Do any tracks have ambulances?

[UREZ2PASS]

Oh, if I had a nickel for every tine THAT daydream went through my head....

Ok, try to concentrate and get back to the question. We're doing a survey here.

OK, I think it's better to have a safety crew trained to handle injuries and accidents. Call an ambulance if somebody needs to go to the hospital. If I'm on fire, put me out. If I'm bleeding, put a bandaid on me. If I need to go to the hospital, call a helicopter because I'm afraid of big lesbians in vans.

[zerofor]

lack of a track ambulance doesnt only happen in florida

I have around here somewhere an old issue of stock car racing magazine from the mid 1990s with an article inside titled how safe is the track you race at? It went on to talk about a growing trend amongst weekly tracks to not have any kind of squad on site.I posed the question about full throttle having one on another thread mainly because in all my visits to Punta Gorda Speedway during Kevin Williams tenure i dont recall ever seeing one there.

[flvideo]

Zero

There is, and was at PG, a truck that has 2 working Paramedics and they have the equipment to extricate and treat and stabilize drivers or fans when needed. I can remember a heart attacks at PG where they were treated in a timely manor. They have many times taken drivers out of wrecked cars. The same crew that was at PG have come to Full Throttle. I think they did an excellent job Saturday in Jeff's accident.

[Matt Albee]

Years ago at Punta Gorda they never had an ambulance as such. They had EMS guys who would help the injured while waiting for an ambulance to come out there from town. I watched them load a sprint car driver into the back of a pick-up and drive out to the main road to wait on the ambulance. That was during the Little 500 Leroy used to have down there.

[zerofor]

when i first came down here

Bobby Deihgl had PGS and i do remember one incident where a squad was brougt on track but of all the other times after i couldnt recall seeing one but then again i wasnt in the pits either.

[Groundpounder]

East Bay Raceway when owned by the Prevatt's used to have county EMS on hand at the track. I have seen racing literally stop...period, red flag the track during a race... when evan a fan was injured...let alone a driver.

That's the way it should be. How many of you racer's and sanctioning bodies really check to see if the track owner really has valid insurance or ems BEFORE you get on the track?

[Matt Albee]

Or for that matter, how many racers check to make sure the track ambulance is even usable. There was a sprint car race at Desoto years ago where a driver was injured, and when someone went to the pit area to get the ambulance, there was no battery in it. Someone had to get a battery out of a pick-up truck in the pit area and put it into the ambulance.

[Boneman]

It looks like the days of a having a staffed ambulance on-site, and it being capable of transporting to the hospital, are as long gone as racing for a living 3 nights a week in front of a packed house.

If the tracks provide a team of EMS personnel that is properly equipped for life saving, and then we rely on the local ambulance service, then I am ok with it.

Next survey: fire fighting capability at local tracks.

[luke81]

Next survey: fire fighting capability at local tracks.

Also a very important discussion! And again let me bring up little Marion County Speedway on this one. Not only was there a real, honest to goodness actual ambulance on site but there was fire fighting systems as well. If I remember right there was a Dodge truck with extinguishers mounted in the front bumper, more in the back, and staffed by at least one person in a firesuit. Also if I'm remembering proper the ones on the front were water, perfect for an alky fire.

[Jack Burroughs]

Track medical?

Yrs. back I was at a drag strip in Pa. with my buddies and their Top fuel rail, the driver got hurt real bad, and they wanted to take him to the Hospital in a P.U. truck, filled with Manuer, we took him by ourselves in a Ford S.wagon, what a joke, particularly when track owner was a doctor.

[clincher47]

Not a medical person, but was it smart to turn Geoff's car back on its wheels before stabilizing his back and neck? I realize they didn't know the extent of his injuries, but they had to see the cage damage and the possibility his head had impacted the wall. Did Geoff tell them to turn the car upright?

[Matt Albee]

I'd be interested to know what the insurance companies say about the lack of qualified EMS personnel as well as the lack of a properly equipped and running ambulance. I'm guessing they would cancel a track's insurance immediately, yet tracks seem to get away with it. I'll bet NSS and Orlando have had to get it together in a hurry to satisfy NASCAR insurance requirements.

[Buckwheat]

albee you're clueless. i have satback and watched you run your mouth for a while now and you are very uneducated. i happen to know for certain that new smyrna has the same emt's the have had for years and they are all certified emt's or firefighter/medics and they werent required to change anything. as far as an ambulnce for tansporting patients, no one is allowed to transport patients in vol. county except evac. not even the county life support trucks can transport.

i not sure where you get your info from or if you just sit here and make it up in your head but you may want to educate yourself before you post things that are just ain't true.

[zerofor]

Years ago up in Ohio

Pretty much all of the local tracks had disclaimers on the back of the tickets about entering at your own risk and discussing that subject one night with my dad he said to me you know your taking a risk because what in life isnt.And being strapped in that racecar puts you at even greater risk but when it comes down to it some things are preventable and you cant will away negligance .

[Winger]

Not a medical person, but was it smart to turn Geoff's car back on its wheels before stabilizing his back and neck? I realize they didn't know the extent of his injuries, but they had to see the cage damage and the possibility his head had impacted the wall. Did Geoff tell them to turn the car upright?

I wasn't there so can't answer the question. It's my understanding he got out of the car on his own and then went down. I'd suspect he may have told them. There are many factors to be considered in a situation like this. Was there fuel being spilled? Would it have been very difficult to get him out of the car in the position it was in? A lot of these sprint cars, mini-sprints can only be accessed through the drivers side. They will run the sheet metal up the "passenger" side of the car and they often have a wing on top. The other thing to consider is how well he's strapped into the car. If he's strapped into the seat well and is wearing a hans type device, he is already pretty stable and really his neck would be the only thing needing support while the car is righted. Seeing how the car looked and knowing there is often fuel being dumped in these situations, it was probably the proper thing to do.
With that said, I must comment on how lucky he was. I read the doctor said people with this injury do not usually survive. He suffered a C-1 fracture but thankfully no spinal injury. The nerves that control your breathing and heart come through the C-1 area and a spinal cord injury in that area stops breathing and heart beat. People say he's lucky it wasn't worse. It's unlucky it happened at all. Hope he recovers soon.