Cobra Crash This Morning !

[Danr55]

Cobish, Drop me an PM and tell me about your spf.. Please.

[Fitz]

Update 11:15 AM - I also talked with Stuart; they connected me to him when I asked about him.

Talked with Stuart. Wants to get out of the hospital, seems to think he is fine. Had a CAT scan this morning as they were concerned about eye but he said everything OK. The first time he remembers talking is when the emergency personnel put him into the emergency "airvac" (I didn't know that), unless I misunderstood him and he meant the emergency Van? I told him I have a picture of him sitting in his car when he sat up but didn't think I should post it. I asked him if he had seen anyone at the end of the tunnel (white light thing) "Door #1 or Door #2......... He said all he heard was people arguing or something. ""I told him that was probably when they were getting the road cable from around his neck when he wasn't breathing""

Other thing he remembers was people were stopped in front of him and he swerved to avoid; next thing he remembers was being put in emergency van or helicopter? I told him there was a lot of time between when the guys got there to unbuckle him, pick up debris from the road, everyone clapping when they freed his head, giving him bandages to hold over bleeding face, hand etc, other cars getting hit, people scattering to their cars when cars starting slamming into each other. Oh, and they shut down the east bound lanes for few minutes as people were running over to his car. ... .... .....Of course there was a cloud of dust. It is Arizona.

I can be somewhat funny here as Stuart seems fine and wants to get out of the hospital.

I said, "You had stuff from the car scattered along 50-100 yards along the cable area. Jo said she has his water bottle and several people picked up car stuff and put it in his car.

He has his humor back. He asked if his car was really totaled? I said I think so!!!!.........
And Dan's, maybe Jeff's, who knows about the SUV or the Cop car.

Just glad to hear him talk and he seems OK.

[GASKETBOY]

Wow!

I checked in this morning and in no way expected to read anything closely related to this.

Stuart, best wishes for a speedy recovery. It's good to hear your sense of humor is coming back.

My hats off to all of those fellow Cobra drivers who jumped in to help. Dan, Jeff and others sorry to hear of the damage to your cars.

Geez, I don't know if I should be thankful to Alaska Airlines for making it a late Friday night and forcing me to sleep in past 5:00am. If not for them I may have been right in the thick of it.

Jeff

[Danr55]

I suggest that from now on, Mr. Stuart shall be known as "IRON HEAD"! I was sure when we got there and saw the cable around his throat that he was dead.....until he opened his eyes and asked, "What the #@$% happened?"..

Stuart, be sure to show off your broken finger when you get back on your feet!

[Fitz]

"Is my car really totalled?"
"I had stuff scattered all over where?"

I think maybe he is still under the influence of .....let's say....drugs ie pain killers... the hospital has given him....

"Iron Head" may be there for a few more hours then he wants to be.

[mikiec]

Mike and I just talked with Stuart. He has his sense of humor in tact and said that he actually feels pretty good. Although, he is not allowed to have anythng to eat or drink for two days.

He said that he was visited by a number of Highway Patrol officers yesterday, and two more this morning. The two this morning were very nice and even brought him a present.......

He said that he is supposed to have another surgery on his hand later today, and then wants outta that place.

When he leaves he will be staying with his friend for a few days while he recovers.

His sister had read most of all the posts to him, but he has yet to see any of the pictures. He asked Mike if his car was really totaled?

He's going to get another car, said he can't imagine not having one and being a part of this great cobra family.

Stuart was planning to go on the Fun Run with us in three weeks. I hope he'll still plan to go with us. He can drive his Mustang, and drive Don crazy!

Ginny C.

[Positraktion]

Jst read through the post. Amazing. I'm so glad Stuart is all right.
Stuart, since I live close to you, if there is anything I can do please let me know.

Any help you need bud, just ask

Get better
George

[mikiec]

I think all the club members there did a great service for Stuart. We usually travel in a large group. This trip we left the meeting place with 14 cobras.

This pic was sent to me Ginny and I talked about posting. Nothing graphic. It does show Stuart sitting on the cable that moments before was chocking him. The DPS officer is there with him and before the Firefighters etc showed up.

For those that do not know what a cable barrier looks like....

[decooney]

WOW!

That cable is touching the rollbar on the inside bar. Appears another live may have been saved from having a rollbar in the Cobra. I was wondering what would have caused his car to stop at that precise moment. Stuart, you are one lucky man. We are so glad we are looking at a picture of you climbing out of the car. Man o Man. So close.

[Excaliber]

Wow, what a thread this has been! I can see why they call those cables a cheese cutter.

Motorcycle rider...

[mrmustang]

Sitting here in PA and reading about both the horrific side of this and at the same time the miracle has me in awe. If I was closer I would offer my full body shop for the resurrection and restoration of any of the cobras involved. Saw that Shawn (aka:meat) has started a thread for donated parts, wonder if there is not a club cobra member who might have connections with a local (Arizona based) body or restoration shop that might be willing to donate some spare Saturday or Sunday shop time for members to work on their damaged cars? Again even thought I am not anywhere nearby, if there is anything I can do for you guys, just let me know.

Sincerely,

Bill S. & Family

[David Kirkham]

Stuart,

Best wishes from Kirkham Motorsports for a speedy recovery!

David

[Ronbo]

Man that's some scary stuff. If Stuart's car had hit strieght on... I'm guessing he got a face full of windshield as well.

Glad everyones OK. Those cable stops need to be lower to the ground, I'd be having an attorney send a letter to your DMV about this oversight on thier part, not to mention your state reps.

Whacked a deer doing about 65mph late at night on a desolite part of I-10 so I know how fast this stuff happens. Needless to say the deer and the van I was driving died. When I checked out the area the next day I found that the state only put a 3ft. fence up so the deer jump right over it. The local Sherriff told me he whacked one doing about 105mph himself and had gotten nowhere with the DMV about raising the fence. Thank God the call box worked, the few people who drove by never stopped. The uncaring Highway patrolman left me there alone after filling out the report to wait on the tow truck. It was about 35deg. that night as I recall.

[427sharpe]

HOLY MOLY!
THAT crap is the best your DMV could dream up?!?!?!? And here I was thinking that the concrete barriers we have in the south are the stupidest...
That pic just reenforces how LUCKY a guy Stuart is...and how thankful we can be to have friends in the right place at the right time. I had a pic in my head of a cable support setup like phone poles use...running roughly 45* to the horizontal...nothing like this. Go and look at the first series of pics and see the damage on his cars rf side...those cables ran a pretty good gouge and cut the scoop clean off. Damn! Stuart, go buy some lotto tickets, bud!
I will dig thru the storage and see what I have for the other thread to get you guys up and running as quickly as possible.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Duane,
The rollbar did not necessarily come through this time - don't think it was impacted at all. If you can see in the picture where the cables and rollbar are, Stuart's body was between the cables and the back deck of the car. Pinning him very tightly. The cables were pressed against his throat just under his jaw and he was not breathing. The rollbar is too far behind the body to do any good in this case. You can see how far we had to pull the cables forward to free him.The cables did shear off the hood scoop and windshield,amazingly stopping just in time , not crushing his neck,thank God.
Perry.

[Maricopa]

I agree, it was several inches from the bar. The car basically dug in and stopped.
Still a valid point, it certainly could have saved him, particulalrly if the car had backed into the barrier.
Thank God he was riding alone.

[mikiec]

Dan,

Let the insurance write it off, get something else. Not sure what kind of frame damage is hidden under there.

Not sure if the car was stopped by the cable hitting the roll bar. I was not there. However, looking at the pic it seems as the car is not perpendictular to the cable but at an angle. This could cause one side of the bar to contact the cable before the other side.

All I know is my friend Stuart is doing well and will be home in a day or so.

Mike

[CHANMADD]

Wow!! Looking at those cables Stuart is lucky to be around.
Best wishes for everyone involved.Thank God there were friends at the scene.
Slither Clothing

[Fitz]

I agree with you guys about the roll bar probably not helping with the cable,
what about the "the way he got there?' He had to have gone over the cable in a flip or something. There was debris spread all over the west bound roadside. How did he get over the cable in the first place? Maybe the roll bar played an essential part there. I am just so glad he is ok...I woke up this morning and my first thought was about the events of yesterday. Just can't stop thinking about it. Everyone, including myself was so lucky. I had picked up debris and was returning to our car when the lady hit the other cars. I heard the crash and looked up. Right in front of me were the two cobras that were hit. I saw the cop get really angry and hit his car two or three times with his paperwork. I don't blame him. Today I started thinking about the cars being there and what might have happened if they had not been there. Who knows!!!!! I think God and the angels were with us all.

[dave from mesa]

The reason that he might (I say might cuz no one knows for sure) have gone over the cable is because the top cable is below the top of the blacktop on the freeway. As we were going home we could see the cable below us as we drove by.
Who ever is in charge of this needs to make the cable higher than the road so you can't go over it. Or get ride of the stupid cables.
Cobra's aren't the only cars with low front ends.