I'll agree with Matt, it was an excellent event competition-wise. Though most the competition was amongst us Reno folk, and not so much with Vegas... I think it has a lot to do with our normal events being of a higher average speed than Vegas' normal events. Our drivers simply have more experience/exposure to the higher speed type events.
Which brings me to the shitty part of the weekend. For the second time in 3 years, a driver lost control of their vehicle and slid off course into a course worker. Chalk it up to a "freak" incident, or to driver inexperience (the driver was a young kid from Vegas driving a WRX), but once again there was an ambulance needed at a Solo event... IMO, Hawthorne should be removed from the schedule. If we wish to continue the N/S Challenge we either need a new location that isn't runway based, or we need to split locations... one year hold it at Stead, the next at Vegas' "home" location.
As far as the guy hit, I don't specifically remember meeting him, but he's from Reno, name's Ed, drives a white supercharged Miata. He got hit be the sliding car's left rear door in his back, which whipped his head into the C-pilar above the door. The window was smashed out, the door had a big dimple in it, and the C-pillar was banged up. Ed suffered a deep gash to his head, a concussion, and several chipped vertebrae. He's going to be laid up for a while healing, but he should make a full recovery. The real shitty part is that he starts a new job on Tuesday, which means he currently has no health insurance. I'm not sure what a care-flight from Hawthorne to Washoe Med, CT scans, pain meds, etc, cost but I can guarentee this poor kid will be paying for it for a long while.
