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Originally posted by Bob Rusnak
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Wishing the best for a fast recovery. Bob if you need anything let me know I am practically next door. I can Bring over some good take out or anything to help. -
Hopes and prayers are with you and your family.Comment
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Sean was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. He made the 20 hour trip to Long Island with Lorraine, Chase and me in my pick up truck. He is in extreme pain and many did not realize the extent of his injury. It will be a long recovery and hope it will heal. We have pictures of his foot and it is pretty graphic. Sean has the piece of the propeller that was removed from his foot. All his equipment is still in in DePue and we will at some time need to get it to Texas. We have no further plans at the moment as both of Sean's boats have been wrecked. I brought both of his engines back with us so they can be taken apart and cleaned. Sean needs your support.Comment
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He is in my thoughts and prayers. My brother went down and saw him on Tuesday night. Being from and raised in DEPUE He Is Like Family To us. Hope he continues to recover and I will keep praying for a speedy recovery.Comment
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Praying for a speedy and thorough recovery and all the racers in Florida are pulling for you.
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I am relieved to hear he made it there without any problems. Take care Sean and we wish you a complete and healthy recovery.
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Sean is resting all day today, He had a bad night last night and hope tonight will be better. We have a appointment on Thurs. morning to have the bandages removed and see what is going on. Hope for good news. Sean requested I post a picture of the injury on the US Title Series Facebook page so maybe some good will come from it as to prevent something like this in the future. Being in a reinforced cockpit did not save him from his injury. Not sure if Facebook will allow it. I will keep the information on Sean's condition as I receive it.Comment
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Bob:
Please give Sean our best wishes and hope for a full recovery. Both Eileen and I have suffered injuries from our sport, and know how long and painful the recovery can be from injuries from something that can give you so much fun and pleasure, and can also give you a great deal of pain. He has had a very successful racing career to this point, coming back from the bad spill in 350 Hydro a few years back, and hopefully things will work out well for him this time also, as he certainly proved he has what it takes to come back from injury, whether he ever gets in another boat or not.
I have often wondered just how the foot well in a capsule would protect in case of a sharp object hitting it, especially a high speed rotating one like a prop, not only for the relatively small and thin wall of protection there, but the very small area in total that must stay intact to keep an intruding object from reaching a body part. Unlike other parts of the cockpit structure, there is very little area or bulk there, where it comes to a point and ends. Makes me think if I were competing in one, I might want to consider wearing steel toed safety shoes. although I have no idea or expertise to know whether that type of further protection would have been effective in this accident. Sometimes when we try to better protection in one area it just makes it worse in another, and that should be considered also if changes to cockpit structure are contemplated being made as a result of this injury.
Just one more reason for all competitors racing today to try to be as knowledgeable and considerate of others safety, as they are of their own. I know from personal experience there is nothing worse than getting hurt yourself, than being the other boat in an accident that injures someone else, and that driver or drivers should be in our prayers also.Comment
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Two days ago I posted a picture of Sean's injury on the US Title Series Facebook page because of a request. The picture was graphic as expected from what a prop can do. Facebook labeled this as "Graphic Violence" and removed the picture. Some of you have seen it. The intent was to show that we need to look at the safety aspect and being in a reinforced cockpit did not protect him. His boat was upside down. He got out buy himself and now in the water with very little protection. He was then hit, not by one but several boats that were still racing and with the sun glare were virtually blind. If any one wants to see the pictures of the injury before and after the surgery please contact me. One more thing, both boats that were overturned could not get their canopies open because they were stuck in the mud. Sean had to dig through the mud to escape. What we all hope for is that this incident will be looked at carefully so something like this will never happen again. Radio communication in all of these boats would have stopped the race. Some stock cars have a red light on their dashboard. A push of a button from the judges stand will light it up so the drivers know the race was stopped. It does not cost that much to do this. Sean is still not out of the woods yet. Thursday he will have it looked at to see if there is no infection and no loss of tissue. Time will tell.Comment
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Bob:
Sorry for the misunderstanding regards his accident. We were on the way home when the accident occurred and I was unaware he was in the water when struck, as I was told he was still in the boat. Understandable with the confusion that always exists right after something like this.
However things happened, he still has our prayers and best wishes.
Bill -
yeah bob I mentioned in a facebook post last week about a local dirt track here in tampa gives out one way radios to all drivers to let them know where they need to be positioned during cautions I think this would be a good idea and cant imagine being to costly and when an incident occurs the judges stand can inform the drivers of an issue and where it is on the coarse -
You can post that picture here if you are so inclined.
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Bob, those are good points. Hopefully constructive changes will considered to improve the safety of our sport.Comment
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The underlying problem here is not capsule construction but of other drivers continuing to race well after the race was red flagged. Officials always think a driver should look well off the course to the judges stand or to a patrol boat parked in the middle of a corner. That's for boats going very fast on bumpy water and wind. They ought to look at race cars where they have numerous traffic signals right on the side of the track and the flag guy is also in close proximity. And we wonder why some guys don't see an obscure flag in the spray and glare while contending with waves, wakes and wind? And then compound it again with laydown boats and capsules with even more restricted visibility.
As one who spent some time as a driver and radio guy back in the days of IOGP tunnel boats, radios should be essential and mandatory. Back then, each team had to position their radio man in a group where race officials could immediately get info to everyone. But the PRO guys have a phobia about radios, re the battle of some years ago. Now I know some of the capsule boats have radios but others do not. Still there is no way for officials to get info to the radio people in an immediate way with them spread out over the beach and the the ambient noise. But mandatory radios would be an improvement- how long was Sean upside down, digging out before he got out of the boat? 30 seconds, maybe. That should have provided enough time for a driver to get the message to stop.
Radios are not that expensive. Hand held marine band ones can be waterproof so that isn't an issue. Two of them and some ear pieces are all that is necessary- you don't need the more expensive radios the car guys use. Our races are close so no additional antennas are necessary. You don't need the driver to be able to talk back, just listen.
Just my observation.Comment
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I am dumbfounded that radios are not mandatory equipment (especially on capsule boats) Is their a reason that PRO doesn't use them? I would like to have them in mod, just for the safety factor......Comment
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Lets see what the US Title Series will come up with, they are with NBRA and control their own safety rules. There are two more races for the capsule boats this year. This issue must be addressed before these boats take to the water. Not sure how many will be left to race as Seans has two wrecked, and Jim Wrights is also wrecked. Not sure about Jim Kirts rig. It will be a long time before Sean, if he ever, gets back in a boat.Comment
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Lets see what the US Title Series will come up with, they are with NBRA and control their own safety rules. There are two more races for the capsule boats this year. This issue must be addressed before these boats take to the water. Not sure how many will be left to race as Seans has two wrecked, and Jim Wrights is also wrecked. Not sure about Jim Kirts rig. It will be a long time before Sean, if he ever, gets back in a boat.Comment
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Good points. I am not against or for radios in any class. If we need them I will get one. I would think a Main radio on the judges stand with drivers having a receiving ear piece would be the best way. I also think that if a Red flag is called, a patrol boat should be sent to the entrance of each turn WAVING THE FLAG so the driver has no choice but to see it.
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