RIP, Dr. John Hinds, MD, Who Died July 4, 2015 While Providing "Medical Coverage" at the Skerries 100 Motorcycle Road Race....

If you stop by here, please read and watch the videos. 

This is a remarkable young man. Wow, am I bummed-out and sad as I write this. Where to start?

Many years ago I did some motorcycle road racing. Raced 250cc to 650cc, though doubt if I went more than 130mph (today, some production out-of-the-box motorcycles can reach 180 mph plus). For three years co-rode in a five-hour road race at VIR that was always a lot of fun.

And, yes, I came off a few times. Was scraped-up a little and sore for a couple of weeks or so. Thankfully, my leathers, boots, and helmet usually took the brunt of the crashes.

Where am I going? Hmmm....

Anyway, have always been fascinated with the races at the Isle of Man. Here's a link to my posting about those races. Also, Irish road racing that uses regular highway roads and streets that run through cities. The racers reach speeds of almost 200 mph and are inches from stone walls, curbings, and all of the other things we have on regular streets and roads. 

There's no room for error. On what might be called today's sanitized circuits, designed for racing with run off areas and sand and gravel traps where riders come off with little or no injuries, the street racers in Ireland have no such luxuries. With riders averaging over 130 mph there are almost no minor crashes. I would imagine that many of the riders may feel that a crash that resulted in a few weeks in a hospital would be a good crash-as opposed to dying.  I've watched eight or ten interviews with the racers and they all mentioned the dangerousness, as being an attraction.

Though I've spent hours reading and watching videos about the Isle of Man races and Irish road 
racing, I'd never heard of Dr. Hinds until by chance, last night, I learned of his death.

As I best understand from reading several articles, Dr. John and an associate would follow behind the racers on the first lap so that they could give almost instantaneous medical care and treatment to those who crash. Then, they would standby waiting until they were needed. Seems Dr. John rode about as fast as the racers. Also, mentioned that for the races in Ireland there wasn't an air ambulance for which he had been advocating

This post has been languishing as a draft for a few weeks. I just need to get this posted.

Here is a presentation that Dr. John made, explaining what he did. And, here is a tribute to him.

I've often thought about the Isle of Man and Irish road races and pondered, should they be allowed? People are going to die, period. It's not an if, it's a when and how many.

NASCAR, has spectacular crashes but rarely does a driver get injured, much less die.

There are a group of racers who seem to be drawn to the Isle of Man and the Irish road races because of how dangerous the races are. The moths to the flames.......

Joey Dunlop was killed road racing. There were 50,000 at his funeral. Robert Dunlop, Joey's brother was killed road racing.  Today, two of Robert's sons are racing.

North West 200 and Irish Road Racing. Those who have died.

Year	Rider	Series	Ref
1939	Norman Wainwright	North West 200	[122]
1949	P. L. Phillips	North West 200	[123]
1951	William Bennison	North West 200	[124]
1955	Julian Crossley	Ulster Grand Prix	[125]
1956	Bill Aislabie	North West 200	[126]
1956	Derek Ennett	Ulster Grand Prix	[127]
1961	Carl Todd	Killinchy 150	[128]
1961	Ron Miles	Ulster Grand Prix	[129]
1970	Andy Manship	North West 200	[130]
1973	Graham Fish	North West 200	[131]
1974	Norman Connor	Killinchy 150	[132]
1977	Geoff Barry	Killinchy 150	[133]
1977	George Oates	Ulster Grand Prix	[134]
1977	John Molyneux	Ulster Grand Prix	[135]
1978	Monty Swann	Ulster Grand Prix	[136]
1978	John Williams	Ulster Grand Prix	[137]
1979	Brian Hamilton	North West 200	[138]
1979	Tom Herron	North West 200	[108][vague]
1979	Frank Kennedy	North West 200	[139]
1980	Mervyn Robinson	North West 200	[140]
1982	John Newbold	North West 200	[108][vague]
1983	Gerard Frame	Killinchy 150	[141]
1986	Pat McLaughlin	North West 200	[142]
1986	Stephen Smyth	Ulster Grand Prix	[143]
1987	Steve Bull	North West 200	[144]
1987	Elaine Surgenor	Killinchy 150	[145]
1987	Klaus Klein	Ulster Grand Prix	[146]
1992	Oral Watson	Tandragee 100
1992	Steve Johnson	Ulster Grand Prix	[147]
1994	Geoff Calvin	Dundrod 150	[148]
1996	Daniel Humphreys	Tandragee 100	[149]
1997	Steven Galligan	Ulster Grand Prix	[150]
1999	Donny Robinson	North West 200	[151]
1999	Owen McNally	Ulster Grand Prix	[152]
2001	Gerald Allaway	Ulster Grand Prix	[153]
2002	Gary Jess	Ulster Grand Prix	[154]
2004	Andy Wallace	Ulster Grand Prix	[155]
2006	Darran Lindsay	Killalane Road Races	[108][vague]
2007	John Donnan	Tandragee 100
2008	Robert Dunlop	North West 200	[108][vague]
2008	Martin Finnegan	Tandragee 100	[108][vague]
2009	Mark Young	North West 200	[108][vague]
2010	Victor Gilmore	Killalane Road Races	[156]
2012	Mark Buckley	North West 200	[157]
2012	Lee Vernon	Dundrod 150	[158]
2014	Noel Murphy	Tandragee 100	[159]
2014	Simon Andrews	North West 200	[160]