Help Blake to walk again in 2010!
02-17-2010, 12:02 AM
#1
Help Blake to walk again in 2010! Help Blake to walk again in 2010!
A fellow racer and car enthusiast needs your help. Nitrous Outlet is stepping forward to help Blake over come this tragic accident and gain the ability to walk again in 2010. We can not do this with out your help. As I share this tragic story with you I ask you to read careful as there is an important lesson that Blake and Nitrous Outlet wants you to hear.
On July, 24th 2009 Blake was working in his shop when he picked up a 10lb nitrous bottle to move it out of the walking path and it un expectantly exploded moments after it was sat under a work bench. The explosion caused serious injuries to Blake causing him to loose his leg and sub stain many injuries.
Before I go into explaining how it happened, how it could have been avoided and what all his injuries consist of I want to give you an idea of the force of the explosion.
Blake and his friend Chris were working in a 30x25 shop with a work section of about 24x26 framed in for work space. The shops construction consists of wood framing and galvanized ten exterior. The force of the explosion was enough to push the roof and walls outwards from the framing leaving 3 inches of nails protruding after the blast. It blew all the windows out of the building and there were bottle fragments everywhere. The explosion launched tools from inside the shop on the work bench into a pick up bed parked outside.
When the bottle exploded Blake was about 3 feet away from the bottle. The explosion blew Blake’s leg completely off right below the knee cap. The shrapnel from the bottle shot through the air like flying bullets going through Blake’s arms and causing lacerations and deep cuts.
Blake’s Girl friend had just started to walk into the shop when this happened. She was about 15 feet away when the concussion from the explosion lifted her off her feet and landing her on the ground. She suffered ruptured ear drums and bruised lungs.
Chris was standing on the opposite side of the shop when the explosion happened and luckily a car separating him from the bottle took the grunt of the explosion. Chris describes the power of the blast as defining and comparable to a grown man aggressively shoving you.
People in the neighborhood felt the explosion and described it as sounding and feeling like a bomb went off.
Now I want you to keep in mind all this power was released from a 10lb nitrous bottle that was only half full.
Now let’s talk about how this happen and how it may have been avoided. This nitrous bottle was 7 years out of certification and was removed from a car purchased almost a year prior to the accident. Just like an oxygen tank or any other cylinder you may have in your work shop a nitrous bottle is suppose to be recertified over a period of time. If this bottle would have been checked and certified like the manufacture suggests this may not have happened.
The Dot preliminary report from DOT states there were micro fractures in the bottle caused by excessive heat. According to Blake and several of his friends the bottle still looked as good as the day it came from the manufacture. The label still looked new and the powder coating had no dull spots that would have been caused by someone using a torch to heat it.
Since Blake obtained this bottle second hand he does not know the exact way it was treated or used before it came into his possession. The bottle had a wrap around heater element on it with no pressure switch to regulate the heat. It is believed that in the past the owner over heated the bottle enough times to weaken the physical composition of the bottle creating weak spots in the side wall.
The lesson here is simple. We all take for granted that the tanks we strap to our backs to go scuba diving, or the tanks we have supplying our welder in the shop, or the air tank for the shifter in the race car ETC. pack force. They have to be respected and treated correctly. The manufactures of these tanks give certification dates for a reason.
For you guys using a torch to heat your bottle and thinking to your self as you read this it would never happen to me. Well guess what, it can.
For you guys that like buying used parts. The nitrous tank may be one investment better fit for purchasing new. If you do choose to purchase a used tank from someone you do not know get it re certified.
For you guys using a bottle heater with no pressure switch. Get one.
Now I know this is a very rare accordance. I was shocked when I heard it for myself. Just so happens I was at work when it hit the news and people started calling the store. I thought the news worded it wrong and as all the roomers started flying around town and people started making guesses to what happened. I learned it was one of our own. Blake is a local here. He is the type of guy many other racers rely on for a helping hand and a big smile. Now Blake needs a helping hand and we need your help to give back.
Blake’s injuries were serious. He was lucky to escape the explosion with his life. When he was rushed to the emergency they were not sure what the outcome would be. Do to the injuries and blood loss it took time to get him stable. Blake spent 25 days in the hospital undergoing surgeries and staying in critical care. They ended up having to amputate what was left of Blake’s leg above the knee. He suffered nerve damage and had to have skin grafts as well as having to learn to use his hand again. This is just a touch on the surgeries that took place during and after his stay in the hospital.
Blake’s current condition is stable and he is progressing. However due to no insurance and no money, the hospital bills have stacked up. He has sold all his race car stuff to try to help with bills. He is now wheel chair restricted and since he has no way of getting up and moving around he is putting on weight. Blake needs exercise and freedom from his wheel chair and we can give him that with your help.
I have talked with a company that builds prosthetics and they have told us they would give us a hand to help us reach our goal. They are willing to build Blake a leg at a huge discount in order to make our goal reachable. Blake has recently went and met with them and we are looking somewhere in the 7,000 dollar range to purchase Blake’s leg at a huge discount.
I will be talking with some racetracks to find one willing to work with us to host a charity race with proceeds going to meeting our goal.
Blake currently has a website called. www.awalkwithblake.com On this website you can read about Blake’s story as well as bid on his silent auctions for some great racing products and promotional items from many name brand companies. You can also make donations or purchase grab bags to help Blake with his expenses. Blake also has a Blog where he types about how he is doing and what is currently happening. I urge you to visit his site and keep in mind something as small as 50 cents could make a huge difference in this mans future.
You can make the difference! Look forward to seeing a race with proceeds going to reaching our goal of helping Blake walk again!
Thank you for your help.
Nitro Dave
A fellow racer and car enthusiast needs your help. Nitrous Outlet is stepping forward to help Blake over come this tragic accident and gain the ability to walk again in 2010. We can not do this with out your help. As I share this tragic story with you I ask you to read careful as there is an important lesson that Blake and Nitrous Outlet wants you to hear.
On July, 24th 2009 Blake was working in his shop when he picked up a 10lb nitrous bottle to move it out of the walking path and it un expectantly exploded moments after it was sat under a work bench. The explosion caused serious injuries to Blake causing him to loose his leg and sub stain many injuries.
Before I go into explaining how it happened, how it could have been avoided and what all his injuries consist of I want to give you an idea of the force of the explosion.
Blake and his friend Chris were working in a 30x25 shop with a work section of about 24x26 framed in for work space. The shops construction consists of wood framing and galvanized ten exterior. The force of the explosion was enough to push the roof and walls outwards from the framing leaving 3 inches of nails protruding after the blast. It blew all the windows out of the building and there were bottle fragments everywhere. The explosion launched tools from inside the shop on the work bench into a pick up bed parked outside.
When the bottle exploded Blake was about 3 feet away from the bottle. The explosion blew Blake’s leg completely off right below the knee cap. The shrapnel from the bottle shot through the air like flying bullets going through Blake’s arms and causing lacerations and deep cuts.
Blake’s Girl friend had just started to walk into the shop when this happened. She was about 15 feet away when the concussion from the explosion lifted her off her feet and landing her on the ground. She suffered ruptured ear drums and bruised lungs.
Chris was standing on the opposite side of the shop when the explosion happened and luckily a car separating him from the bottle took the grunt of the explosion. Chris describes the power of the blast as defining and comparable to a grown man aggressively shoving you.
People in the neighborhood felt the explosion and described it as sounding and feeling like a bomb went off.
Now I want you to keep in mind all this power was released from a 10lb nitrous bottle that was only half full.
Now let’s talk about how this happen and how it may have been avoided. This nitrous bottle was 7 years out of certification and was removed from a car purchased almost a year prior to the accident. Just like an oxygen tank or any other cylinder you may have in your work shop a nitrous bottle is suppose to be recertified over a period of time. If this bottle would have been checked and certified like the manufacture suggests this may not have happened.
The Dot preliminary report from DOT states there were micro fractures in the bottle caused by excessive heat. According to Blake and several of his friends the bottle still looked as good as the day it came from the manufacture. The label still looked new and the powder coating had no dull spots that would have been caused by someone using a torch to heat it.
Since Blake obtained this bottle second hand he does not know the exact way it was treated or used before it came into his possession. The bottle had a wrap around heater element on it with no pressure switch to regulate the heat. It is believed that in the past the owner over heated the bottle enough times to weaken the physical composition of the bottle creating weak spots in the side wall.
The lesson here is simple. We all take for granted that the tanks we strap to our backs to go scuba diving, or the tanks we have supplying our welder in the shop, or the air tank for the shifter in the race car ETC. pack force. They have to be respected and treated correctly. The manufactures of these tanks give certification dates for a reason.
For you guys using a torch to heat your bottle and thinking to your self as you read this it would never happen to me. Well guess what, it can.
For you guys that like buying used parts. The nitrous tank may be one investment better fit for purchasing new. If you do choose to purchase a used tank from someone you do not know get it re certified.
For you guys using a bottle heater with no pressure switch. Get one.
Now I know this is a very rare accordance. I was shocked when I heard it for myself. Just so happens I was at work when it hit the news and people started calling the store. I thought the news worded it wrong and as all the roomers started flying around town and people started making guesses to what happened. I learned it was one of our own. Blake is a local here. He is the type of guy many other racers rely on for a helping hand and a big smile. Now Blake needs a helping hand and we need your help to give back.
Blake’s injuries were serious. He was lucky to escape the explosion with his life. When he was rushed to the emergency they were not sure what the outcome would be. Do to the injuries and blood loss it took time to get him stable. Blake spent 25 days in the hospital undergoing surgeries and staying in critical care. They ended up having to amputate what was left of Blake’s leg above the knee. He suffered nerve damage and had to have skin grafts as well as having to learn to use his hand again. This is just a touch on the surgeries that took place during and after his stay in the hospital.
Blake’s current condition is stable and he is progressing. However due to no insurance and no money, the hospital bills have stacked up. He has sold all his race car stuff to try to help with bills. He is now wheel chair restricted and since he has no way of getting up and moving around he is putting on weight. Blake needs exercise and freedom from his wheel chair and we can give him that with your help.
I have talked with a company that builds prosthetics and they have told us they would give us a hand to help us reach our goal. They are willing to build Blake a leg at a huge discount in order to make our goal reachable. Blake has recently went and met with them and we are looking somewhere in the 7,000 dollar range to purchase Blake’s leg at a huge discount.
I will be talking with some racetracks to find one willing to work with us to host a charity race with proceeds going to meeting our goal.
Blake currently has a website called. www.awalkwithblake.com On this website you can read about Blake’s story as well as bid on his silent auctions for some great racing products and promotional items from many name brand companies. You can also make donations or purchase grab bags to help Blake with his expenses. Blake also has a Blog where he types about how he is doing and what is currently happening. I urge you to visit his site and keep in mind something as small as 50 cents could make a huge difference in this mans future.
You can make the difference! Look forward to seeing a race with proceeds going to reaching our goal of helping Blake walk again!
Thank you for your help.
Nitro Dave
02-17-2010, 11:49 AM
#4
10 Second Club
iTrader: (16)
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 434
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What a horrible tragedy!
Every time I see someone use a torch to heat the bottle, I take it upon myself to warn them. Although I had never personally seen this happen, I know it to be true. I hate to hear about Blake and will definitely visit his website.
Dave, could you share with everyone the "whens" and "how tos" of re-certifying a nitrous bottle?
Every time I see someone use a torch to heat the bottle, I take it upon myself to warn them. Although I had never personally seen this happen, I know it to be true. I hate to hear about Blake and will definitely visit his website.
Dave, could you share with everyone the "whens" and "how tos" of re-certifying a nitrous bottle?
02-17-2010, 11:53 AM
#5
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (32)
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The great state of Tejas!
Posts: 638
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wow Dave!
Sorry to hear something like this happen to a fellow racer.
I sure hope the $$$ is raised to purchase a new leg for him.
My prayers will be with him and having friends like you really helps out!
Sorry to hear something like this happen to a fellow racer.
I sure hope the $$$ is raised to purchase a new leg for him.
My prayers will be with him and having friends like you really helps out!
Trending Topics
02-18-2010, 10:08 PM
#12
Dave, I would like to find out how to get my bottle certified. i believe it has never been heated up at all was just used once or twice a few years ago to get some dyno numbers but i'd rather be safe than sorry.
02-19-2010, 07:41 PM
#14
8 Second Club
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: South Hill, Va
Posts: 453
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My prayers and thoughts are with him. I know we have all used a torch to heat our bottle up in the lanes when we're in a hurry and we never think about what could happen.
02-22-2010, 02:36 AM
#17
thoughts go out to him and his family.... I think I mentioned somthing about nitrogen under pressure, because of its massive expansion rate when it goes from liquid to vapor, on another thread.... these are the stories we heard at Halliburton when we worked with it but its always sucks to say the least when you hear them...
So again my thoughts go out to him and his family... my father is missing half is leg too from a work accident so I know what its like....a long hard road, but I bet he can walk again if he puts his mind to it and he gets his new prosthetic...
So again my thoughts go out to him and his family... my father is missing half is leg too from a work accident so I know what its like....a long hard road, but I bet he can walk again if he puts his mind to it and he gets his new prosthetic...
02-22-2010, 02:52 AM
#18
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Jersey
Posts: 1,821
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Damnnn.. my prayers are with him. I'll be sure to check his website, but let him know that the lord has mysterious ways of correcting things and with faith he'll get his life back in shape
