Chris Gehrke's Fatal Crash

[bedwelldawson]

this crash was massive it was weird how he went airbourne.

[TheValKBawz]

@bedwelldawson No, it was a classic blowover.

[ramfeild66]

As spectacular as it looks, single car flips are very rarely fatal. When a car flips the inertia of the crash is being dispersed around the car. The second impact, the force of the crash would have been absorbed entirely by the car and its driver. Sadly had he had the aero brakes NASCAR now uses to prevent blowovers, the second impact may not have happened. I have always found it bizzare why a third tier development series (which is effectively what ARCA is) runs at tracks like Talladega

[ROBLOXdude95]

@ramfeild66 Roof flaps, retard

[ramfeild66]

@ROBLOXdude95 Roof flaps are air brakes, just a different dynamic, they create aerodynamic breaking when a car is moving in a reverse direction by increasing the cars drag coefficient when it reaches a critical angle. They're even mentioned in the wikipedia article pertaining to Air Brakes...

But thanks for demonstrating your obvious knowledge.

[vanmourikr]

that is not broadside, that is 1st degree murder.

[BangTheBomb]

How can dringing round in a circle go so wrong ?

[thepspman116]

@BangTheBomb When cars go 200mph and flip and slam into each other.

[Navitori]

Check the crash of Kieth O'dor on the AVUS track in 1995. It's a bit like this one...

[thespainisharmada]

Must have been a terrible sight to see for all 5 people in the stands.

[stknightisawesome]

@thespainisharmada LOL

[Tater1951]

I was there. Rain had delayed the IROC race and the delay caused the ARCA race to start late. I was there to see Ken Ragan (David's dad) compete. Darkness was coming on and officials had decided to shorten the Arca race and was to due to conclude in about another 10 laps. We were sitting about 15 rows up, directly behind Doyle Ford in the flagstand. At first, it looked like Gehrke's car was gonna hit the flagstand.

[Tater1951]

I was there. Rain had delayed the IROC race and the delay caused the ARCA race to start late. I was there to see Ken Ragan (David's dad) compete. Darkness was coming on and officials had decided to shorten the Arca race and was to due to conclude in about another 10 laps. We were sitting up in the seats, directly behind Doyle Ford in the flagstand.

[SJsharksdude]

Its sad to see accidents like this where drivers die when basic racing safety rules could have been in place. Car upside down should have been an automatic red flag. Im actually surprised more ARCA drivers weren't killed during this era. 

[jomparkes97]

which car was it thats driver died?? the one on fire or the one that flipped??

[reefshark46]

@jomparkes97 the one that flipped

[Spionsilver]

hate it

theres yellow out

most drivers slow down change their line to pass safely

but the pack of three obviously arent fully aware of their environment

always sad when it could have been avoided..

[chrisfercheetham]

May be a pointless question, but was it the initial crash that caused the most damage or the second incident when he got T-boned?

[Tater1951]

@chrisfercheetham It was the t-bone that did it. I'm not sure, but think it was Red Farmer who hit Gerke in the drivers door. He was directly behind another car that veered to the outside at the last second and he didn't have a clear view.

[Tater1951]

@chrisfercheetham It was the t-bone that did it. I'm not sure, but think it was Red Farmer who hit Gerke in the drivers door. He was directly behind another car that veered to the outside at the last second and he didn't have a clear view. The impact sheered off the front of his car, which caught fire.

[samquan123]

car rare speeding should end up like that..

[mat2000100]

Whoever hit poor CG is a noob and derserves to has his license revoked

[myboyamp88]

You can see his helmet poke out when he gets hit... sad

[Rob34212]

@myboyamp88 yeah, you're right

[myboyamp88]

@Rob34212 kinda disturbing

[flyerfan019283new]

ARCA has "ARCA Brakes", which are about 25% as effective of slowing down cars as regular NASCAR brakes are.

[SkeeboDa1]

You can see his head sticking out the driver's side window of the car!

[DavidOrtiz36]

Arca drives dont know how to drive safe... its scares that they race super speedways... ive seen a lot of bad crashes happen because people dont apply the brakes in the series... 2010 Arca big one at daytona, 2009 at daytona with Patrick Sheltra... the lists goes on... these drives shouldnt be allowed to race super speedways, every time you see a driver spin it might be bad cause they just dont slow down...

[YourRulerSkeletos]

I love how there were like 10 people in the stands.

[barneynward]

Was he in the black car that flipped at the beginning?

[18sux29rox]

@barneynward yeh, he survived the flips but not the hit.

[SaintBEEP]

@barneynward yes, it was the hit after he was flipping that killed him....

[NASCARWWEclubpenguin]

@chupaisto1 what??

[NASCARWWEclubpenguin]

@donwolfjr1 this is not NASCAR this is ARCA

[SaintBEEP]

@NASCARWWEclubpenguin its the NASCAR ARCA series, so its kind of both.

[justwin42]

@SaintBEEP NASCAR and ARCA are two completly different sactioning bodies.They have similar cars(at least before the COT) but hey have different rules and NASCAR has no affiliation with ARCA.Alot of ARCA teams do use old cup cars.

[SaintBEEP]

@justwin42 indeed, but if u check what the series is called, its called the NASCAR Arca series, and most of the drivers are young and new to racing, teams like Rodger Penske and Jack Roush race young drivers in this league all the time to test their abilities.

[qtipvesto]

@SaintBEEP No, it's not called the NASCAR ARCA series at all, just the ARCA Series or ARCA Remax Series (their title sponsor). NASCAR and ARCA are two different sanctioning bodies and legal entities, just as CART and the IRL was. You are correct that rising NASCAR stars race in ARCA for more experience, and they do cooperate on race weekends, but NASCAR has no authority on how an ARCA race is run, or vice versa. ASA is another national sanctioning body just like ARCA, it too has no affiliation.

[WSBT960]

Chris Gehrke flips and Carl Miskotten nails him. Miskotten survived but never raced again.

[Tombothebomb]

which one died ? a few people got hit

[Montoya42Fan]

The guy who flipped and got t-boned later.

R.I.P. Chris Gehrke

[JGordonFan24ever]

Rip chris!

[Jesant13]

Which car is being driven by Chris?

[NASCARWWEclubpenguin]

the black car flipping and gets hit by another car again.. im not sure if thats the car

[MsFarQ2]

an old Nascar. They're all the same, just got different headlight stickers on 'em... so much for 'stock' cars ey

[weert6666]

wowza!! what a ripper!! imagine staring out ur lil window at that car coming str8 at you!! he probably shat himself just b4 he died. i know i would have.

[ShawnGehrke]

really i dont understand why it would lol

[ruhtraeel]

Murphy's Law right there.

[xkillaz18x]

whos in the black car that was flip over in the begging...and who smash into him striaght on? very terrible accident

[NASCARWWEclubpenguin]

the one in the black car is Chris Gehrke the guy who died from that crash

[1961pontiac]

who is who? looks like the guy who hit him could of died....very sad anyways.

[strosse]

read the beginning of the video...and yes it's very sad :(

[atacou]

hard hit

[jinlimba]

sad =C

[autimum]

lol. yeah rich like erton senna....all the money in the world ain't worth driving a motorised coffin!! Stop sniffin the petrol fumes it truly is altering your sense of reality!

[brunoguillen]

His name is Airton Senna da Silva, and he's from Brazil.

He was a big idol here in Brazil

[andrewrogers]

i thought it was spelt Ayrton Senna

he was like my racing idol sad day when he died

[eagleeyes86]

i'm pretty sure f1 is pretty much the safest motorsport series today...

my proof, watch robert kubica's crash in canada 2007..

the guys suffered only a very lightly spinned ankle and sat for 1 race only just as precaution.

a crash much lighter than this 10 yrs ago would have definitely killed him..

[NialoF2]

You seem negative lol

[cj52racers]

I agree F1 is no safer than any other series, but Zanardis wreck was not in F1.

[sabbathbassdude14]

was chris the guy who flipped or the the one who broadsided the guy because they were both really hard hits

[SimRacin14]

Chris is the car that flips. The guy that hits him is Carl Miskotten III,if I remember correctly.

[cartryahoo]

J.D. McDuffie, maybe?

[bmxking46]

@cartryahoo uhm, i dunno if ur refering to THIS vid, but this wasnt McDuffie, he died at Walkinsglen, not tally

[cartryahoo]

@bmxking46 No, I remember JD at the Glen, I thought this was one of those weekends that JD didn't qualify for the WC race but ran the ARCA race (he did that now and then, back in the day the rules for the cars were ridiculously similar so an overnight re-do could get you in the ARCA race. Not so now) and got tangled up with this. He may be one of the other spinners, but I was pretty sure he was in the thick of this somewhere. But now that they say it yeah, Miskotten.

[F1Fanatiko]

nascar is boring.

[traceurfrombris]

your boring

[DecimatedDreams01]

Why would you fucking say that on a video of a racer dying?

[superdragon3000]

LOL

[Cynon44]

Comparing a 1991 crash to a 2007 crash is just dumb. You can't do it, really, even from one form of motorsport to another.

Driving in circles is a lot harder than it looks. In F1 the majority of the danger comes from the circuit, in NASCAR it comes from the other cars on the track because there's so many of them and the tracks (the good ones anyway) require the cars to be pretty close to each other.

[Arlind86]

what r u saying that nascar is better than F1 racing? Pleaseee

[jaguaret]

Are they just going around in one big circle?

[AmberDoll77]

ya but here is a point F1 is gay.

[moxeus]

This was in 1991 dude, you can't compare a 2007 f1 crash with this. Modern nascar cars are amazingly safe.

[AlKezer712]

@moxeus and plastic too.

[Porygonseizureman]

@moxeus Just ask Joey Logano, Sam Hornish Jr., or Michael McDowell.

[icanttinkof1]

ya excactly it just means dat nascar isnt as safe as sports like f1 because robert kubicas's crash was much worse and he only got a concushin

[DecimatedDreams01]

Um dude? In 2001 Alex Zanardi had both his legs amputated in a crash in Germany. F1 is not safe at all.

[TyVulpine]

Zanardi raced in IndyCar.

[TyVulpine]

Oops, I meant CART. (Offshoot of IndyCar)

[popopop824]

weird ...u see much worse crashes and ppl survive....just guess how u get hit or what spot u land akwardly on..

[jewelanne31]

best damn sport out there!! These guys know the dangers, but they take the risks cuz its what they love to do!!

[DaBears761]

Ya it is