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Post by senn65 on Mar 12, 2013 18:14:38 GMT -5
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Post by chromehorn08 on Mar 12, 2013 18:39:32 GMT -5
wow...what more can anyone say? Amazing work! Amazing tribute!
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Post by senn65 on Mar 12, 2013 19:04:50 GMT -5
The cover over the "e" was removed during the race so I elected to remove it.
Odd piece of history. Johncock was his partner that year. In 1973 Swede Savage was Johncock's partner & we lost him as well. Kinda weird.
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Post by 2lapsdown on Mar 12, 2013 20:55:18 GMT -5
I was at the Speedway that day. Horrible event. I have a photo of Gordon sitting in his car under an umbrella taken the day before the accident. Just a terrible end.
John
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Post by senn65 on Mar 12, 2013 21:28:35 GMT -5
Yes I have several more pics. Just a man with a dream that ended terribly.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2013 4:36:16 GMT -5
horrible accident. I was working at a dealership on the westside of Indy and one of our customers came by with pics he had taken. I believe worked freelance for AP and had several frame by frame shots of the accident. to see it broken down like that......well, its something that I will never forget.
great looking tribute to Gordon. thanks for sharing!
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Post by INDY22IAM on Mar 13, 2013 7:08:23 GMT -5
Very sharp looking car and a great tribute. Very nice looking model. For sure a stand out in your collection.
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Post by harveythedog2 on Mar 13, 2013 7:17:15 GMT -5
Nice tribute Ralph and amazing work!
Stu
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Post by gavkiwi on Mar 13, 2013 8:04:38 GMT -5
Wonderful Tribute, fantastic work as always!
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Post by alwaysindy on Mar 13, 2013 9:19:33 GMT -5
Ralph:
Very nice job...I'm like everybody else; it was probably the worst crash I've ever seen...I still remember a picture in Sports Illustrated showing his head about an inch from the concrete and the entire front of the car folded back to him...the way it went down, I don't think even the SAFER barrier would have helped that day...
A nice tribute...
Tim
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Post by indy on Mar 13, 2013 9:31:53 GMT -5
Touching tribute Ralph. Very moving. The build itself is very well done and the conversion from an '84 to '82 was inspiring to see it coming along in your WIP.
What a terrible way to go! Dr. Olvey's book, while a good read, tells in graphic detail how awful the crash really was to poor Mr. Smiley. RIP Gordon.
Jordan
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Post by harveythedog2 on Mar 13, 2013 9:56:41 GMT -5
Below is the decription from the book. RIP
CART medical director Steve Olvey discussed the crash in his autobiography, Rapid Response while on staff:
"While rushing to the car, I noticed small splotches of a peculiar gray substance marking a trail on the asphalt leading up to the driver. When I reached the car, I was shocked to see that Smiley's helmet was gone, along with the top of his skull. He had essentially been scalped by the debris fence. The material on the race track was most of his brain. His helmet, due to massive centrifugal force, was literally pulled from his head on impact...I rode to the care center with the body. On the way in I performed a cursory examination and realized that nearly every bone in his body was shattered. He had a gaping wound in his side that looked as if he had been attacked by a large shark. I had never seen such trauma." (Rapid Response, pp 98-99).
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Post by SWT500 on Mar 13, 2013 9:59:11 GMT -5
Smiley had a Porsche 928 with personalized license plate "Flash G". That pretty much said it all.
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Post by senn65 on Mar 13, 2013 11:35:03 GMT -5
It was said by someone that would know, that Gordon was hell bent on going 200 mph. BTW I think this livery was striking. What an ironic sponsor.
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Post by senn65 on Mar 13, 2013 11:46:37 GMT -5
The impact. You can see the helmet & Gordon wearing the balaclava. Just horrific. We should not criticize the sport, yes it is dangerous & the drivers throughout history have accepted that. We must never forget those who have lost their lives going after their dream.  |
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Post by professor on Mar 13, 2013 11:58:14 GMT -5
I was standing next to him in the pits before his run. All I could think was"that was someone's little boy".(My first son was 1 1/2 at the time) I left the track sickened...but I came back the next day.
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Post by senn65 on Mar 13, 2013 12:27:25 GMT -5
I can just imagine Tom.
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Post by lance on Mar 13, 2013 15:46:57 GMT -5
Beautiful build!
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Post by 2lapsdown on Mar 13, 2013 16:55:55 GMT -5
Tom, the thing that sticks out in my mind was that after the announcement of his death the silence was eerie. But after the track re-opened and a few cars had run it was business as usual in the stands. I have to admit, for awhile I questioned why I was there.
John
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2013 17:18:42 GMT -5
Very nice tribute build! I to have always been interested in that car not because of the accident but because I just liked that color scheme with the white wheels. To this day I think that' the most terrible crash footage I ever saw seen on TV.
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Post by senn65 on Mar 13, 2013 17:39:40 GMT -5
Very nice tribute build! I to have always been interested in that car not because of the accident but because I just liked that color scheme with the white wheels. To this day I think that' the most terrible crash footage I ever saw seen on TV. I too love the paint scheme. The white wheels were a nice touch. Agree with the crash visuals. |
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Post by lazierfan on Mar 13, 2013 17:43:59 GMT -5
Ralph,
Excellent build. If he had not turned into the slide things might have been different.
Eric
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Post by pntmachine on Mar 13, 2013 19:48:05 GMT -5
Ralph, absolute awesome build and tribute on this. Everytime I check in on this I leave feeling stunned by the pictures. I had just moved here that year and missed all this but the reality of these shots are horrific. Still very nice work that you do.
Kevin
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Post by senn65 on Mar 13, 2013 20:42:11 GMT -5
Thank you lazier & pnt. This is a keeper unless a family member contacts me.
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Post by macsparty on May 22, 2013 13:35:49 GMT -5
Tom, the thing that sticks out in my mind was that after the announcement of his death the silence was eerie. But after the track re-opened and a few cars had run it was business as usual in the stands. I have to admit, for awhile I questioned why I was there. John I'm a little late to the party here but, yeah, that was the day I realized there is something different in the way drivers are wired. I didn't see it, we were between 1 and 2 at the time, but our "lap" of the track was taking us toward 3, and we watched some of the repair work - the track surface itself was heavily gouged. When the two cars came out to test the repairs (Sneva? Andretti?), I was pretty much agape that they could do that. Not just because of what had just happened to Smiley, but the whole "Sure, we'll go out and run over a quikrete repair job at 200 mph, no problem." They are just not like most of us. Great job on the tribute model, by the way. That was a striking scheme. |
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