Masters shifter practice this morning at the Orlando Cup. Reached down for the bias adjuster, missed. Touched the ground in front of the side-pod bar, sucked all 4 finger under going about 60 mph. It all happened and I had it pulled out in a tenth of a second. It felt like I got hit in the arm.
Tore my glove, tips of my ring and middle finger are probably broken, all 4 fingers have bruising and compression wounds, but everything is still there and will heal.
All in all, extremely lucky. Dumb but lucky. Could have been way way worse.
Prolly gonna be a little more careful adjusting that on track next time.
That suuuucks. I saw a kid get his arm sucked under the rear wheel once trying to reach back and wipe his tire off or something. Pulled him out of the seat and broke his arm in half.
I think I know who that was, someone mentioned it today when we were discussing my incident at the track. Made me feel more lucky. Every now and then we get reminded that what we are doing is in fact an “extreme” sport.
I haven’t been to the doc, but the swelling is down this morning and it’s feeling better than yesterday. Seems the fingers just got pummeled real good, with some “chunky” cuts. I’d guess I will be driving in a few weeks.
damn, this reminded me of something i did when i was about 9. this was in the 1970’s and big wheels were the rage, so we were racing big wheels in the street. if you don’t know what a big wheel is/was, do a quick google search, but it was a low to the ground tricycle type thing that every kid wanted.
anyway, we were drag racing, pedaling our asses off, and i had just won a race. i dropped my hands off the bars, and let them dangle down, and the back left wheel pulled my hand under. no gloves, and my big wheel came to a stop using my hand as the brake. fortunately, i probably only weighed about 60 pounds, so it just took all the skin off my knuckles, nothing too bad, but it hurt like hell at the time.
Scary stuff, and glad to hear you’re ok. I’ve tickled the pavement with my finger tips a few times when working on the radiator curtain, but never had any moments like you described.
I get scared everytime i adjust my carb on my x30 or when i close the radiator curtain since cirtain is baisicly on the frame and if i have straigt fingers on carb then ya…
I belive in old karts some chains where on the inside? Imagine reaching down and getting stuck there🤭 Yikes
Perhaps “tunnel” like cover over the adjuster (3D printed, something that can be easily installed/removed) that would direct & keep the L hand out of trouble would be a possible fix.
Got back from the doc (there are a couple “purple” areas that aren’t progressing like the rest). Ring and middle finger tip bones are broken, simple fractures and should heal fine. No other structural damage. No sign of infection, no numbness.
That’s what we did in early 90s with Briggs flatheads - remote needle adjuster on the steering support. Otherwise you had to reach over the exhaust and chain and around air cleaner to get to needle.
Fingers are progressing nicely. Swelling is gone everywhere except right at the fractures. All the wounds are healed I can do the beginning range of motion exercises and I can use the hand for “regular” life with the two healing finger ends splinted together (made a little balsa pad) such that the last joints can’t bend.
I should be able to start bringing the finger tips and immediately adjacent joints into my exercises in another couple weeks. Really happy that it is coming along so well.
More progress. I have full range of motion and can use the fingers more or less normally. The tips that broke are still sensitive but they are rigid. Rode my mountain bike today on the dirt trails for the first time since getting hurt. I have been riding on the paved trail the last few weeks just to keep some cardio up. Fingers were sore but held up, I did a few jumps and other chunky sections and my grip feels solid. They feel the best they have felt as I am typing this, so it seems they were strong enough for the ride, and that using them is freeing them up more and making everything feel more normal.
Accordingly, I am planning to race Orlando this weekend, that will be 4 weeks from when they got hurt. I am glad these finger tip bones are some of the fastest healing in the body. Will be interesting to see how they feel trying to wrestle the KZ around that track for a two day event.
