Hi, this Jenna, Mario’s wife. Two weeks ago, Mario was hit from behind by a Montour Falls voluntary Fire and Rescue truck on the way to Watkins Glen. He had pulled over and stopped for it, but the driver wasn’t looking at the road and plowed into the back of his Hyundai Veloster at high speed, crushing the back of his car and sending it into a metal post. I’m just thankful he was in his Veloster, if he’d been driving his Miata, it might have been very different.

The airbags didn’t go off, so his face hit the steering wheel, breaking his glasses and lacerating his left eye. His neck and upper body is sore, and his back is bruised. But Mario being Mario, he’s trying to walk it off, and is more concerned with replacing his car than his discomfort!

My husband put a lot of work into his car. It had many performance parts on it, some of those parts were things he built and tested in a wind tunnel. None of these are being covered by AAA insurance. And because New York has a no-fault law, there is no legal case to sue for damages.

Mario has spent endless hours building car parts, testing them in the wind tunnel, writing articles, publishing data, all in the service of discovering… I don’t know what. But I know he’s trying to unravel some mystery, and is helping many other drivers do the same.

People in the motorsports community know that Mario is a generous person, often making aerodynamic parts for people and either giving them away, or charging for materials only. He gets phone calls from readers of his Occam’s Racer website, and he never turns them away. He spends hours talking to them about how to improve their car, lap time, etc.

I created this Go Fund Me because he’s not one to ask for help, but I know he could use a hand right now. Losing something that he put so much time and effort into is tough. As much as I’d like Mario to slow down, I know that Mario isn’t Mario if he’s not doing the things he’s passionate about, messing around with cars and testing them on track and in the wind tunnel and passing that data on to other drivers.

The injury and loss of his car are difficult on their own, but the lack of help from the legal system and car insurance is a kick when he’s down. Let’s show Mario that we care, and help motivate him to get back to what he loves doing! I’m not personally part of the motorsports community, but I know that they are a kind and generous group. Even the smallest show of gratitude for what Mario has contributed in the past is greatly appreciated. Also, I know he feels sheepish about this, so if there's any overage, it will go into community wind tunnel testing.