• Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.

Tampa Corvette Owner Killed

JIM KILL

JIM KILL

TampaBay Vettes
Sad Day!!

LAND O'LAKES — Around lunchtime Friday, Charles Campbell drove to SunTrust bank to cash a check. He pulled out of the lot and onto the entrance to State Road 54, a little west of U.S. 41. At the stop sign, he paused. Traffic was coming, but he could have made it. But something in him said to wait.

At that very moment, there was an explosion. A black 1997 Corvette traveling west on SR 54 lost control, skidded over the grass median and crashed into a truck hauling a trailer.

I'm going to get hit, Campbell thought, and clenched his body. There was nothing he could do to stop it or get out of the way. Debris showered over his truck like a glass and metal hail storm.

The Corvette spun, its driver ejected into a telephone pole. The truck, with three men inside, overturned in the air, inches from Campbell, and landed on its roof.

"It happened so fast," said Campbell, 50, still trembling more than an hour after the crash. Sweat poured off his body and his hands shook as he stood, with other bystanders, along the crime scene tape.

After the vehicles came to rest, Campbell jumped out of his car, called 911 and ran to the man thrown from the Corvette. It was a grisly site. Campbell had never seen someone dead, other than at a funeral. He felt so sad for the stranger.

Then Campbell ran to the truck. They seemed okay, though cut up and one seemed to have a broken leg. Two were flown by helicopter to a hospital.

The Florida Highway Patrol identified the Corvette driver as Andy William Suarez, 34, of Tampa. The driver of the truck was Abel Ortega Jr. of Plant City. His injuries are listed as minor. Passengers were Abel Ortega-Fernandez Sr., 62, also of Plant City, with serious injuries, and Fabin Villegas, who is not listed as injured.

Eastbound traffic was stopped for about 1 1/2 hours before one lane was cleared. Cars were backed up and one woman in a black car held her hand on her horn in impatience, either unaware or uncaring that a man still lay dead under a sheet on the side of the road.

A young married couple, David and Kelly Valdez, passed the wreck and then went to their church to pray for those in the crash. Then they parked close by and stood with the others, watching troopers investigate. Kelly, 25, kept wiping tears from her eyes for a man she never met but felt such sorrow for, all the same.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/accidents/article695373.ece

Erin Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4609.
 
Sad. Ejected usually means no seatbelt worn.....hope that wasn't the case as it may have saved him. Glad there were no other fatalities.
 
Sorry to hear about this. Was it during one of our rainstorms? Condolences to the family members.
 
Very sorry to hear that.:( It just goes to show that things can happen QUICK. I'm sure the last thing on the 'vette owners mind was that he was taking his last ride. Hope the folks in the truck are OK. My condolences go out to everyone involved.
 
Damn sad......... Any noted cause of the accident? Wet roads made him hydroplane or something?
 
Shadow said:
That's not a good thing:(

They don't do that for cuts, bruises and a broken leg:(
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Youd be surprised. The day of my accident, i had to ride an hour in the ambulance to the hospital cause they felt the guy who dropped his bike needed bayflight. he walked out of the hospital 2hrs later, while i spent 10 days in there.

Either way, being ejected into a pole has got to be a crappy way to go, prolly good thing it was quick.
 
I think thy guy was driving too fast and lost it. I could be wrong, but i think speed had something to do with the wreck.
 
Chaz,

Not to chage the tone of the tread or try to 2nd guess the dead, but I've thought the same thing.

We've had some God awful rainstorms recently (didn't say whether it was raining at the time?) and hydroplaning in these cars is easy to do.

Sometimes we all forget:(
 
Actually I believe a lot of people don't really know how to drive on wet roads at all. I've had people passing me like I was standing still throwing huge plumes of water off of the sides of their vehicle. Many people don't realize that when you hit water on the road, your tires aren't even contacting the road surface. So if you make a turn of the steering wheel, the car doesn't react, they try to over compensate by turning the wheel more, THEN the column of water under the tires goes away and they car leaps sideways suddenly, usually heading off at a sharp angle, or swapping ends at high speed.

People should drive on snow and ice at least once in their lifetime. You learn a lot about how to control a car when the steering wheel feels slightly disconnected from the car.
 
Shadow said:
Chaz,

Not to chage the tone of the tread or try to 2nd guess the dead, but I've thought the same thing.

We've had some God awful rainstorms recently (didn't say whether it was raining at the time?) and hydroplaning in these cars is easy to do.

Sometimes we all forget:(
Click to expand...

Also not trying to hijack the thread, but you guys maybe on to something.

We mod our cars to get the most out of them, which a lot of times means putting tires on that are sticky in the dry, but terrible in the wet weather. Plus, if you are running OEM tires, the factory runcraps are not great rain tires (at least the EMTs that came on my '01 vert. Maybe the newer C6 EMTs are better). This is one of the reasons why I decided a couple years ago, to remove the EMTs (and give up that convenience) for a tire that performs well in the dry AND wet conditions. I decided to put the Goodyear GS D3s on my '01. I also put a small compressor (similar to what the C5 Z06s have) in the trunk. I got better traction in the dry and much better traction and stability during rainy conditions. If you look at this picture I took shortly after I replaced my tires, you can see the tread pattern that funnels water out of the tire patch.

C5_Tires-2.jpg


I am not suggesting that everyone go buy these tires, although they have been great on my '01 vert and I am considering putting them on my Z06, they are a SIGNIFICANT upgrade to the orignial runcraps and also give me great dry performance for more spirited driving. IF you know what I mean? :yesnod:

Sorry, not trying to turn this into a tire thread, but just thought this might add to comments about weather conditions at the time of the accident.

Rich
 
That's probably going to be the crux of the matter unfortunately:(

The tread patter and siping grooves on a tire make all the difference in the world in wet weather.

You can still have a good dry weather tread compound and have a good wet weather tread pattern:thumbsup:

Anyone want to start a tire thread? If so we can move the last 2 post over to it and get a discussion going:thumbsup:

If not, then I'll just leave them here.
 
Shadow said:
That's not a good thing:(

They don't do that for cuts, bruises and a broken leg:(
Click to expand...

Sometimes the bird flys them out due to "Mechanism of injury" as in how bad the crash looks. It's some set standards they have for intrusion into the cabin area a certian amount etc... Not always simply based on injuries sustained.
 
Z06 Rocket said:
Sometimes the bird flys them out due to "Mechanism of injury" as in how bad the crash looks. It's some set standards they have for intrusion into the cabin area a certian amount etc... Not always simply based on injuries sustained.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that makes sense. They may have to just assume there are potentially non-visible internal injuries that could be life threatening. The more parts of the car intruding into the cabin, the more likely this would be the case.
 
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