Chuk Williams Accident at Bonneville, may be hurt
Posted by Tim Nye
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Re: Chuk Williams Accident at Bonneville, may be hurt September 07, 2014 09:01AM |
It’s a great relief to hear Chuk will recover. I was looking over the photos of the frame and find it hard to imagine how he was able to get hurt. You just can’t plan for the unknown. I am assuming it was his first run. Must be kind of difficult the adjustment or compensation in adjusting the burner from sea level in Florida to 5100 feet above sea level at Bonneville.
Rolly
Rolly
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Re: Chuk Williams Accident at Bonneville, may be hurt September 15, 2014 05:26PM |
Chuk- Val and I were so relieved to hear that you suffered no life threatening injuries. You're tough and you'll heal 
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It was certainly the last thing on any of our minds that this might happen. We were so looking forward to seeing you and the steamer run the track over a period of days and then sitting around the camp at night sharing stories. Thankfully you came through this intact.
To put things in perspective for folks, my wife Val was taking still shots prior to and after the launch while I was capturing the video before and then during the launch from the push vehicle. Meanwhile, the crew were scrambling to get into the van and were then racing to the end of the track in expectation to tow the steamer back to the pits. As we pushed the steamer, at some point it had slipped away from us but wasn't taking off, so we reapproached it and pushed again up to 40-45mph. At some point I just said 'well, that should be enough' and we broke away...I was pleased to see the steamer continue and accelerate after and I then ended the video recording. As with all the bystanders and crew, we heard the speeds called out and I informed the folks driving our push vehicle that those speeds were quite good. Everyone, including the crew racing down the track, was excited clear to the end. The only inkling we had that something went wrong was hearing something about the track being shut down because of debris at the end of the track. Then we saw the ambulance go out and back and our hears sank. Back at the pits, we waited. Robin and the rest of the pit crew arrived and scrambled to unload stuff from the van and then most of them drove off to SLC while we heard that Chuk was airlifted there. Tom, Val and I started disassembling the pits and quickly got help from the world speed record holding team from Kelso Washington (twin-diesel Freightliner streamliner(?) that does 250mph). Those 10 or 12 guys (and a gal or two) couldn't be told no---they just said "hey, we're all family here---let us help".
We watched more racing that afternoon and there were no other crash events. The organizers announced that they'd run cars until dark as long as folks were willing to race to make up the 3 hours or so of track shutdown from the motorcycle accident in the early morning, then Chuk's misfortune. Noone seemed upset about the long lines and delays and there were many record runs (or at least several cars were announced to go into impound). There was virtually no wind all afternoon and maybe a bit of a tail wind for the racers.
We didn't know what to do on Sunday. Tex, Jim, Tom & Nick all went to the pits but word we got by phone was that the steamer debris wouldn't be released until the end of racing on Sunday so they were just sitting waround...meanwhile Chuk & Robin weren't at all sure when they'd leave SLC let alone whether they'd head back to the salt flats or drive the van. Ultimately, we didn't think there was anything more we could help with. We were going to head back to the pits Sunday morning and at least say goodbye to the crew, but when we got to the entrance to the flats we could see that the mire was worse than it had been the prior 2 days---we saw a van and a mercedes getting towed back out... I didn't worry about getting stuck as much as I just didn't want to cake more salt on the underside of the '81 vanagon (we had given it 3 sets of quarters at the car wash late on Saturday and I still had gobs of the stuff on the bottom). Even now, 9 days later, I chipped & sprayed another 2 or 3 pounds of salt out from corners underneath the carriage (this after chipping about 10# of it that I discovered 2 days ago while we were camping).
Anyway, a tragic accident was so far from any of our expectations that everyone involved was pretty dumbfounded. Val and I had a great journey back home and would definitely be there to support another go at Bonneville if that happens again.
Take care Chuk!
Myles Twete, Portland, Or.
P.S. - Guess this wasn't the only streamliner crash at WOS --- Speed Demon also was badly damaged but driver okay:
Salt bogging path from the road to the pits...
.
It was certainly the last thing on any of our minds that this might happen. We were so looking forward to seeing you and the steamer run the track over a period of days and then sitting around the camp at night sharing stories. Thankfully you came through this intact.
To put things in perspective for folks, my wife Val was taking still shots prior to and after the launch while I was capturing the video before and then during the launch from the push vehicle. Meanwhile, the crew were scrambling to get into the van and were then racing to the end of the track in expectation to tow the steamer back to the pits. As we pushed the steamer, at some point it had slipped away from us but wasn't taking off, so we reapproached it and pushed again up to 40-45mph. At some point I just said 'well, that should be enough' and we broke away...I was pleased to see the steamer continue and accelerate after and I then ended the video recording. As with all the bystanders and crew, we heard the speeds called out and I informed the folks driving our push vehicle that those speeds were quite good. Everyone, including the crew racing down the track, was excited clear to the end. The only inkling we had that something went wrong was hearing something about the track being shut down because of debris at the end of the track. Then we saw the ambulance go out and back and our hears sank. Back at the pits, we waited. Robin and the rest of the pit crew arrived and scrambled to unload stuff from the van and then most of them drove off to SLC while we heard that Chuk was airlifted there. Tom, Val and I started disassembling the pits and quickly got help from the world speed record holding team from Kelso Washington (twin-diesel Freightliner streamliner(?) that does 250mph). Those 10 or 12 guys (and a gal or two) couldn't be told no---they just said "hey, we're all family here---let us help".
We watched more racing that afternoon and there were no other crash events. The organizers announced that they'd run cars until dark as long as folks were willing to race to make up the 3 hours or so of track shutdown from the motorcycle accident in the early morning, then Chuk's misfortune. Noone seemed upset about the long lines and delays and there were many record runs (or at least several cars were announced to go into impound). There was virtually no wind all afternoon and maybe a bit of a tail wind for the racers.
We didn't know what to do on Sunday. Tex, Jim, Tom & Nick all went to the pits but word we got by phone was that the steamer debris wouldn't be released until the end of racing on Sunday so they were just sitting waround...meanwhile Chuk & Robin weren't at all sure when they'd leave SLC let alone whether they'd head back to the salt flats or drive the van. Ultimately, we didn't think there was anything more we could help with. We were going to head back to the pits Sunday morning and at least say goodbye to the crew, but when we got to the entrance to the flats we could see that the mire was worse than it had been the prior 2 days---we saw a van and a mercedes getting towed back out... I didn't worry about getting stuck as much as I just didn't want to cake more salt on the underside of the '81 vanagon (we had given it 3 sets of quarters at the car wash late on Saturday and I still had gobs of the stuff on the bottom). Even now, 9 days later, I chipped & sprayed another 2 or 3 pounds of salt out from corners underneath the carriage (this after chipping about 10# of it that I discovered 2 days ago while we were camping).
Anyway, a tragic accident was so far from any of our expectations that everyone involved was pretty dumbfounded. Val and I had a great journey back home and would definitely be there to support another go at Bonneville if that happens again.
Take care Chuk!
Myles Twete, Portland, Or.
P.S. - Guess this wasn't the only streamliner crash at WOS --- Speed Demon also was badly damaged but driver okay:
Salt bogging path from the road to the pits...
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