Our very best wishes go out to Toly Arutunoff and his family today. We've just been informed that Mr. Arutunoff was seriously injured by another driver while attempting to aid another motorist.
We don't have all the details, but we wish him a speedy and complete recovery. Toly had joined us for the recent Rolex 24 at Daytona, and our publisher Tim Suddard caught this photo of him reading the latest issue with his cell phone.
For those of you who may not be familiar, here's a video interview with Toly and a fantastic article highlighting his accomplishments and history.
Injured while helping someone else? Sounds just like him. This needs to have a happy ending, I'm pulling for him.
That sucks. 
I hope he recovers quickly.
I met him at the 24. Hell of a guy! Always telling stories, and I hope to hear more of them in the future. Recover quickly Toly!
He is in intensive care and has lost his right leg. The left leg has multiple fractures also and will need surgery. It appears that he was helping someone who had spun into a snowbank and was t-boned by another car that left the scene. This information came from his wife Karen.
hope they catch the berkeleyer.......
wbjones wrote: hope they catch the berkeleyer.......
and remove his manbusiness...while hes awake...with a blowtorch
Toly will be in my prayers
AWW SHUCKS. Appreciate the update but AWW SHUCKS.
4cylndrfury wrote:wbjones wrote: hope they catch the berkeleyer.......and remove his manbusiness...while hes awake...with a blowtorch Toly will be in my prayers
...and then nail gun it to his face. Dickhead for sure.
Lost his leg? Holy mother!
Absolutely terrible to hear something like that.
Here's to a full and speedy recovery.
Update below. WTF.
From an email I received. An excerpt from Karen Arutunoff's Facebook page:
Prayers=Miracles, God's way of saying I'm here and I love all my children as if each was an only child. I have now spoken with the attending physician and the good news is Toly is stable, talking. His right leg is gone and his left is shattered. They have not attended to the left leg in light of the trauma of the accident. They are keeping a close eye on him for any changes in intensive care as it has only been a matter of hours since the accident and he has multiple injuries. His blood pressure is good, pulse good, kidneys not good. Seems he was parked on the side of I40 in Amarillo in the blizzard helping a man whose car had spun out and was stuck. Another car came along and T-boned an exposed Toly and drove off. Because of the cold the blood loss was not as severe as it could have/should have been. The leg was instantly gone. The only surgery that was performed was to close the wound. Amarillo is closed for business due to the blizzard but a prayer team from a church in Texas is going to the trauma center to be with him. Another Amarillo angel is going to Best Buy and getting a cell phone so I can speak to him. He thinks I am his girlfriend. Can't remember being married when questioned. I have chosen to be flattered. This is long road we are on but I will get to Amarillo w Trace as soon as the weather allows. God has already gotten us this far. I know he will take us the rest of the way. Bless you all. Your prayers produce miracles. Please don't stop!
What a terrible thing.
OMG I spent may hours at the Rolex listening to his wonderful stories about his racing experiences and cars he owned. It was an amazing time, I couldn't get enough of this marvelous man's history, in fact I purchased his book from him, I got his email and will send a message from all of us.
I am in shock, I had planned to invite him to an event as a team member.
Get well soon mate.
number one, my family is praying for Toly and his family.
number two, what kind of worthless sub-human piece of E36 M3 rocks a hit and run on a person? there's no way they don't know what they did.
Just got a quick update from Toly's wife, and he's being flown home tomorrow for surgery.
Words cannot express the loss that has been suffered. This man is history, pure and simple.
Plus he's just so nice.
while it sucks beyond words to lose a leg I'm sure he'll be one to make the best of it
So basically he lost the leg when the guy hit him. How do you hit someone so hard it tears off their leg and then just proceed to drive away? I can't imagine how the driver he was helping feels right now. Prayers to both families for sure.
A few words from Karen for the GRMers
"Through the help, kindness and willingness of many, Toly is being life-flighted tomorrow from Amarillo to the OU Medical Center in OK City where a team of orthopedic trauma surgeons awaits. Among them is the premier prosthesis doctor and Olympic team doctor. We have hope. We have prayers. They guide us to these decisions and truly order our steps. Thank you all. Karen"
Karen, family, and friends:
Praying for boundless continued miracles. What Satan intends for evil, God turns for good.
Godspeed to you, Toly. May you, your family and friends heal quickly.
Get well and get back out there:
In a berkeleying street car accident? Toly without a leg is worth five of me with both.
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