what really happend to Cal?

[arista5]

I heard alot of rumors in the pits, does anyone know what really happened to him? and his car?

 

[MeanBuicks]

Cal was in the right lane. While running against Dave Fiscus, he broke a cylinder head about 3/4 of the way down the track. It then pressurized the coolant system with boost and blew off the top radiator hose, watering down his tires.

The car made a very hard left, shrouding the entire end of the track in tire and engine smoke. It was scary. Then the folks in the seats on the left side of the track began to cheer as the smoke cleared and they saw that the car didn't roll. Dave did an amazing 180 and charged back to Cal's car to assist.

Cal's car came to rest about 2 inches from the left-side guard rail and never hit it. His tires blew and he killed at least one rim. There are also some dings on the undercarriage from the centerline lights that he ran over.

I'll upload a couple shots of the immediate aftermath that I took. The skidmarks are remarkable. Both guys deserve a big driving award!

 

[equalizer442]

holy ****, PICTURES. wow

 

[MeanBuicks]

OK. The first photo is rough because I used every bit of the 27x digital zoom on my camera from the startline where I was watching from. It does convey how hard of a left turn Cal took. That's Dave's car in front of the truck with the door open.

The second photo shows Cal's car near the rail. I took this photo much closer to the scene. It also shows the tracks made by the little front tires during the skid.

 

[MeanBuicks]

Here's a photo by John Campbell that I just came across in a post at V8Buick.com. I believe that's Cal's GN.

 

[equalizer442]

any one get a video of that?

 

[blackbuick87]

I cant even imagine what 30#'s of boost in the cooling system would do to it. Thank God he is OK

 

[rob nolan]

I was there and seen that, and all i can say is he was very lucky that the car didn't roll or smack the guard rail. To see something like that it makes you wonder.

 

[Louie L.]

We were all very shaken up. That was a hell of a ride. My wife and his were video taping the run when it happened. The damage is relatively minor considering he went through the traps spining out of control at a 10.2xx. The guy sure does know how to drive After all this he gave me a hand on my car by pulling the cam sensor out of his car so i could get my car back up and running.

 

[arista5]

WOW that really was some ride he must have had (and some angel over his shoulder), but i wonder how him and Dave managed to launch so in sequence (about 1-3 seconds after green they both launched at seemed to be the exact same time both getting air under the wheels (it looked so nice)

 

[GNSCOTT]

Glad to see Cal and the car did not hit the wall, and glad to see no one posted a pic of his underwear after that. Bad to see those pics though after I spent the weekend putting the stage 2 driveline in the car this weekend. Think I'm gonna add a few bars to the ole cage.

 

[shmed]

Ya that was definately amazing!!!
It gave me chills seeing that happen that far out on the track.
Definately some driving skills there!!! and a little help from the man upstairs..lol

 

[Dave@ramcharger]

Cal's know's how to handle a car.. but you gotta wonder in a situation like that, if the car was handling Cal?

Anyway.... what i want to know did Dave finish the run? or did he about to run to come back and help?

thats just wild and i know we are all happy that Cal is okay.

 

[Scott231]

Originally posted by Dave@ramcharger
Anyway.... what i want to know did Dave finish the run? or did he about to run to come back and help?

Dave went through at 9 flat, pulled the chute and did a Uee by the return road, and drove back to help Cal...reinflating his chute.

Yeah, I got it on video also. But I am not posting it without Cal's permission.

 

[Dave@ramcharger]

Originally posted by Scott231
Dave went through at 9 flat, pulled the chute and did a Uee by the return road, and drove back to help Cal...reinflating his chute.

Yeah, I got it on video also. But I am not posting it without Cal's permission.

Good for Dave...

If Cal doesnt mind, i'd love to see it...

 

[Boost]

That boy is one hell-of-a-driver !

Officially registered to take some driving lessons today ! And that other boy is not too far behind either... Great job !

 

[QWIKTURBO]

WOW!!!

I am sure glad to hear he's OK. Man...that's the second time that I know of that he has gone through the traps in the wrong directon! If I remember right...didn't he blow a freeze plug of something like that testing it sometime last year? LadyLuck is keeping an eye on him!!

I give him all the credit in the world....The man can flat out drive!! He DEFINITELY get his money's worth every run and gets every ounce of power out of his car. Hope he doesn't have too much downtime fixing everything.

 

[ShouldofhadaV-8]

Cal's close call

I think it's great that he was able to avoid the wall. The rest of the damages to his car are comparably minimal. I know when I saw Steven Grebeck crash at Orlando last year, it gave me a new perspective about lifting off the gas to race again another day.
BTW, what was Cal's best run (ET/MPH) during the event? Again, glad nothing serious happened.

 

[re-evaluating]

Cal's shorts

Originally posted by GNSCOTT
Glad to see Cal and the car did not hit the wall, and glad to see no one posted a pic of his underwear after that. Bad to see those pics though after I spent the weekend putting the stage 2 driveline in the car this weekend. Think I'm gonna add a few bars to the ole cage.

When Cal finally got back to the pits shook his hand and told him I was glad he was ok. Of course being the friend I am I then ask him if he would be autographing his shorts later and without hesitation he said "I already did" we had a good laugh.. I can't say enough about Dave Fiscus if you don't know him you should, what a great friend seeing him play dirt track driver to get back to help Cal, you had to be there.. I don't think we will see Cal respond for several days as he and his family are enjoying a few days at Cedar Point. He was excited about riding Top Thrill Dragster, maybe Holly will understand why he does this. Later Dave

 

[gn85]

First let me say, I'm so glad to hear that neither driver was hurt. That musta been some helluva driving job that Cal pulled off. Can't wait to see it. Also, I guess this is a situation where luck and the man upstairs was watching out. I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but think about it, it was very lucky that Cal was racing a faster car. Had they been an equal match, the results would be far more then I care to imagine. So, in this case, it's possibly a good thing to see the taillights pulling away.

As for Cal's shorts.. I'm sure they'll make the Feature of the Month on gnttype.org. No ABS system in the world could have prevented those skid marks.