Ted Harbit doing well after Saturday 9th accident

anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

guys on MOPARTS are saying Ted rolled the Chickenhawk at Muncie Dragway today.......

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5219122&an=0&page=0&gonew=1#UNREAD

reported away and responsive while they cut him out of the car......

I hope he is all right, will post updates if I can find any

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

there is cofirmation that Ted was in an accident on a Stude board, no other details......

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Anyone hear anything overnight?

Sad about the car, but thankfully he came through it. Mucho prayers for a complete and speedy recovery. I remember running up against him in that car in the mid 60's at Milan.....

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

I found this:

Just got this from Bob Palma... The car is a loss. But at least the legend himself is okay. Hang in there Ted. We're all pullin' for ya.







I just received a call from Mary Ann Harbit and have her permission and blessing to pass along the following information:

Ted Harbit is being treated at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie IN for the following major injuries following his accident this evening at The Muncie Dragway. In addition to bumps, bruises, and scratches, he received one collapsed lung, a broken right scapula, and two broken lumbar bones. (They told her lumbar bones, not lumbar discs. I clarified that with her in that I had not heard of lumbar bones either.)

He never lost consciousness and was talking to her from the Emergency Room. She said it would be OK for Cari and I to come visit him tomorrow (Sunday) early afternoon after church, so that's what we will do.
As for what happened: He rolled The Chicken Hawk TEN TIMES just after completing the eighth-mile at The Muncie Dragway this evening, in that they were running only the eighth tonight.

They told her something let loose in the engine room and sprayed the underside of the car with oil. It lost traction and he lost control. It hit the guard rail hard enough to flip over the guard rail and begin rolling. It rolled so many times that he ultimately hit the sign posts holding the signs that signal the times and ETs...and the sign posts are located at the end of the quarter-mile strip!

We should not assume "the engine blew" or anything, because that is not known. It might have been something as simple as an oil line to a turbocharger letting go. I'll find out tomorrow if Ted knows what happened.

Needless to say, after 47 years of running who knows how many times at The Muncie Dragway, The Chicken Hawk has been destroyed. Ted turned 74 years of age this past weekend, and the number of times that car has blistered The Muncie Dragway drag strip surely numbers in the thousands.

Mary Ann said they plan to keep him at least a week, so if anyone wants to send a card or other well-wishes, here's the address:

Ted Harbit
c/o Ball Memorial Hospital
2401 West University Avenue
Muncie IN 47303-3428

The Chicken Hawk is/was equipped with a full roll cage, and, of course, Ted wears a professional body harness and full helmet at all times. Those and the Grace of God have enabled us to still have our friend Ted Harbit with us.

Keep him in your prayers. (For those of you on The Studebaker Drivers Club Forum, as you know, the forum has been down. But when it is up, I'll post this report.)

Good night & God Bless. Bob Palma

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Terrible news, I hope Ted is going to be OK. Just terrible

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Get well soon Ted,wishing you a speedy full recovery.

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Get well soon!! We know that getting back to the track will be the best medicine for Ted!!!!

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Get well soon Ted .I didn't really know him very well until last season he and I showed up at Muncie dragway on wednesdays for test and tune a bunch of times.He is a class act and a great guy.Hope to see you at Martin Ted.:3gears:

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Thankfully Ted should recover from his ordeal. The Chicken Hawk may be a different story however. I found this picture over on the H.A.M.B. site. Roll bars can be your best friend sometimes.....

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Amazing that he was not injured worse.The safety equipment did it's job.

The car is destroyed, unfortunately. SAD:ball:

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Thats sad as a huge part of racing history was destroyed.. I am just glad the Bigger part of history survived in Ted who is a very cool guy. Best wishes and prayers coming your way Ted we are all thinking of you .

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Best wishes to Ted, hope he gets well soon. Very sad news to hear.

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

was at the track and saw the end of the wreck. first of all GET WELL SOON TED cant wait to see you back at the track !! that was one of the most terrifying wrecks that i have seen in person, very scary wreck. thankfully ted should recover fine although it will take some time because he did get beat up pretty hard. it was a very violent wreck flipping over the guardrail then flipping many times before hitting the scoreboard at least 10 to15 feet in the air which was a very hard impact luckily when he hit the scoreboard he hit it with the rear of the car the impact was so hard that the scoreboard post drove the center of the rear bumper all the way to the rear end housing basically the rear end housing hitting the huge I-beam post brought the car to a stop. this was a very hard impact and sudden stop hard enough to destroy the scoreboard and post. this was a very very scary accident and we should all be thankful that ted is still with us !!!! as for the car unfortunately one of history's most famous cars is a total loss. that is a shame ! the chicken hawk deserved to retire in a museum with its fellow famous cars of all time !

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Tough break for Ted, we'll all say a prayer for his quick recovery. I hate to see anybody lose a car that way, especially, the Chickenhawk.

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Here's the latest from Bob Palma:


Hello again, all:

Cari and I just got back from spending an hour this afternoon with Ted, Mary Ann, and Missy in Ted's Room #7111 at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie. He is doing well, all things considered, but sure has enough bumps, bruises, and scrapes, in addition to three broken bones and a punctured lung, to keep the staff busy inventorying the nature and severity of each injury. None are life-threatening...but taken together, it was quite a beating for a 74-year-old man.

He was alert and conversant, entirely "with it" the entire time we were there. 'Didn't miss a beat or fail to recall anything you might expect him to know, so I'd say there is no mental damage or memory loss of any kind. The only injury to his head appears to be small scrapes at the bridge of his nose between his eyes, where his helmet must have cut him a little. They didn't even have a band-aid on the area, it was so small. Good helmet!

He's speaking fine and clear, although it hurts when he laughs. Mary Ann said, "That's OK; make him laugh, Bob."

Actually, I already had. When I got there and walked over to the bed, he was smiling and the first thing I said was, with a stern look on my face, "Now what have you done, Ted?" He got a chuckle out of that and the whole visit couldn't have been more pleasant.

OK, details: One rib apparently punctured his left lung, but sprung back and did not break. They have a tube draining that lung, which is considered collapsed until it kind of self-repairs, from what they said. The wound is not considered severe, although real and does require draining to avoid subsequent pressure on his heart, from what he was told. (I don't claim to be much of a medical authority, so if this doesn't make sense, I apologize.)

He has two broken lumbar bones in his middle lower back, but they are expected to heal themselves and no surgery is planned.

Finally, he has a broken right scapula and his right arm is in a sling to keep that steady for healing. Notable bruises include especially painful ones at the top of his right arm and on his left thigh, just above the knee. The one on the thigh is about the size of a softball, Mary Ann said. I took her word for it and did not request an examination. He said the knee itself was quite painful this morning, but that had abated by this afternoon. Other abrasions were scattered about; his right hand was bandaged up because skin was scraped off the backside. There was some scraping on the back of the left hand, but not enough to have been bandaged

They had just returned to the room from X-ray (again!) when we arrived; the techs wanted to have a second look at that upper right arm area near the shoulder, to make sure nothing else was broken. That had come back OK right away. He said lunch was unusually good, but he enjoyed it a lot more the first time he had it, if you know what I mean. He was able to get out of bed, tubes attached, to get in the wheel chair for trips to & from X-ray. No problems walking; he's unsteady due to the pain meds (morphine drip, Press Here for Pain Relief...) but otherwise ambulatory.

His spirits couldn't have been better, all things considered. But he is really distraught over having lost his companion of 48 years come this fall; The Chicken Hawk. He and Mary Ann (MA had seen pictures; I did not) agree: The car was simply demolished. There can't be a straight panel or structural member anywhere on the car.

He confirmed the following: Although the accident happened right at the eighth-mile finish line, what finally stopped the car's forward motion, tumbling and rolling and occasionally airborne down the grassy berm was slamming backwards into one of the scoreboard posts at the 1/4-mile finish line! He said he was airborne when he hit the post backwards about 20' above the ground(!), snapping off the post! Further, when the deck lid buckled, the trunk-mounted battery broke away (yes, he had a hold-down on it!) and continued on down the track another 300 feet! So, actually, the battery completed the most forward motion of any component.

Worst of all, Ted said, the car was running perfectly and he was certain -no, positive- that if they had been running the quarter-mile last night, he would have been in the nines at over 140 mph, breaking both into the 9s and 140 mph for the first time.

As it was, the car had posted excellent 1.47 60-foot times and a 6.46-second (or 6.48; he wasn't sure) eighth-mile at just over 112 mph -in the eighth- last evening. So close to the nines and 140 mph, but it was not to be.

The Dr's latest prognosis is that he will be hospitalized at least through Wednesday the 20th; they can't imagine him going home before then. Mary Ann suggested cards be sent to the house and she will be sure he gets them:

Ted Harbit
18994 North 125 East
Summitville IN 46070-9113


BTW: I wrote down and gave to them all good wishes from folks who had e-mailed back from last night's e-mails; messages received before we left for church about 8:15 AM, after which we went on over to Muncie as our church is about 1/4 of the way from our house to Muncie. I'll convey messages received since then as well.

Mary Ann said it is OK to call him on his direct line at the hospital: (765) 747-3833. But please be respectful of the fact that's it's a little much for him to talk all that long, and, especially, of time zones; we are in the easternmost time zone. He would enjoy hearing from everyone, though, so don't hesitate to call!

There had been a steady stream of visitors all day. The volunteer aide at the information desk looked up his room number and said, "He must be having quite a party; there are a lot of people up there!" They must have all left before we got to the room, though, as only MA and Missy were there. We left when two more racers from the track arrived.

That's about all for now. I hope the Studebaker Drivers Club Forum is back up soon. When it is, I'll post everything known to date under a new topic: Last Flight of The Chicken Hawk!

Please keep the whole family in your prayers. It looks like our friend Ted will be OK all around, but certainly a little worse for wear, bless his heart.

Cheers and best. Bob Palma

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Best wishes to Ted, great guy and even better racer! He put a spanking on me and my Road Runner at the Muncie Musclecar Drags a few summers ago with his red Studebaker. I'm saddened about the Chicken Hawk, I've seen it go down the track more times than I could count but glad it protected Ted.
See you at the races,
Dave Watt

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Very sad news indeed!Thank God Ted will recover.By the looks of the car,it could of been much worse.Good saftey equipment really does work!!!Get well soon!

 

Re: anyone know how Ted Harbit is ??

Best wishes Ted and a speedy recovery!!

 

For all of you who have not heard, Ted Harbit, the Indiana driver who pilots the Chicken Hawk & Tomato Studebakers, had a bad accident at the Muncie Indiana Drag Strip on Saturday night. The Chicken Hawk got loose in oil and rolled multiple times, Ted got a collapsed lung, broken clavicle, some lumbar bone issues out of it.

He had just completed the 1/8th mile, was doing about 110mph. He is doing well at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Indiana, and will be there for about a week, if anyone would like to send well-wishes.

Let's all be careful out there!

 

Oh my gosh !!

Thanks for the update.....and MUCHO prayers go out to Ted and family !!