Dont know what happened to the Mustang driver that bumped John... (nor do I wanna assume, and give opinions not facts).
As for the car, it was completely done. THey got everything sorted out. Took in in 2 days to Sonomo CA from Detroit. Friday, they had Audi rent the track (scheduling conflict for a pratice day), but one of the instructors knew John, and with his competition license, let him instruct. So he did get some seat time.
Saturday, John went out for a "practice". THe coordinator had a LOT of press and spectators and didnt want any damage to the vehicles, and said he would send out a pace car if the leaders were pulling away too far from the pack. It was more of an exhibition. THings went well, and John gridded in pole (mostly cause he was the first to pull up into the starting line).
They raced away, and John led most of the field. The furled (not waving) black flag indicated for the leaders to back off, and they did, but still pent the pace car out to bunch them up. With the top drivers now close behind John, he was pushing it a bit, and on the LAST LAP, he sheered the rear lug nuts off. Wheel flew off, he spun around, and luckily didnt hit anything. So the rest of the field passed him.
They worked on the car to get the lugs out/off... had trouble with them spinning in the hub... got some torches and cut them off, and welded new ones on so they werent stripped in the holes...
Later, realized the he also cracked the panhard. John was literally sitting in the car (with helmet and strapped in), while Darren was still working on it. Got it done, dropped the jack, and into the filed with 30 seconds to spare!
The race went well for John. He started late in the pack due to bad qualifying with the broken panhard mount. The race was a crowd favorite, and John came in 5th overall. Very pleased with the results.