Is racing getting too dangerous?

[oynot400]

I am starting to get a little freaked out. In less than a week there has been two serious crashes. The one at Flint Bottom Raceway in Burlington Ia, where one of the pro riders got hit by another quad. He is still alive but is in real bad shape. I kind of blew that off thinking that it is one of those things that could happen. But last night a little county fair race a kid cased it over a little 10 ft double. Which threw him over the bars and his quad landed on top of him. He was air lifted off the track and had an emergency tractieotmy (sp?) right there on the track.
What is going on? One thing I can see is safety gear is a must. Chest protector, boots, gloves, helmet, ect. The kid last night only had a helmet, which if he had more I am sure it would of helped him.
I really hate the idea of giving up racing because I really enjoy it. The people that you meet at the track are usaually a good bunch of people. Does the track promoter need to take more responsibilty to ensure us a safe place to race?
Sorry I just had to vent.....

[trx400ex]

I agree. A while back i saw on an article on a dirt bike website promoting track builders to fill in doubles and triple. At the time i thought it was dumb, but since then ive started racing, and i would love to race at a track with all tabletops. I think that would cut back alot of wrecks per race and injuries. Maybe include a pro section like a track in kentucky blackrock mx has. That way more experienced racers can have there challenge while beginers and mini quad rides can have fun with out worrying about casing jumps bad. I also used to ride with only a helmet before i started racing, now, if i am planning on doing any serious riding a grab all my gear, including a chest protector, ive been saved by it many times. Another thing is to not ride above your head, take it easy, if im racing for fun, im not going to be puting my life on the line to lace one higher. I figure take it easy, and when i race, i dont do anything i dont think i can do, jumps etc.

I think there are a couple of reasons you hear of people getting seriously hurt now. First off there are more poeple racing. and secondly there are a lot of people racing that have know idea what they are doing. your average joe down the street who has an ex wants to go race. he sees all of his buddies that he rides the trails with doing it and he feels that even though he has never been on a track before he should be just as good as his friends. When you are begining you need to take it slow learn what you are doing and progress from there. That's my $.02

[Razorback]

well put gnccer. the organization i race with won't let beginners jump any doubles, and they will make calls at certain tracks about certain jumps. for example, one track we raced at put in a new rhythm section with six sharp/steep jumps in a row. the promoters only let the pros attempt jumping these. i think all race tracks should seriously do things like this to keep the beginners from doing things they shouldn't be doing.

everyone is going to crash sooner or later..its just part of the risk of racing..but you can get hurt doing anything..even walkin down stairs..just dont ride over ur head..and dont try any jumps you dont feel comfortable doing..thats whats gonna get u hurt..just where all the right gear

[oynot400]

I just got word that he died last night. he broke his neck and severerd his spinial cord at the base of his neck. So I dought that a chest protector would of done any good.
His name is Jared Gassmann 19 years old, he just graduated high school.
It can happen at anytime, we had a guy walk into work today and collapsed on the floor dead at the age of 48.
You never know......

[Tommy 17]

well i look at it this way...

i once was the person that had the horrible crash and yes it is a traggic thing to go through... i hope none of u ever go through what i went had to in that short period of tiem... at the time of the crash i said mom i will never ride again sell my cr i am scared... my moms like tommy shut up u know u can get back on it and they wouldn't sell it...time went on and i go over my fears... i rode my cr again a few times and then sold it for my 400... yeah i am still scared of racing and gettin hurt and its always in the back of my mind but i still keep goin and riding... yes now i think twice b4 i go and hit a jump or go somewhere but u cant live in fear forever or it will totaly drive u crazy!!! i can die sittin right here at this computer... my house can cave on me or some other freak accident but guess what u don't live in fear of that do u...

i know my crash could have been provent bc the holeshot design is piss poor but theres nothin u can do about that... it was my choice to race and my fault for my injuries... i am just glad i hurt myself and noone else in that crash....

oynot400 very intersting post and I'm kinda in the boat with you. there's been more wrecks this year and deaths this year than I've heard about in the last 5 years I think.. also having a very good friend laid up in the hospital in a coma has givin me a big reality check. he's a good rider and ya never think you or someone you know will have a tragic accident. I myself have slowed down on riding MX tracks,,not getting out of it totally but just kinda took a break from it for a month or so. I've done a little more trail ridng and realized what I've been missing since I've only been an MX guy for about 2 or 3 years. I agree with something GNCCer mentioned to about the john doe with his fo hundred entering the races on weekends and endangering himself and other riders,,I've raced against a few of them guys,,I let them pass with their wild riding style and normally I pass them again because there sittin on the side of the track with a mangled quad or leavin with the EMS. The sport is groing and there are more riders at races year after year,,,everybody just ride safe and smart..:)

[Doibugu2]

I just don't think you can blame promoters or anybody else for that matter. As soon as you step onto that track, you know your increasing your odds of getting hurt, then just sitting at your computer surfing EXRIDERS. If your going to race you just have to except the consequences. If your unwilling to do so, then don't race. Don't look for excuses to sue someone.

But others have made a good point, that being rider skill. If you don't have the skill to be out on the track with other riders, you should not put others at unnecessary risks. If your not good enough to race, stay on the practice track until your good enough.

[Evan]

I have been thinking the same thing oynot, is it really worth the risk of a 3 dolla trophy? I kinda want to quit for awhile also, and ride some trails like Reeko. I raced last sat and there was some bad wrecks, more than I have ever seen at a race. At least 2 of them were due to track conditions. Which were the track owners fault. There was a huge mudhole right in the first straightaway. Luckly I have a decently fast quad and kinda skiied across it, I was in first of the holeshot but once I hit that mud it was like I hit on brakes, well the people behind me werent so lucky. They red flagged the race, 4-5 wheelers were caught in the wreck, almost all of them flipped, one guy had broken ribs, another had a cut and a rock under his skin, some guys arm was either broken or sprained. Something similiar happend in the 80cc race, a guy fell, another one ran over his neck, a guy hit the one that fell's bike, causing him to flip end over end. Both of these wrecks were caused by track conditions, after the first race, I was thinking twice about were to line up and if I really wanted to race. I guess the main thing you gotta ask your self.. is it worth it? The holeshot is the only thing that scares me in a race b/c everything happens so quick and everybody is all right together. I guess just another reason to be out front. I dont worry about myself crashing, its the people around me.

[T-R-X]

Quaders are not the only ones getting hurt! At southwick, when the bikes race, the ambulence is being used constantly. My friends friend wiped out under the bridge at Soutwick(on a bike), and needed to get a vain taken out of his leg to repleace a damaged one on the inner side of his thigh! Wiping out happens and it sucks.

[Razorback]

keep in mind that you can get seriously hurt trail riding too. trail riding introduces a whole other set of obstacles. i would rather crash on a track than roll down a hill with rocks everywhere, fly through a trail and get just a few inches off and crash into a tree, hit a mudhole at high speed and the mudhole is deeper than expected and you go over the bars, etc. you get the picture. i've done all these and they are far more scary to me than crashing on a track.

all riding can be dangerous, you just have to be as careful as you can.

[zzbudzz]

well guys,i'm very new to quad riding and racing i've only raced once (mainly to working 3 weekends a month!)the tracks i've been to seem only interested in the almighty dollar! for instance,this coming up weekend a new mx track is opening about ten minutes from my house.so i was going to the saturday practice,but no YOU HAVE TO RACE SUN TO PRACTICE SATURDAY!he said you have to buy a race ticket for sun . to even get a chance to practice sat? i am very disappointed in this crap.just like you guys said if you not that good stay on the practice track,i would like to but i'm not going to pay $55 dollars just to practice afew hours sat.!the other track near my house is ok but the track conditions were pretty bad so much dust i couldn't even see my handle bars if so one past me! so where does this leave me .i guess riding around my small track by myself signed confused ,lonely,and really thinking about selling my quad!:mad:

[400exBro]

now you guys are freaking me out about racing next year,

But it is ture what tommy said, we live with fear surrouding us all day, did the people in the 9 11 incident think that a plane was going to hit them, no, from now on north america and the whole world now lives in fear of terrorism, everyday when i get up out of bed i am thank full that i am still a live and all what i have (house, 400, tv, computer food etc..) that other people in poor countries don't have.... it is something we live with..... there is no way around it, even driving home from work, you risk your self and other drivers, just because 1 person was driving irresponibly or drinking and driving ( this is the #1 killer in canada today), it is something we have to put out of our minds....

thats way when i race i always look from side to side during the holeshot to see how far the other racers are away from me,,,, also another fear of mx racing is what happens if someone jumps on top of you while you are on the landing ramp and he over shot s and lands on top of you, that is my worst fear of mx racing...

otehr words it is fun and you got to put it out of your mind,i might put my life on the line if it was for the #1 plate but other words is it really worht it???
lata
Bro

With teh amout of quad raaaaces going on and teh amout of racers there is bound to be crashes. I mean everytime you watch Dirt Bikes on TV there is always a crash. And they keep teh camera on it, They talk to much about the crashes and not enough about the sport

[MxDale71]

Thats exactly right. What about the thousands of people that race and don't wreck. Yeah, everyone wrecks more than once, but most of the time, you pick yourself up and finish before to many people pass you. You just have to stay focussed... that's what happens most of the time. People get lazy and they'll endo or case the double/triple and get hurt. You can't just let your mind go, you have to be completely focused on the race.

It's just like the Catholic church deal. Do you really think that the problems just only happen in the Catholic church and just popped up now? It's a "media fad". They catch on to a story and everyone tries to jump on it. Then it starts to look like thats where the big problem is. The fact is that there are probably just as many sicko's in the Baptist, Jewish, Buddist, Methodist, and other religous communities.

For some reason, the MX wrecks have just been the "hot topic" lately and it scares people. There are just as many wrecks now than there were 5 years ago. The only reason people think there are more, is because they have read about it so much that they are looking for the wrecks and really paying extra attention to it when you aren't even trying to.

Yes MX can be dangerous, but so can any other sport. I'm suprised I can still use my fingers with all the times' I"ve jammed them playing basket ball. My knuckels used to regularly be about 4 inches around because they were so swollen. My left knee hurts now if I walk a lot because of a football injury (and I've only played for a couple of years!... I"m 17) I saw 4 people get seriously hurt in the high jump event when I was in track when they would over jump the mat or jump next to it. You may think thats funny but why don't you just run and jump backwards over a bar that's 6+ feet high and land directly on concrete with your neck, and shoulders. You ever see a Pole Vaulter miss the mat when he just cleared a pole that's 12 feet up? You ever see some one run as fast as they can and not make it over a hurdle and do a face plant directly into the ground? Or how about seeing someone get their knee bent backwards after he just got tackled at the knee's?

[Nausty]

I think its dumb to compare quading a dirt biking to track, driving, ect. You put your self in way more risk then driving, pole vaulting when your jumping 70ft at 45 miles an hour. I actually had a VERY bad crash where first responders had to come and got taken by ambulance to the hospital. I let one of my friends ride my quad at our private track and this kid was way over confident. I think a lot of it is any newbie can hop on a quad and keep up with some very fast riders but the thing is they arn't safe doing it and have no control. boy it scared me when he was thinking he was the best driver at anything and he had no control. Thats one thing I don't like about racing is everyone wants to risk them and their quad for a 3 dollar trophy and wanna look cool. Me I just want the rush. I also think the problem is is that so many kids think its so cool to crash and brag about it I just think a lot of people need to learn their limits when you got 10 racers racing all or nothing you know theres gonna be accidents.

[Atomic83]

Well my first race is this Saturday, i'm a little nervous, but i'm not gonna go out there and think i'm the best and ride over my head.

[oynot400]

I went back to the fair last night to watch the tractor pull. Of course the hot topic was the accident the night before. I got more than upset when I over heard some lady saying that they sould outlaw quads and they should of never race them. I politely interupted her and told her that quads are no more dangerous than bikes. Both need to be respected when you ride them. She then said that the family should sue someone for there loss, either the promoter or the fair board. I had to remind her that this kid had to sign a release when he entered the race, so he knew the risks involded.
It sure is making me think, but I don't think I will give up racing. I am going to take a couple of weeks off and do some trail riding.

[MxDale71]

I really hate people like that. Trying to sue everyone they get the chance to. Thats plain retarded. Plus, I've know two kids that broke their femurs, busted up some artery in their leg, and had to be care flighted off the track. You know what they were riding? BIKES. You know where they were on the track? CORNERS! Bikes are just as dangerous as quads. You gotta respect both or you will get hurt.

[raptor_02]

yes I agree with all of you about racing being very dangerous. The best advice I could give anyone would be just ride smart and know what risk you are taking before you try a new jump you haven't done before. But when comparing the number of injuries racing quads vs trail riding I'd say racing isn't as dangerous. I'm always hearing of someone getting hurt in the hills trail rideing.

[SGA]

Originally posted by Atomic83
Well my first race is this Saturday, i'm a little nervous, but i'm not gonna go out there and think i'm the best and ride over my head.
Man, after reading this this thread I wouldn't be suprised if you stayed in bed saturday! Nah, you'll be fine. Just wear all your safety gear. Good Luck! let us know how it goes.

Thinking about it, sports have become alot more dangerous in the past few years. People never used to do the stuff that is done today. X-games, freestyle jumping and the like. People are pushing themselves and their equipment to the limit.
Unfortunately, many inexperienced people are copying the pros and paying the consequences.

[Nausty]

actually oynot my dad told me somone was killed in waterloo this week also.. I don't know if it was at cattle congress or the mitchel sand pits though. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing:(

yea trail riding is pretty crazy if your goin really fast through those trails..but if youre scared of racing so much that you dont wanna do it sometimes..then maybe its just not for you..theres tons of other things u can do on ur quad...but 9 out of 10 times u crash u just pick ur self up and keep goin..im never going to give up racing..you have to concentrate!

[Lorduss]

racing might be dangerous, but theres no reasion to stop doing it because of the danger, every time i travel an hour down the freeways to glen helen i belive my life is at greater risk traveling the freeways, at least on the track if i get in an accedent its more my fault than something on the freeways might be.

im also glad i run glen helen, the national corse at glen helen is nice long, tons of jumps and there ALL tables. my only complaint is not all the jumps are cutout right, sometimes there a little uneven or they get ruts in them soon, its sometimes hard to find a good line to jump alot of the realy good jumps, but theres usually a few realy nice ones. allways a good double to clear.

atv racing is dangerous, so is anything else in life,

[R-Crazy]

anything you do is dangerous, and it seems the more danger involved, the more fun it is. we all picked a pretty dangerous sport. ya just gotta figure you could crash at every race, but just put that behind you and do what you love to do. i was at a local pool a few days ago and a guy jumped off a 25 ft. high dive and missed the pool and landed on the concrete. air lifted outta there. now they are expanding the area around the high dive, they say it is for safety, but i think it is to get rid of the dent and the blood. it was nasty. anything can happen.

dave

[oynot400]

Nausty, I haven't heard of anyone getting killed in Waterloo. I know it could not of been the Cattle Congress track because it was closed for these two fair races. I could of been at Mitchel Pits, I will try to find out..
It seems every day I hear something different about the accident. I was told that his dad bought him that quad for a graduation present, a month ago. Then one of his friends talked him into racing it. There is a rumor going around that the helmet that he was wearing did not fit him. I don't know what to believe anymore. All I know is that he is dead and it is a sad situation.
I have been getting alot of crap from friends and family about my quads and racing. They are all about saying the same thing, quit racing and sell those dangerous things! Take up golf or something. I told them I am taking a couple of weeks off, but I know for sure I am NOT SELLING MY QUADS! I am not 100% about racing. That is why I am taking a couple of weeks to think, but if I had to decide right now. I would at least finish out the season.
Anything can happen at any time I tell them. When my time is up then everyone else and myself will have to deal with it them.

[Nausty]

yeah who knows if they just got the location wrong when they told my dad. I'm not to sure about racing any more either to many people wanna risk it all for a 3 dollar trophy. But i am pry gonna have to wait tell I turn 16 although I know there was a 9 hour race I think it was in a magizine I was reading coming up and I might race that with a couple of my freinds because we can team up in groups of 3. I think people just need to learn their limits heck my dad was way over confident when he took the blaster out and rolled it down a hill and same with the 3rd time he took it out he just didn't have any experience on what to do if you don't make it... he hit the rear brake:o.

[muff]

[i]The holeshot is the only thing that scares me in a race b/c everything happens so quick and everybody is all right together. I guess just another reason to be out front. I dont worry about myself crashing, its the people around me. [/B]

I hear you exactly, i was racing in my first race, a local harescramble, i make it throught the first race, but in the holeshot of the second one i got cut off and pushed into a hay bale which sent my and the quad flying, i ended up wrecking the plastic, the steering stem and a tie rod, i got bad road rash all over my back and a broken right ring finger, it was the design of the track which caused the accident, we had 24 quads all in one row, and the holeshot area was about 20' narrower than when the dirt bikes race, oh well, i had a lot of fun and i'm going back to race there next year (its a once a year event), this time i'm going to have my 400ex and the course wont feel quite so rough

[Sleeping Catfish]

dirtbikes are MUCH more dangerous than quads!!!!!!! they are a **** of a lot faster and when you wreck you have less chance of getting hurt on 4 wheels than 2. a guy at a school near mine was paralyzed from the waste down when he hit a whop wrong on his dirtbike. he had been riding all his life and that time he just landed wrong. IT IS ALL HOW YOU LAND THE FALL!

[Lorduss]

whats all this talk about a 3 dolor trophy, does that even matter? honestly, you race to have fun, if you win you should be proud, i dont care for trophys.
i would never compete for a trophy,
letalone, nausty, your doing freestyle on your quad, i would have to consider that more dangerous than racing,

[airheadedduner]

we all know damn well the risks involved with are sport. we know that what we do is dangerous and we can get hurt. thats why it is stupid for someone to say quads should be banned cause they hurt ppl. it was our choice to ride. i just busted my lft collorbone tuesday playing jet ski across a pond at the flourence dunes. had to get hauled off in an idiot box.

[Lorduss]

its sad people who dont do what we do cant realise some thing, we know its dangerous, outlawing some thing because its dangerous is stupid, its bad enough with the laws they have now. how can someone live a life, where the most dangerous thing they do is drive on a freeway, thats pathetic.

i belive cops in high speed chases are more of a hazard to your health than riding a quad, id rather take life into my own hands.

[Nausty]

Originally posted by Sleeping Catfish
dirtbikes are MUCH more dangerous than quads!!!!!!! they are a **** of a lot faster and when you wreck you have less chance of getting hurt on 4 wheels than 2. a guy at a school near mine was paralyzed from the waste down when he hit a whop wrong on his dirtbike. he had been riding all his life and that time he just landed wrong. IT IS ALL HOW YOU LAND THE FALL!

I think dirt bike crashes are much more tamer than quad crashes because either way your gonna hit the dirt and when you do you just better hope that 400lb quad isn't gonna run you over and park on top of you or flip and smash you into the ground. But you crash a lot more on a dirt bike then you do on a quad. Oh yeah thats the truth is on how to land the fall and to know your limits.. How often do you see ricky or magrath or even mike metzer crash? He did 21 backflips in a row in one day btw.

[Nausty]

Originally posted by Lorduss

letalone, nausty, your doing freestyle on your quad, i would have to consider that more dangerous than racing,

Well you can consider freestyle more dangorous than racing but I don't push the limits hardly at all when i'm doing freestyle and hardly ever put my self at risk and the only time i've crashed at freestyle is when i tryed a nothing on a real awkward jump which was my fault for not being read for it and I don't want to be at the mercy of somone else when they want to "block pass" and slam there rear end into my front tires.

[Live2Ride300]

A kid on a dirtbike crashed in one of the local sandpits about 2 weeks ago, he wansnt even riding in the sandpit itself but was riding down a dirtroad that leads to the pit and his throttle stuck and he went off the dirtroad and hit a tree, he broke almost every bone in his body, im not sure if he survived or not, i havent heard nething else about it lately, but last i heard he was in critical condition. Now this sandpit is closed because of this. There are huge NO MOTORIZED VEHICLE SIGNS EVERYWHERE. We are losing riding areas fast around here. It really sux. How can they close this pit because this kids throttle stuck? He wasnt even riding in the sandpit he was on the road going to it. I feel bad for him, and hope hes ok, but they shouldnt close the pit because of this.

[oynot400]

Well due to the accident last week it sounds like there will be no more motorcross at any of the fairs in the future. In my area anyway. I guess that they had a hard enough time getting insurance in the first place. Now I heard that the Delaware Co Fair will no longer have MX races either and they have had mx races for over 10 years.
This really sucks, they didn't close down the Daytona Speedway when Dale Earnhart was killed. I did find out that there was a guy killed at Flint Bottom on a motorcycle the same night that David Illian had his accident.
I pretty much decided that I am going to keep racing, one I really like the sport and the people that are involded in it. That and I have too much invested in it just to walk away.
I think that the sport will recover from these recent accident, in time. It is just a reminder to tell us how dangerous it really is and to respect the sport and the people that do it. ;)

[airheadedduner]

they used to let quads race during tuff truck events over here. cause of the accidents they coudn't get insurence. kinda ironic being last week a truck wreaked and wiped out the stands injuring several people.