A Day at Lime Rock turns Somber...

Prayers for Mr Duran and his family.

The article said "blue '34 MG," is that also him in the red #153?

This pic is from Lime Rock's site, from the 2010 vintage weekend.

Tragic loss for driver (an avid participant still at age 72) and also for vintage sport racing as well.  I'm sure he'd have rather gone out doing what he loved than in his sleep. Not familiar with '34 MG PA - can only picture those tall spindly wire wheels with ultra narrow tires racing.  

Those cars have a terrible centre of gravity, and with those spindly wheels and tires, I can imagine how difficult it would be to correct a spin/slide.

So sorry to hear of this.

Along with the high center of gravity, the safety improvements of those cars is a joke. The rollbars are not even close to high enough to protect the driver. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/albionphoto/5305998467/

This link will show you the car and the now gone driver. His head is clearly above the rollbar and the rollbar doesn't appear to have a diagonal to prevent it folding over. It is a very sad day indeed, and although it is awesome to see these cars run, they really can't be made safe. Racing is dangerous, even vintage racing.

R.I.P. Lee Duran. 

I missed all of this, wandering around after lunch. I saw the ambulance go but then heard and saw nothing & left the track less than an hour later after an amazing day. 

Thanks again to Danny for what might be the ride of my life. 

I was pretty amazed watching the old car (early) races that lots of them go without any roll bar. In the first race there were three huge beasts--two straight-8 Stutz's and a Bentley--running alongside a Morgan 3-wheeler about the size of a coffee table. Bars on none of them and all I could think was, "be damn careful out there, boys."

Watching them go you could see that some of them were doing everything they could to go fast. It's real racing and so this is what happens sometimes.

Maybe worth noting too that a 72-year-old guy (or even a 52-year-old) won't have the muscle strength to duck under in a medium-speed roll the way 22-year-old guys sometimes did in the old days. 

Great day ends in sadness.

I didn't know the driver or his car.

He would have turned old enough to drive in 1958.

He would have seen lots of racing over the years. Much of it with no roll bars or four point harnesses. Before there were nomex suits. Some of it in hairy-assed jalopies that stared death in the face in every corner. On dirt tracks. On tight, narrow ovals. On tracks that weren't really tracks at all.

He probably witnessed some grim moments in his years. Watched some men get hurt, and maybe even die. And probably got through some tight spots of his own that he knew he had no right to. He likely said his share of silent prayers, shrugged it off, and learned a little more about the game he was playing.

He could have been driving a modern car. In a different kind of competition. He could have been enjoying all the technology that a hundred years of experience have developed to protect us from every possible sin a man might commit behind the wheel.

He probably knew that little tube behind him wouldn't help much if he ever really needed it.

But I'm relatively certain he didn't give a damn.

Sad news, Gordon! Re-iterates the (very real) dangers of racing, no matter the car, driver age or track condition. R.I.P. Lee Duran!

It was great fun to see everyone at Limerock on Sat !! And very sad to have lost Lee Duran.  I was at a party at a friends last summer with Lee and his wife. I did not get a chance to talk with Lee then so I looked him up the next week at the Vintage RACES. We talked about the party, his cars and racing. This year on Saturday I went to see him in paddock B but he was talking with someone else and hurrying  to get to the staging area, his race was lining up. I thought it would be better to come back and visit after his race.......  When I heard about his death on the news I called my friend who had the party and was a close friend of Lee. My friend Bob had talked with his wife when she got home,she said Lee was having trouble with his car on Fri. removed a part from the car drove home to his shop worked on the part for 4 hours and came back to the track and installed it. She told Bob the repaired part had something to do with the stearing. I am sure I will hear more when the car is examined closer by the guy that works on his car with him.  A great day and very sad at the same time. Be Safe   Dan

I spoke yesterday with B.S. Levy (the author and race car driver) and he said a friend of his saw Duran's front wheels go caterwhumpus just before he flipped. He was sure something broke on the car to cause the accident.

He went on to say Duran only had a lap belt on, though I have vid of his earlier race and it looks very much like he had the shoulder harness on then.

Trouble is, the roll bar is just too dang low. The extra belt would not have mattered. 

I haven't been to Lime Rock but have seen vintage races at Watkins Glen and Schenley Park in Pittsburgh.  Always amazed at the older cars broad sliding through the turns without any rollbars...particularly scary at the first and second turns at Limerock.  Can't believe they still allow them to compete full-out like that.