7/5/10 Anthony Injured at Can-Am, He's OK--Photos

Monday July 5, 2010

ANTHONY INJURED AT CAN-AM, HE'S OK

OK, here's the Readers Digest condensed version-

Anthony was involved in a wreck in the B-Main Saturday night at Can-Am. He thought he broke his arm. After an ambulance ride to a hospital in Watertown, NY, x-rays were done and there were no broken bones or fractures. He does have a gash on his right arm. And it's swollen and very stiff.

Now the full story-

Not a great weekend. Friday night Anthony was running just outside the top 10, when he hit one of the tractor tires lining the inside of the turns in turn three. He then really clipped the tire in turn four, bending the front end, and the night was done.
Saturday, he started out back in the heat and finished 9th, so he had to run the B-Main.
There was a spin in turn 3 and 4 on the first lap, and Anthony barely made it through.
On the restart, Anthony was running 6th when # 25 Michael Parent spun in turn 4 and rolled. Anthony was charging through the turn, saw Parent, tried to spin and avoid him, but slid sideways into Parent, who's car was on it's side and Anthony slammed into the top wing.
Crap. Didn't look like he hit that hard. They were working on the cars, and I heard the tower announcer say that Parent may have an arm injury.
I headed down to the hauler, thinking that probably the top wing will need to be replaced and some other things, but by rights, Anthony should get into the A-main on a provisional.
The car was being pushed to the hauler, and there's Ed Costello, the technical director, steering the car.
"Where's Anthony", I asked.
"He's in the ambulance", Ed replied. "He thinks he broke his arm.'
Oh no.
I went over to the entrance to the pit area from the track near where the accident was. Ed's daughter, Katie, was telling us that Anthony had asked her to unhook his HANS device because he couldn't raise his arm. Micheal Parent was complaining of neck problems so the rescue personnel were working to get him out of the car.
Meanwhile, new crew member Jeremey was being aided to get the car all loaded into the hauler. It just so happened we took two cars to the races. The car in the big hauler for Can-Am, and the car on a trailer being pulled by Anthony's pick-up for the race at Utica-Rome.
Many thanks go out to Tommy Wickham, Jeff Monteyounus, Justin Harris, Alain Bergeron and crew, and Brian McDonald, for getting the car, toolbox, and everything else loaded, in about three minutes.
Jeff Cook's wife Lori, was amazing. She wrote down directions to the hospital, and offered to have one of their crew take the hauler over to their place, after the races.
After everything we set, we(Carl, Lonnie, Jeremey, and me) jumped in Anthony's truck and headed to Watertown. Ellie rode in the ambulance with Anthony. They transported both Anthony and Michael.
At the hospital, Carl went in to see Anthony, while the rest of us hung out in the parking lot. At first there was the thought that he fractured his elbow, but finally Carl came out, said the x-rays came back and there were no fractures or broken bones. What a relief.
They had given Anthony some morphine but he was still feeling some pain. Finally, they came walking out. Anthony had his arm in a sling. He looked at me and said, "Do I look like Batman after he just fell off a roof?".
We called Lori, they were still at the track, so we headed back.
Anthony had said they were just taking Michael in for x-rays or a scan or something.
We got back to the track and were wandering around talking to people. I was talking to Steve Poirier's crew member Real, who's wife took Michael's mom to the hospital. Real's phone rang, and Real's wife called to say that Michael was alright as well, nothing broken and they would be heading back shortly.
Anthony didn't want to travel, so the hauler was taken over to Cook's, and Carl and I went to the motel where we had stayed the night before. Lance Yonge, and Chuck Hebing also took their haulers over to Cooks. (Actually, Jeff's father-in-law, Adrian, it's his place, but Jeff has the race car shop there. Just getting the facts right.)
The next morning, they looked the car over, and found that part of the roll cage bent where he hit Michael.
What happened was..................
When Anthony slid into Michael's top wing, part of the framework that holds the wing in place, came through the side panel on Anthony's car, and ripped his racesuit sleeve and left a gouge in his arm. Anthony looked down, saw blood on his suit, and thought he broke his arm. Look at the bend on your elbow. Go down your arm about an inch, and then make a swath from one side of your arm to the other. That's where the cut is. Anthony gave me the OK to take a picture of it for the forum, but I declined. I didn't want to gross anyone out.
Especially myself.
Anthony was singing the praises of the J&J Chassis on the car, and the safety bar that bows out to protect the driver. He felt that if that feature was not on the car, he would have been seriously hurt.
Things could have been a lot worse.
It was decided we had had enough and headed for home Sunday morning.

The photos....

The scene of the accident. You can see the underside of Parent's car in front of the truck

Damage to the wing.

It's one of these supports(on Parent's car), possible the one in the front on the left(the silver one) that came through the car.

The side panel.

The inside of the panel. Notice the bar that comes down and bows out. That's the safety bar. That's what saved Anthony.The horizontal bar at the bottom was bent in a little from the impact. Also look at the second picture again.