The GNX crash at Columbus....my story.

[EightSecV6]

First of all it is a terrible thing to hurt such a beautiful car, I feel really bad for Mr Sullivan but he will fix the car regardless of how much work it takes, it's his GNX and he has no desire to scrap it or sell it so the value really wont matter. I was running against him in qualifying on that pass. I was shutting down and he passed me at well over 100mph but it seemed as if it were in slow motion,the car stopped suddenly and a big cloud of dust flew into the air.I was the first one to get over to him as soon as I could get stopped, I flung the door back and unbuckled his harness.I asked him numerous times if he was OK and all he said " I'm fine (pointing to the hood) but would you look at this?" His hands were bleeding pretty good but I can honestly say I was much more shaken than he was as I expected to see MUCH worse when I opened the door. John had just run a 10.2? at 135 in a normally high 9 second car, he told me he was pushing the brake as hard as he could but the car would not slow down. I have seen mention of shifting in neutral, turning the key off etc etc. You only have a fraction of a second to make a decision at this speed and I am 100% confident that John did the best he could to save the car, it just didnt work out.I think it would be a safe assumption that "if" the throttle were stuck on a 3600# car that had 800hp and was already travelling at 135mph, all the powermaster in the world wouldnt stop it. John said that he tried to get to the e-brake but the cage (probably the part that saved his life) got in his way and he could not get to it. Once things settled a bit, I went in the ambulance to see him and the first thing out of his mouth was " hell, you already had me beat, why did you have to run me in the hay bails? ". His wife commented " I think the hay gives it character". Bottom line is the car is a wreck but it can be repaired and John walked away from it virtually uninjured. I am glad he took the precaution to set the car up safely (even if it is a GNX) to run the ET it is capable of or this scenario would have been alot worse. Some events dont enforce the safety rules but accidents like this should really make you consider it for YOUR own benefit. Norwalk was definately the most strict tech I have ever had at a Buick event and for good reason. Good luck on getting the car back together John, I hope I get the oppurtunity to race with you again soon!

 

[Otto J]

Glad he is ok,But man that is a lesson in the fine GM powermaster.
If your gonna drag race your car get rid of it!
He will be back in no time.

 

[top gun]

It was great to hear John was not hurt! The car can be replaced/repaired

 

[III'S 87 GN]

First of all it is a terrible thing to hurt such a beautiful car, I feel really bad for Mr Sullivan but he will fix the car regardless of how much work it takes, it's his GNX and he has no desire to scrap it or sell it so the value really wont matter. I was running against him in qualifying on that pass. I was shutting down and he passed me at well over 100mph but it seemed as if it were in slow motion,the car stopped suddenly and a big cloud of dust flew into the air.I was the first one to get over to him as soon as I could get stopped, I flung the door back and unbuckled his harness.I asked him numerous times if he was OK and all he said " I'm fine (pointing to the hood) but would you look at this?" His hands were bleeding pretty good but I can honestly say I was much more shaken than he was as I expected to see MUCH worse when I opened the door. John had just run a 10.2? at 135 in a normally high 9 second car, he told me he was pushing the brake as hard as he could but the car would not slow down. I have seen mention of shifting in neutral, turning the key off etc etc. You only have a fraction of a second to make a decision at this speed and I am 100% confident that John did the best he could to save the car, it just didnt work out.I think it would be a safe assumption that "if" the throttle were stuck on a 3600# car that had 800hp and was already travelling at 135mph, all the powermaster in the world wouldnt stop it. John said that he tried to get to the e-brake but the cage (probably the part that saved his life) got in his way and he could not get to it. Once things settled a bit, I went in the ambulance to see him and the first thing out of his mouth was " hell, you already had me beat, why did you have to run me in the hay bails? ". His wife commented " I think the hay gives it character". Bottom line is the car is a wreck but it can be repaired and John walked away from it virtually uninjured. I am glad he took the precaution to set the car up safely (even if it is a GNX) to run the ET it is capable of or this scenario would have been alot worse. Some events dont enforce the safety rules but accidents like this should really make you consider it for YOUR own benefit. Norwalk was definately the most strict tech I have ever had at a Buick event and for good reason. Good luck on getting the car back together John, I hope I get the oppurtunity to race with you again soon!

WELL SAID BILL !!!

GLAD TO HEAR JOHN IS OK

 

[KevinB]

I was wondering how that looked from your view.

I had a lot of plans for this winter to make my car faster for TSM next year. That is now all on hold until I get a good cage put in it. Mr Sullivan's wreck kind of hit home. My car has a 6pt roll bar in it that was not professionally installed. I can only wonder how the outcome would have been if it was my car.

I'm just glad he did not get hurt. It sucks that a nice car got destroyed.....but it can be replaced in the end.

 

[86brick]

Glad to hear he was not seriously injured, just goes to show how important it is to have the proper safety equipment for your anticipated ETs.

Hope he gets the car back together

 

[John Wilde]

Wow makes me rethink the safety on my junk.
Thank God he is ok....

 

[nordy racer]

thank god he was OK... hope he gets the GNX back on the road soon..

 

[ijames]

I was impressed with the safety at Columbus. One racer was not allowed to run because the cage in his low 8 sec car was a year out of certification (and he had never noticed). At the starting line, the next pair of cars were not allowed to start their burnout until the previous pair had both crossed the finish line and seemed well on their way off the track safely. Then, they were not staged until the track was clear. Much different than my local tracks where burnouts are done while the previous pair are staging, and cars are often launched while the previous pair is still not quite off the track. The only thing I wish they had was a turnoff right past the finish line so cars that broke or lifted early could turn off there instead of having to go all the way to the end.

Thanks for the report, Bill, and thank goodness Mr. Sullivan walked away.

 

[SGRIM]

I was so glad to see him come by on that cart with Sully with only tape on his hands...

 

[BlownV6]

I did not see this wreck and im glad I didnt. I did see the car afterwards and having seen many and been in a couple, that was as bad as i have ever seen!!! Thank God hes OK And you to Billy!! best of luck with the rebuild project Mike

 

[d0n_3d]

What was the determining cause of why the car couldn't stop? Was it indeed the throttle stuck open or was it a failure of the powermaster??? This is starting to make me think I should switch over to vacuum brakes on my new setup over the winter. How many fast cars (10's or faster) run powermasters???

 

[nordy racer]

How many fast cars (10's or faster) run powermasters???

i still do ..

 

[d0n_3d]

Well even if I wanted to convert over to vacuum, it would be hard without a vacuum pump setup because I won't have very much vacuum with the bigger roller cam. I barely had enough vacuum with the 212 flat tappet cam I had. I'll keep the PM on the car unless most people are against it. I'll just always keep my left foot near the E-brake just in case

 

[BobbyBuick]

It seems as if the powermaster had failed it would still have stopping power even if the ground or fuse blew he should have had about 10 pedals of vacuum.i would really hope to find out just what did happen as to help us all.It seems as it had to be a throttle sticking or in a bind.even if the accumulater ball went out i would think it would hold some vacuum.First and formost thank God he is alright .I was behind him and next to race in that lane.I just hope we find out more on what went wrong .

 

[d0n_3d]

I've had my share of powermaster units in my car and I remember back in 2001, I had one fail on me driving around on the street and I had to use all my might to try and stop the car and this was only at about 20-30 mph. It would stop but the pedal was so hard. The brake light also came on. So if this happened at 140 mph, I could see how this wouldn't be enough to stop the car at such a speed. Damn maybe I should do a vacuum pump setup and go ahead and convert over to the vacuum brakes huh? That is just scary thinking about. I've been in a SERIOUS car accident (I really shouldn't be here talking to you guys) and I don't want to go through that crap again.

 

[no-nos]

first off, i know were all thankful he's ok, and i salute him for his future efforts to get the car back together, i've seen cars restored after bad accidents also. This is a wake-up call for me and all the other guys not intrested in putting in a cage, i was'nt crazy about it also but after this i will be looking into cages for my GN.

AGAIN thank god mr sullivan was ok and hopefully he'll soon return to doing what we all love.....running our cars.

 

[Woody]

With low vacuum with a big cam, would a hydroboost set up be the way to go if replacing your vacum assisted power brakes or Powermaster assist. Is anyone running a hydroboost setup? If so, where did you buy it? Was the installation difficult? And lastly, how much does it cost?
I am glad John is OK after that terrible accident!! Good luck getting it back on the road!!!

 

[jwillettgn]

Is anyone running a hydroboost setup? If so, where did you buy it? Was the installation difficult? And lastly, how much does it cost?

We are converting an 85 GN over to the intercooled setup and we are leaving the hydraboost setup on the car as it came from the factory and it worked great. There are others here already running them. There was someone selling them in the for sell section a short time ago with install instructions. I can't remember the cost of their setup.


Jim

 

[Dusty Bradford]

For a car that sees plenty of drag strip use...manual brakes.

I stop my car from 140 with no chute on a short 1/8 track. Anything can happen though if you race enough. I had a friend in a dragster than went through the traps at 210 and a 10 cent o-ring blew out on his master cylinder. Had it not been for his twin chutes, no telling what would have happened.