Christiano DaMatta injured

[ZfrkS62]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5843580?FSO1&ATT=HMA

apparently a deer made it's way onto the track during a test session and DaMatta hit it.

He was unconscious when he was airlifted out and it was revealed he had a subderal hematoma (ruptured blood vessel in the brain IIRC). He is in ICU under observation right now. Justin Wilson, his teammate, will not race in the ChampCar race this weekend.

[antonioledesma]

shite... he hitted the deer and then crashed???

must have been a gruesome accident :?

hope he recovers

[nickthaskater]

Jesus... And I thought hitting a groundhog in one of those would be bad, but a deer? *shudder*

Hope he's able to get back in the seat soon.

[ZfrkS62]

Hope he's able to get back in the seat soon.



he'll be out for at least a few weeks. but he should recover fully.

[5vz-fe]

Damn....that's very unfortunate

[Zot09]

Sad news, but at least he is fine and can eventually get back into racing.

Even though this did not happen on the nurburgring, i've always been curious as to how they keep animals off the track(or if they try), due to the fact that the raceway is in the middle of a forest.

[RC45]

Sad news, but at least he is fine and can eventually get back into racing.

Even though this did not happen on the nurburgring, i've always been curious as to how they keep animals off the track(or if they try), due to the fact that the raceway is in the middle of a forest.

Is there any wildlife left in central europe? ;)

[03200165]

Is there any wildlife left in central europe? ;)

That is a really bad joke you know!

[666fast]

Sad news, but at least he is fine and can eventually get back into racing.

Even though this did not happen on the nurburgring, i've always been curious as to how they keep animals off the track(or if they try), due to the fact that the raceway is in the middle of a forest.

There is a fence at Road America that blocks off the heavily forested areas. Deer are capable of jumping pretty damn high though. I'm sure the fence will be rebuilt even higher now!

Dematta got hurt because he hit the wall going very very very fast. The deer caused him to lose control and then slid into the wall with very little braking.
It happened at turn 6, here is the track map.
http://www.roadamerica.com/2006/images/maps/ra_map_2006.pdf
There is very little runoff room, so he plowed right into a metal graurd rail thats blocked by tires.
Here is a pic I took at an ALMS race, you can see the gaurdrail and how little runoff room there is.
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9305/p1010337nk4.th.jpg (http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010337nk4.jpg)

[No.1]

Bad news - i saw this in a newpaper :(

They made out that he was critical - thanks for setting the record straight Zed

Hope he recovers fully and quickly :)

[acmarttin]

Damn! I grew up 15 miles away from that track. Sheboygan, WI. Suckaz.