Wake up call

This little International Autosport business has grown alongside my other venture, ProSport Drivers Group.  My partner, Doug and I have been hosting track days, open lapping events, driver's ed classes, etc.  for 5 years now. At least once a month, April to September.  We've been careful with how we run our events, and have never had car-to-car contact, and everyone always went home with their cars unscathed. Sure, there have been a few, rare mechanical issues that caused someone to need a trailer ride home, but nothing more.... and then there was June.... and the DAY from HELL.  I was running an event at Autobahn Country Club, by myself for the first time, as Doug had another event elsewhere.  Everything starts out fine, people are learning the new track, taking it easy, and I'm watching from the paddock.  Then there's a yellow flag, and I hear the corner worker at a station out of sight that there's a car on fire.  The safety crew rolls out, and I hear that they got it extinguished....OK, who's missing?  Oh, it's the blue 996, coming in on the rollback.  Not much visible damage, just some blistered paint on the rear bumper.  The driver thinks he broke an oil line.  Luckily, he had a little halon fire extinguisher that he used to knock the flames down until the safety crew could get there. Probably saved the car.  OK, fine, we'll rearrange transport and get the wounded german back home. Then a NSX comes in with a knock....spun a bearing in the motor. He's done, he needs a ride too, in the opposite direction, we get that arranged also. 
Then, shortly after lunch, it happens- what we'd avoided for so long - red flag. Car in the tire wall, ambulance  on track.  What car is it?  White Porsche......no, it can't be. Not the 930, the one Doug and I built for our customer and friend with the huge flares, slicks and carbon fiber panels.  Yes, it is.  But it sounds like it backed in, and the driver and passenger are OK, thankfully.  Good thing we'd put in a nice welded cage.  maybe it's not too bad.  It gets dragged back in on it's three remaining wheels.  Right rear is bent and suspension broken.   Now, incident reports to be filled out, two broken cars need to be winched onto strange trailers and tied down, one car winched into it's own trailer, but with a rear wheel gone, not an easy task.  Everything gets handled, thanks to assistance from a lot of the drivers.  But, on wintessing what happened, I think they learned something. Many of the drivers were there in basially street cars, several drove that car there, with just a set of slicks and a few tools in the back.  Safety equipment... a helmet, and maybe some racing seat belts.  Yes, that's fine, it's a great way to get into this game without going broke.  But what if something happens?  Since that day, guys are looking at trailers. Not only can they haul their car home if it breaks, but they don't have to unload everything every time.  They're adding harness bars, getting their seats mounted more securely  New, six-point seat belts with anti-sub belts......FIRE EXTINGUISHERS!!   A couple of drivers are even getting roll bars or full cages, window nets, HANS devices, and everyone is doing the maintenance they'd been neglecting.  Usually, it takes a trip to the hospital before people realize that while this is fun, and 99.5% safe,  when something goes wrong, it can go very wrong.  We were lucky, only two bruised people and a couple of mangled wallets. 
Upon later inspection, the 996 motor had failed internally, coolant into the oil, pushing the oil out the dipstick tube onto the exhaust.   That little 16 oz. extinuisher was just enough to keep it from growing.... that car is getting a new heart and will be back.
The 930 Turbo, as first quick look, didn't appear to be hurt too badly...but then we got back to the shop, and the entire car was twisted.  The cage did a beautiful job of protecting the occupants, but the chassis was bent at every mounting point, where the force of impact went around that solid structure instead of through it.  It's now reduced to a pile of parts and a front clip.....most of which will probably appear on eBay soon. 
The point to this story is take care of your car, it will take care of you.  Safety is not the place to save a few dollars.  Before you get in your racecar again, take a look and ask if there's anything you could do better.   As one of our guys said when he was getting his hans device "It's cheaper than a wheelchair."  .... now get out there, have a good time, and be safe.  See you in the paddock.