that put a bike in to the same wall and the parties in charge of safety neglected to do anything.

[Super_KC124]

Riders have the option not to race at an unsafe track. If no one pays to race, they fix it or loose the event. Is New Hampshire on the AMA schedule? ???  Make sure you (we) let the folks at Heartland Park know your safety concerns before you pay and show up to race.

[james-redsv]

Basicly the AMA sucks , big time. This is what happened to a friend of mine at a AMA pro supercross at Charlotte NC during the 1997 season. My friend and his wife, who owns a Suzuki, Ducati, KTM dealership, were also the AMA reginal directors for SC. They were invited by the AMA to invite several people to help with the race, I was one of 5 making the trip to Charlotte to help. When we arrived we were told we would be flaggers at the corners and jumps. After a brief lesson on how to wave a flag when a rider goes down and to look down the track, not up from where the riders are coming so as to see them fall and be able to falg sooner. Being a avid enduro and Motox rider I thought what they told us was stupid. Personally, Im going to look at the bikes coming at me as well as down the track so I dont get run over. We were placed close enough to get run over or landed on by jumping bikes and I want to know if one is coming at me. Well my friends wife didnt think about this when she was placed at the landing of the big triple jump, she doesnt ride dirt bikes. During the 125 heat races she was looking down the track when two bikes got together in the air and one came down on top of her, she didnt even see them coming, she was looking down the track like she had been told to do by the AMA officials. Luckly she didnt get killed, the riders foot peg missed her head by only inches and ended up hitting her arm and nearly ripping it off. She was in the hospital for several days and her arm was finally back to normal, if missing several chuncks of skin is normal, almost 2 years and many many therpy sessions later. To make a long story shorter, her insurance wouldnt cover it because it was at a race track, the AMA refused to help and they had no choice but to threaten to sue the AMA. All they wanted from the AMA was payment for medical bills. They finally got it after fighting for several years and lawyers later. To say the least they no longer have anything to do with the AMA and I wont either.

[Eddie#200]

Basicly the AMA sucks , big time. This is what happened to a friend of mine at a AMA pro supercross at Charlotte NC during the 1997 season. My friend and his wife, who owns a Suzuki, Ducati, KTM dealership, were also the AMA reginal directors for SC. They were invited by the AMA to invite several people to help with the race, I was one of 5 making the trip to Charlotte to help. When we arrived we were told we would be flaggers at the corners and jumps. After a brief lesson on how to wave a flag when a rider goes down and to look down the track, not up from where the riders are coming so as to see them fall and be able to falg sooner. Being a avid enduro and Motox rider I thought what they told us was stupid. Personally, Im going to look at the bikes coming at me as well as down the track so I dont get run over. We were placed close enough to get run over or landed on by jumping bikes and I want to know if one is coming at me. Well my friends wife didnt think about this when she was placed at the landing of the big triple jump, she doesnt ride dirt bikes. During the 125 heat races she was looking down the track when two bikes got together in the air and one came down on top of her, she didnt even see them coming, she was looking down the track like she had been told to do by the AMA officials. Luckly she didnt get killed, the riders foot peg missed her head by only inches and ended up hitting her arm and nearly ripping it off. She was in the hospital for several days and her arm was finally back to normal, if missing several chuncks of skin is normal, almost 2 years and many many therpy sessions later. To make a long story shorter, her insurance wouldnt cover it because it was at a race track, the AMA refused to help and they had no choice but to threaten to sue the AMA. All they wanted from the AMA was payment for medical bills. They finally got it after fighting for several years and lawyers later. To say the least they no longer have anything to do with the AMA and I wont either.

Racing is dangerous.  From driving or corner working.... We all know this.  That's why many people don't do it.  They watch from the couch and yell at the TV.  Law suits are not the answer.  If a person willingly volunteers to work a track or race, it's not the AMA that is at fault if something happens.

Now lets talk tires...