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KO- Old School
Is KO nuts? :rolling:
http://a617.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...25482c62d8.jpg http://a295.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...2a043cc846.jpg http://a830.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...c1e0366135.jpg Nahhh... He's just KO! :emote20: |
Re: KO- Old School
Actually, if he was serious about "old school" he would be using a 110 OFFY......
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and a Kurtis chassis.
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I remember thinking as he rolled by me in the pits that I thought he was just pushing the car off and not racing. If I am not wrong he did race like that. Someone correct me if I am wrong and I'll stand down.
How funny would this have been had he got on his lid and caught on fire? :kookoo2: Pet monkeys, stink bombs and light bulb repair business aside this was stupid. And for what? A laugh, a chuckle? I don't know who is more stupid for this event happening: K.O. or Lanny Hahn for letting it happen. :thumbsdown: |
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Yes, he did race like that and no, he did not die doing it...:rolleyes:
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Do we have a photo of him on the track in competition attired like that?
When I first went to the races, drivers wore leather helmets, t-shirts, dungarees and street shoes. The helmet he has on was appropriate for what drivers wore when he started out racing (early 70's). TS had on a similar helmet and handkerchief at Fort Wayne, but a full uniform. KO always has been different and I like and respect him for that.:thumb: |
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Originally Posted by E.P.: So, if the driver doesn't wear what you think he should wear he and the promoter are stupid? I don't get it. If anything it was probably for hot laps or leak test or a little tid bit about how racing use to be in midgets and not actual competition racing. I remember looking in at Tony @ Ft. Wayne with a helmet like that and found it to be pretty cool. Johnny Parsons drove with the same helmet style shown here in 2004 at the Rumble. Guess both Johnny and Tony are dumb drivers. Of course we all know about Barhorst, no matter what he does he always appears to be wrong and stupid to different people but honestly he does do midget racing a great service by having the Rumble. Love him or hate him the competitors owe him a thank you for what he does. |
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I was there. He raced like that. I have it on video. I thought it was kinda cool but also kinda stupid too.
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So what's next? See who's willing to take the cage off and go back to the single hoop? Why should I care; I mean it's not my neck at risk.
How ironic that this occurred at the same event where a guy with a soft left rear was black-flagged because of "safety concerns". Some days I just don't get it. |
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sorry! double post.
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Personally I think it is pretty cool ! If this was the way that he chose to race let him do it ! I didn`t see anyone complain about Tony racing with an open face helmet at FW ! Maybe we need to have a race with no cages or a single hoop cage. That would definitely seperate the men from the boys. The entry list would be pretty short I`m sure but I would be willing to bet that KO and Haud would be pre-entered
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RE: KO - "Old School"
I'm pretty sure he does this every year at the Chili Bowl. It's cool to see it, but it's pretty stupid, too.
PJ Wright summed it up best. If they're all about safety, like low tires, then how do you let someone race like that. |
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Lighten up everyone............I really don't see it becoming a trend. Actually KO was a prime canadate to do somthing like that. :rolling::applaud:
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[QUOTE=Seadog;24850]Do we have a photo of him on the track in competition attired like that?
MIDGET MADNESS THURSDAY NIGHT PHOTOS |
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This is my last post on this subject.
I will lead the way when it comes to having a good time and all but I know when to draw the line. The real question is how many of you hypocrites on here currently defending KO would have beat me to the punch and started your own thread saying what he did was stupid had he crashed and burned? It's not as funny when your goof off hero from Rockford burned to death because he was trying to get a laugh by competing without a firesuit. (yes I know he had the pants on) When you error do so on the side of safety. :idea: |
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hypocrites ?
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Its funny until somebody gets hurt!
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Did Stewart actually race at Fort Wayne with the open face helmet? I remember seeing him hot lap with it on but don't remember him racing with it on.
I'll agree with Eric that it was absolutely stupid for Olson to race without a fireproof uniform on. Wasn't it just this past fall that a kid in Texas burned to death while qualifying a modified? |
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With the fumes and drastic temp changes all over the building having a open faced helmet and googles may lead to better visibility then a full faced helmet because the googles will not fog up as easy as the full faced.
My question is did anyone check the snell number on that helmet? |
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Tuesday during practice the officials waved us off the track because our driver forgot to grab his gloves. We knew it was for the saftey of our driver and it was THE RULES! This would have devistated the Chili Bowl and the racing community if KO would have been hurt or killed. A poor judgment on KO and Chili Bowl officials part to allow this. Thank god we are just venting and not mourning.
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OK I lied I am going to post another thought...
After reading OSSUKS comment it reminded me of a t-shirt in the pits sometime during the week that I read and laughed at. It said..."It's only funny until someone gets hurt. Then it's hillarious." Apply that train of thought to KO running without any fire retardant material and the worst case scenario happens. Would it be hillarious then? As for Sandy mentioning the helmet, my thought's so far were mainly focused towards the drivers suit and not the open faced helmet. I wouldn't advise racing with it but it least it is a level of protection for his noggin which is far more than he had for his upper body. Racinfool, yes hypocrites. Had what I said happened there would be a long line of members getting on here sending KO well wishes for a quick and speedy recovery (and rightfully so) followed by their opinions of how stupid it was for him to compete the way he did. But it didn't happen :applaud: so it's all fun and games and another funny thing in a long list of funny things KO has done in his career. |
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KO made a conscious choice to wear what he did. JJ offered to bring out a "throw back" VW powered car for him next year and KO said to put a single hoop on it and he'd drive it.
He was making a statement in his own goofy way. Personally I wouldn't allow my driver to race dressed like that but I think the man has accomplished enough for long enough to earn the right to make his own choices. I applaud him for having the balls to do it. |
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..............Well with that said. How about those Giants!!!:thumb:
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Here's the newspaper story on the modified driver killed last fall:
'Ryan died doing what he loved' Driver's father says track officials 'did everything they could' By Doug Myers Reporter-News Staff Writer Abilene Reporter News Tuesday, October 23, 2007 [I]The images continue to haunt Terry Bard. He can't sleep. All he can think of is his son pinned, unable to escape, as flames engulfed his race car Sunday at the Abilene Speedway. "It wasn't a small fire. It was an inferno," he said Tuesday, recalling the fiery crash that ultimately claimed his 23-year-old son's life while his family watched. Ryan Bard's death was the first fatal crash at the Speedway that the track's owner and another driving enthusiast could recall. And while the death has race fans wondering what more could have been done to save Ryan, Terry Bard said he was pleased with the race track's efforts to help. "Ryan died doing what he loved," he said. "That's a class act out there (at the Abilene Speedway). Whenever something like that happens, there's a lot of finger pointing. I don't want any finger pointing. They did everything they could. It shouldn't even be an issue. The people who are finger pointing are the people who weren't there. "I was down in the middle of it," he said. "I know what was going on." Ryan Bard, of Farmington, N.M., was participating in the Southern Challenge, the final weekend of racing in 2007 at the Abilene Speedway on the city's west side. A 2001 high school graduate and baseball pitcher in Aztec, N.M., Ryan had been extremely successful in racing over the past two years, winning four main events in four states in less than a year. He also planned to marry Caley Lapaire, 20, in May. But on Sunday, something went wrong while Ryan was driving in a four-mile long race on the dirt oval. Track owner Rob Poor said Bard's car had 22 gallons of fuel on board. When it flipped and landed on its hood, the gas cap came off, causing fuel to spill onto the driver. Even though the race was short, Bard had many more gallons in the tank than needed to finish the race in an effort to weigh down the car and stop it from slipping on the dirt track. It's not uncommon for drivers to use extra gasoline to stop their cars from sliding, but Poor said he wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some discussion about limiting the amount fuel allowed on such vehicles. "I'm not saying they're not going to do it," Poor said, referring to the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), which governs such races. Repeated efforts to reach IMCA officials for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful. Terry Bard, 47, said about a dozen people in son's family from Oklahoma and New Mexico gathered at the race track Sunday as part of a "family reunion" and witnessed the fatal crash. "He encouraged them to come because he knew he was good," Terry Bard said. What they saw after the crash was "a ball of fire," he said. Bard vividly remembers reaching inside his son's flipped race car, severely burning his hand and scorching his shoelaces, after the stuck driver successfully unhooked his safety belt and pulled back the driver-side netting. As soon the car flipped over, the race track's flagman grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran over to it. "The flagman stood there as long as he could hold the extinguisher," Terry Bard said. "Some safety crew got burned trying to get him out." Poor said the fire would die down, and then it would come back when another gulp of fuel would spill on the driver. Ultimately, Bard was unable to break free from the fire. He died Monday morning at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. And Terry Bard had lost his only child. Poor said precautions are taken before each race. Fire equipment and personnel are also placed at the track. Crews check the drivers' cars and gear, to reduce the threat of serious injuries. Poor said all the cars that raced on Sunday were appropriately checked. "We have really good safety procedures," he said. He noted that no driver, before Sunday, had been killed since he began racing at the track in 1981. The track followed the same safety routines that all the race tracks go through, Terry Bard said. "All of that was done," he said, noting that his son had the "best safety equipment. "It was just a tragic, tragic accident," he said. "Everything just lined up wrong for the boy," said Poor, the track's owner since 2001. The co-owner of A-City Speed, a Woodard Street business that sells car racing safety outfits and gear, said he believes all the safety precautions were taken Sunday and that Ryan Bard's death was just a freak accident. "We've been doing it (racing) since the '70s, and I've never seen anything like that," Donnie Underwood said. Underwood said that Ryan Bard, as Bard's father also noted, was wearing top-of-the-line gear. No additional equipment would have likely saved him, he said. Kate Llewellyn, also a co-owner of A-City Speed, said the governing body for such races -- the IMCA -- has certain requirements that racers must meet, including wearing fire retardant suits, neck braces and gloves, and approved helmets and seat belts. A-City Speed has received requests for in-car fire "suppressants" since Bard's crash. The fire suppressant is placed in cars behind the driver's head and produces foam on impact or when temperatures inside the vehicle reach a high level. It remained unclear whether Tuesday whether Bard's car was equipped with a fire suppressant. In the wake of the crash, Underwood said he plans to install one in his racing car. For now, Terry Bard remembers the way his son raced and lived his life. "He (Ryan) always raced everybody clean," he said. "You never found a racer who didn't like Ryan." His son would race until midnight or 1 a.m. and then show up the next day, with this fianc |
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Ok, the guy in the modified was in a car that raced on gasoline more than likely. And it also had no fuel bladder in the tank either. Now people in open wheel racing learned this lesson back in 1964 after the Sachs/Mcdonald tragedy. So comparing what happened in the modified and what could have happened to K.O. is like apples to oranges. Anyways if you know much about K.O. this all would not be a suprise. Lighten up people! And I would like to know how many layers of fire protection the guy in the mod had and to what extent the track went to offer properly trained and prepared fire rescue as well.
Bob Shutt |
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Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan: When my dad's first sprint car driver started driving for him, he had a full containment seat, Hans, 300 layers of nomex, and the whole nine yards. The driver he has now, Suit, Shoes, Helmet, Gloves, and a standard seat. It's all in what you are comfortable with. Me personally, I don't like the Hans, but I do wear a 3 layer nomex suit, with two more layers of underwear, and I feel it keeps me safe. It is in good fun, and I think its cool. I think some of us were brought up in the wrong age. I would have no problems at al hopping into a champ car back in the day with no rollcage. I think there was a quote from a while back from Jack Hewitt at an AllStar race in Florida, something about we should take the wings off, and Emick said something to the effect of it's a safety thing, and should we just take the rollcages off too and say screw safety as long as the racing is good? Nobody would run like that! When Hewitt replied, he said him & Haudenschild would, and I saw the picture somewhere of Haud holding a hacksaw to his car. The whole deal boils down to you use what you find to be safe for you. If you want to wear an open faced helmet and a T-Shirt and feel safe doing it, more power to you, but you can't mandate something that I don't believe in. |
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That is horrible what happened to Ryan Bard, I do wonder though how they can say they had the best safety equip. and yet they had no fire bottle in the car? I thought that was a rule not sure about IMCA but I'm pretty sure it is in UMP and AMRA I know we always had one and wouldn't run without. I don't know if it would have mattered or not sometimes "freak" things happen.
As for K.O.? I would think he's lucky nothing found it's way in and smacked him in the face, dirt clod, rocks, parts etc....Tony Stewart in Ft. Wayne was lucky too IMO. |
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I'd like to ask Mark Wilson (WBR) what he thought would have happened to his son in Fort Wayne if he was wearing a t-shirt instead of a fireproof racing uniform?
Nomex has been around for over 40 years. There is a reason why most places mandate its use or an equivalent. Anything can happen no matter how prepared you are in what types of safety equipment you wear. But in this day and age when you, or other people, know better you are stupid if you don't take at least the minimum amount of safety precautions. ------ Sorry to get so worked up on this topic but as a little kid I used to watch Emergency (I have no idea why my parents let me) and fire scares me to death. |
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My God people, you all need to step back and take a deep breath...
There were over a hundred drivers that I counted this year without safety items such as neck collars, arm restraints, head restraints and even nomex hoods. Hell, Stewart didn't have arm restraints when he brok his shoulder year before last... As far as a fatality or severe injury ending the Chili Bowl, that's total BS too. There was a ATV racer killed at the Shootout after wrecking and being thrown into the wall 3 years ago and that event is bigger than ever. Do we need to mandate seatbelts for ATV's? I thought that KO running old school was great. Something you folks also fail to remember too is that the track was $hit. It was so hard and dry that I could have outrun the cars on foot... |
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Here's a beer to KO...that rules, i never like to start any **** on here...but it's a drivers personal decision to wear the safety equipment they wear...driving a race car isn't safe, so if you don't want to get hurt, don't do it.
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Wow! I just thought it was pretty cool, hey he even ran 2nd in one of the mains after leading most of it... didn't mean to get everyone all riled up... :action-smiley-049:
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i am on the, it was VERY stupid side!! Some people work their ass off and spend mega $$$ to promote safety in this sport and make sure the drivers are more safe than they can be when an accident happens.
Then KO goes out and make a fool out of them. Yeah, it would of been so old school or cute if the dumb ass got upside down and caught and fire and we all got to see the skin melt off his arms. People send countless hours making sure drivers are safe or spend countless hours helping with recovery funds or benefits to help drivers when they are hurt, KO's actions is a slap in the face to all of them. Did anyone see any cars go up in flames duirng the Bowl? I think there was a few but its OK because he looked so damn cool.... |
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What about these cars that the right side opening is so small that even a midget couldn't get out? What happens when one of these is upside down with the LH side against the wall and it catches fire?
Alot of people sure can't see the forrest for the trees...:headbang: |
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I think if it's ok to take the suit off it should be ok to take the roll cage off. :Steer
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Originally Posted by Duane Hancock: I can only remember seeing one car "go up in flames" and it didn't amount to much at all, and that was Sammy... I also heard quite a few cheers but that's a different topic :doh: |
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While I agree that getting into any race car without every bit of safety equipment available to you is not a wise thing to do, I respect KO's decision to do so. First of all, the man has been racing for close to thirty years. I think that qualifies him to assess the risks and dangers involved in racing midgets. The man is a past National Champion. The man has been injured and burned before and if he's still willing to take the risk then so be it. He has that right as an adult in America to make his own decisions and live with any consequences. If, by choosing to race in this manner, he has violated any rules concerning safety equipment set forth by the promoter or sanctioning body; then he should be punished accordingly by the race officials. If he hasn't violated any rules he should be allowed to race as he chooses. Would the race fans here be as angry if I said that "beer should banned from the race track because those who drink it might become drunk and then they could fall down and injure themselves." The race fans who drink beer at the track are choosing to take a risk and live with the consequences. Only they don't have a bunch of people calling them names on a message board. I think that KO should get the same courtesy.
Kevin Plummer |
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Im going to take the high road here and not call anyone names, stupid or anything. Fact is I jumped in a bomber a couple times with nothing but a open face helmet and a standard car seatbelt.
Simple Solution and really in this day, There is no reason this shouldn't be mandatory. EVENT RULES (Doesn't matter what event or who's driving) 1 No car shall fire without its operator having. FULL Face helmet, Gloves and Nomex or equivalent suit and driving shoes That is all. Chuck |
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For a driver, any driver, be it KO, Tony Stewart, or anyone, to attempt to race without a minimum of a fire retardent driving suit and a full face helmet in 2008 is foolhardy. Please don't tell me about the drivers ability or accomplishments. Or about his "rights" as an American to do so. For a track, event, or racing organization to allow this is equally foolhardy. And I am quite sure that the insurance company that covered this event was fully aware of this.:action-smiley-049:And don't tell me that this is the Chili Bowl and the track is small so the liklihood of anything going wrong is slim. I lost the best friend I ever had in racing when, in a full bodied, fully caged stock car, he hit the wall and broke his neck going about 50 mph on a 1/5 mile track. (Ernie Maynor - Islip Speedway - May 1, 1982) We talk a lot about the "Good old days" here but that doesn't mean that everything that happened back in the 50's and 60's was ok. Drivers died on a far too regular basis. This occured because safety features that could have saved many of them hadn't been designed and utilized as yet. Now we have roll cages, fire retardent uniforms, Hans devices, and a myriad of other safety ADVANCEMENTS that have made racing much safer than ever before. Are we to simply ignore these advancements so that someone can have "a little fun"? If drivers were allowed to "exercise their rights as American citizens" and choose what, if any safety devices to use then the number of racing deaths and serious injuries would go way up. This, of course, would lead to that other inalienable American right, the lawsuit. Families would sue event organizers and put them out of business. Aren't we losing enough tracks to suburban sprawl? Why must people be put in unneccesary danger to exercise our rights? Common sense needs to prevail here. I'd like for racing to be around for my grandchildren to enjoy.
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