Bill Howell 72 Charger hit wall in Reno HAN

[jlcustomz]

If the castings had a weak spot in that area, a properly welded version would be an improvement.

[parsonsj]

I would think those spindles are forged, but who knows...

Me too, but the boys over on CorvetteForum say they are "pressure cast" which is stronger than standard casting (called "gravity casting"), but not as strong as forging.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Glad nobody was hurt and in true car guy racing fashion it's back on the road and racing. We don't build them to polish them and sit around staring how pretty they look. Much respect for driving it hard, break it, fix it and go back to driving it hard. Much respect Bill.

[captainofiron]

John,

I would think those spindles are forged, but who knows...

Do we actually know what happened?

Andrew

you can see the marks from where the casting dies separate, also forged parts never have that orange peel looking finish because forged parts are machined to get their shape, while cast parts are cast to the initial shape, and machined to get the final details/shape

Me too, but the boys over on CorvetteForum say they are "pressure cast" which is stronger than standard casting (called "gravity casting"), but not as strong as forging.

pressure casting usually pushes air bubbles out first, but if your die/form is poorly designed and/or the pour is wrong you can end up with air pockets either way

[SicMonte]

Hey guys. I was there working the event with Bill...saw the incident first hand...worked on the car...was at the welding shop...and helped put it all back together.

Bill was fine from the incident, car is back together, and we all will race another day!

This was a testament of the safety in that car and a good lesson to everyone who was in the crowd. This was the first time an autox was at this event and it really hit home that anything can happen at these events and to take the track seriously even if it is a short autox course. Bill is a stickler for safety and made sure he had his harness strapped up and tight every run...and good thing he did! After this everyone tightened up their harnesses for sure!!!

A video from the event.