[s-cars] Nurburgring Instruction (Road America's Kink)

[Doug Coartney]

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The late Carroll Smith said, "The good circuits contain a variety of
corners, including at least one really fast "separator of men from
boys"...Circuits such as...Road America...are where road racing should take
place." And when Marlo Klain interviewed Bobby Rahal in his last season
behind the wheel, she asked him what he would miss most about driving.
Without having to pause to think, he immediately responded, "I'll miss the
great turns like "The Kink" at Road America, "The Madness" at Mid-Ohio, and
"The Corkscrew" at Laguna Seca."



I like "The Kink" a lot and never want to see it changed, but I too have
seen firsthand why it must be approached with the respect it deserves. A few
years ago, I spent my very first day working a corner at 11A, the exit to
"The Kink." Five laps into my first experience manning the phones, I had to
call in the mayday when a Formula Ford spun, hit the inside wall, and went
by our station on fire, cart wheeling along the inside fence about ten feet
in the air. He landed upside down on the racing line and got out OK, but the
car proceeded to burn to the ground due to a massive fuel leak. I've never
seen a fire spread so fast. After the RA safety crew extinguished the fire
and removed the charred remains, there were a couple of depressions burned
in the asphalt. That is why you see that rather large rectangular patch of
darker asphalt pass under you as you exit "The Kink."



Doug Coartney

1995.5 S6